An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be flexible because the rules are always changing and they vary by city and state. For example, an ad that is acceptable in Los Angeles may be completely illegal in Fresno, so cannabis professionals need to be able to constantly adapt.
As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lauren Fontein.
Lauren Fontein, Co-Founder of The Artist Tree and cannabis attorney, began her professional career as a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles. She transitioned to the medical cannabis industry in 2009 when she founded a cannabis edible manufacturing company. From 2009 to 2017, she headed operations and supplied edibles to over 100 medical dispensaries in the Los Angeles area. Lauren concurrently worked as legal counsel for medical dispensaries owned by brothers Avi Kahan and Mitchell Kahan. In 2018, Lauren partnered with Avi, Mitch, and Aviv Halimi to create The Artist Tree brand for the purpose of obtaining a consumption lounge and retail licenses in the city of West Hollywood. She is intricately involved in the day-to-day operations of all Artist Tree locations. She serves as the company’s general counsel, handles community outreach, and works on marketing campaigns. She also oversees The Artist Tree’s art program, using art as a voice for positive change and as a way to bring people together. In addition, she works on The Artist Tree’s expansion team, preparing license applications and working with local cities and counties to successfully obtain cannabis retail licenses in Riverside County, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Oxnard, El Sobrante, and Fresno. Lauren graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Dartmouth College (2002) and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law (2007).
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the cannabis industry?
I began my career as a corporate attorney in Los Angeles and transitioned to cannabis in 2009. At that time, I was planning to shift careers and become a pastry chef and my friend, Mitch Kahan, asked me to make edibles for his medical dispensary in Los Angeles. My products took off and I started an edible manufacturing company. I ran that company until 2018 while also helping dispensaries in LA with legal work and licensing. In 2018, I formally partnered with Mitch and the other Artist Tree founders to start The Artist Tree brand.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The most shocking moment of my cannabis career was when The Artist Tree was selected as the first place scoring applicant in the West Hollywood licensing process out of over 120 applicants. My partners and I had been in the industry for a while, but we were competing against MSOs and other large scale operators and assumed we had little to no chance of obtaining WeHo’s highly coveted consumption lounge and retail licenses. I put my blood, sweat and tears into our application. We created an innovative concept that really resonated with the city and were chosen over other applicants because of our unique and artistic vision. The day the results were released, I didn’t even feel joy — just this overwhelming sense of confusion and shock. Of course, I ultimately was thrilled. From that, I learned to dream big and not be intimidated by the big guys, because this is such an evolving and nebulous industry, and creative ideas can go a long way.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The funniest mistake happened when I operated a medical cannabis edible company, Baked. We were testing out dosages for a new product and made a mistake in calculating the THC content per serving and accidentally made a batch that was 3 times stronger than we planned. Before realizing the mistake, I tested out the product along with 2 friends. It was quite an interesting evening, between my friend “conducting a symphony” in our living room while talking gibberish and me being unable to communicate or move from the couch. Luckily, we were the guinea pigs and corrected the error and got the dosing right before releasing the product to the public.
Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?
The funniest thing that I experienced time and time again was that older family members would be initially shocked and seemingly disapprove when with other family members, but then come to me separately asking if I could get them products.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I’d have to say Mitch Kahan, one of The Artist Tree co-founders. He saw the potential of the cannabis industry back in its early medical days and decided to acquire a medical license in LA in 2006. A couple years later, I was dating his brother Avi (also an Artist Tree co-founder) and Mitch asked for my help creating edibles for his first dispensary. I was a cannabis consumer at the time, but it’s very unlikely I would have started a career in cannabis if it hadn’t been for Mitch.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are continuing to expand our retail presence into different cities in California. We recently opened our consumption lounge in West Hollywood, which was tremendously exciting because it’s the only lounge of its type anywhere in the US. It’s much more than a place to smoke, and is a true community gathering space with nightly entertainment, art education, wellness classes, open mic nights, and many other community focused events. It has been an amazing way to reinforce cannabis culture and celebrate the inclusivity and open-mindedness of the cannabis community. We also have a second consumption lounge license in the city of West Hollywood and are working on developing a different concept for that project.
Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Despite great progress that has been made we still have a lot more work to do to achieve gender parity in this industry. According to this report in Entrepreneur, less than 25 percent of cannabis businesses are run by women. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender parity moving forward?
- Hire more women in management and executive roles. This seems obvious, but isn’t actually being done. As the industry has become more professional and MSO operators take the place of mom & pop style shops, it feels like gender disparity has gotten worse, not better.
- Celebrate the valuable contributions of women by giving them a seat at the table — create workplace panels or focus groups to gain insight into the specific needs of women, both with regards to products and to work-related issues.
- Provide grants, mentoring or other startup resources to female entrepreneurs interested in starting a cannabis business.
You are a “Cannabis Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the cannabis industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each.
- Be flexible because the rules are always changing and they vary by city and state. For example, an ad that is acceptable in Los Angeles may be completely illegal in Fresno, so cannabis professionals need to be able to constantly adapt.
