Ana Redwood of Redwood Reserves: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
The limitless opportunities, the experience of being a part of the first era after prohibition, and the potential cannabis has not only to be an alternative to alcohol or other drugs but to be medicinal in ways we haven’t even fully discovered yet.
As part of my series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business” I had the pleasure of interviewing Ana Redwood.
Redwood Reserves didn’t become an industry leader overnight. Founded in 2019 by Ana Redwood, the need for quality CBD smokables led to the creation of Redwood Reserves. “I had been in the CBD industry for almost 2 years at this point and kept seeing the demand for CBD flower rise, but the quality of the products I was trying were really subpar.” explained Ana. “I set out to create something I’d feel comfortable with using myself, and that’s how Redwood Reserves came to be.” By focusing on the taste and experience of smoking CBD flowers, Redwood Reserves has gained popularity and skyrocketed to the top of review websites and Google search results as one of the best CBD cigarette companies in the market.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the cannabis industry?
Thank you for having me!
My original plan was not to get into the cannabis industry when I moved to Oregon. I was planning on finishing my degree and applying to law school, but the opportunities in cannabis kept coming up, and I felt that I’d regret it later on if I didn’t at least explore them. My brothers were on board with taking a shot on this, and together, we got one of the first recreational Marijuana licenses that Oregon handed out. Unfortunately, they handed out way too many licenses, and with the supply outweighing the demand, the flower prices plummeted, and we were faced with the option to either pivot or go broke — so we chose to pivot. Now we run and operate two vertically-integrated international hemp companies, Redwood Reserves, and USA Hemp.
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 interesting story was almost getting my team and I kicked out of an industry event for smoking a CBD flower cigarette. We had just finished a trade show in Miami and attended the industry after party back in 2019. We lit a celebratory smoke for a job well done, and the security guards immediately ambushed us — flashlights in our faces, yelling at us to put out the weed, threatening to call the cops. It was an intense situation, and my team was incredibly uncomfortable. The interaction caught me off guard, but I knew we couldn’t be escorted out like that. It was an industry event; buyers and competitors were watching this whole fiasco, and at the end of the day, hemp was federally legal. So I had to think quickly. I told the team to put out their cigarettes and calmly asked the security guards to listen for just one second. Thankfully they did, and I could explain that these were hemp cigarettes, not weed. I showed them the pack and the QR code linking to the lab report while explaining that they’re completely legal (even if they smell a little bit like weed). They let us stay and asked us to smoke them off to the side for the rest of the night, and one of them even took a smoke for himself! When I came back to the party, everyone that saw what happened wanted to ask questions and try one for themselves, and we ended up making some great connections that night. It taught me that any publicity is good publicity, depending on how you handle it.
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?
This one was embarrassing at the time, but I’ve learned to laugh about it now. I once attended a lunch meeting with a huge potential distributor early. This may not seem like a big deal, but I was 24 hours early. I didn’t realize until I called them asking if we were still on for our meeting, only for her to say yes, we’re still on for our meeting tomorrow. I felt so silly, laughed, and told her I had my dates mixed up and was already here, so it looks like I’m eating at the same place two days in a row! We had a good laugh the next day, and I’ve always triple-checked my calendar before leaving for a meeting.
Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?
I got into the cannabis industry very young, which was a bit of a shock for my peers. The first time I posted a picture of our plants on my Instagram account, I got a flood of DMs from people I used to know growing up asking me variations of “how much for 1lb“. It was surreal to me; I was trying to build a business, not supplying little Jimmy and his friends with weed!
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’m fortunate to have gone into this venture with my brothers as my business partners. We each manage our business division and can give each other real and constructive criticism in a way I feel would be difficult for most traditional business partners.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Yes! Right now, we’re working on Project Favela, a program that will empower and strengthen the communities inside