- Be patient & optimistic — Cannabis has been legalized medicinally & recreationally in many areas, but there is still a long road ahead toward achieving widespread legalization. Rather than giving up because of current hurdles, lay the groundwork for future reforms.
- Be self sufficient & creative with solutions — Because this is a young industry, and rules are often vague or non-existent, cannabis professionals need to be able to think outside the box and come up with their own ways to solve problems.
- Be adaptable to different personalities — Cannabis is a very colorful community of interesting and eccentric individuals. Don’t expect the same level of formality or professionalism as in another industry, and embrace the quirkiness of it all.
- Navigate work & play — Unfortunately it’s not all fun and games. Be conscientious about striking a balance between social stoner and effective cannabis professional.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?
- The culture of creativity and inclusivity
- The ongoing evolution of consumption spaces
- The development of new and innovative products to address specific customer needs
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
- Continued proliferation of the black market, including organizations operating consumption lounges or events by circumventing CA law — Local and state law enforcement organizations need to devote more resources to shutting down illegal businesses. It’s insane how much scrutiny legal cannabis businesses face with financial reporting requirements, DCC inspections, METRC reporting, etc., yet Los Angeles is filled with unlicensed dispensaries and delivery services operating behind the scenes.
- Extreme regulatory hurdles to opening a new legal business — Municipalities need to examine their licensing processes from a practical and pro-business perspective and have realistic expectations about what a startup business can handle financially and administratively. For example, many cities require applicants to secure a property prior to applying for a license, which means applicants end up paying rent for months to years before they even find out if they will be chosen for a license. Then, even after a municipality picks its “winners,” the winners typically have to go through 9–24 months of permitting and approvals and are required to spend $1 million + in property renovations and permitting fees (in addition to rent costs!) before they can begin construction and ultimately open. These requirements are even more onerous for social equity applicants who likely lack the financial resources to pay rent on a property that isn’t generating any cash flow.
- Ongoing expenses and compliance burdens that cannabis businesses must deal with that make it extremely hard to operate at a profit — Annual licensing fees, taxes and the continued application of 280E, which penalizes cannabis businesses by disallowing the deduction of “ordinary and necessary” business expenses, greatly hinder the ability of a legal cannabis business to operate profitably and should all be changed.
What are your thoughts about federal legalization of cannabis? If you could speak to your Senator, what would be your most persuasive argument regarding why they should or should not pursue federal legalization?
Cannabis or cannabis products do not belong on the Schedule 1 list of drugs. By definition, a Schedule I drug, substance, or chemical are those with no currently accepted medical use or a high potential for abuse. These include heroin, LSD, Ecstasy and methaqualone to name a few. Plenty of research has been conducted (and continues to be conducted) on the medicinal benefits of cannabis. We would also argue that each of the drugs listed as Schedule 1 can and have resulted in an overdose. There have been no reported cases of overdosing on marijuana.
Today, cigarettes are legal, but they are heavily regulated, highly taxed, and they are somewhat socially marginalized. Would you like cannabis to have a similar status to cigarettes or different? Can you explain?
No way! Cigarettes are socially marginalized due to the known adverse health effects of smoking cigarettes, the dangers of secondhand smoke, and the highly addictive nature of nicotine. Much to the contrary, cannabis has long been used for medicinal and therapeutic purposes and does not have many of the adverse effects of smoking cigarettes. As cannabis industry professionals, we dream of the day when cannabis is widely viewed as a safe and viable alternative to other forms of medicine. Regarding recreational use, we believe cannabis should be viewed as a legitimate and, in many ways, safer alternative to alcohol or cigarettes that is legally available to adults in all communities.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of my favorite quotes is “I’m not interested in competing with anyone. I hope we all make it.” (made popular by many memes and tweets and, I believe, originally said by Erica Cook.) This really resonates with me for life in general and in cannabis. Cannabis is a community and a lifestyle, not an “industry.” As someone who has been in the business since its infancy, it has always been a collaborative community of kind, diverse and open minded individuals, and that is why I’m so fortunate to have fallen into this profession. Cannabis culture celebrates creativity, inclusivity, healing, and not taking life too seriously.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I obviously did not inspire this movement, but I am extremely passionate about achieving widespread legalization and social acceptance of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use. I have seen first hand the powerful benefits it has for family members that have gone through cancer treatment, suffer from sleep issues or struggle with anxiety. In areas where cannabis is legalized, prescription painkiller use and overdoses have decreased. Cannabis is also a much better alternative to alcohol in my mind, and I’ve seen an overall trend of adults transitioning away from alcohol and toward cannabis to avoid hangovers, control their dosing and avoid the other negative effects of alcohol consumption. My dream is that The Artist Tree’s innovative retail spaces, which are bright, warm and welcoming, together with our community-driven consumption lounge, help normalize cannabis and give skeptics a new perspective on the positive power of cannabis.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Wisdom From The Women Leading The Cannabis Industry, With Lauren Fontein of The Artist Tree was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.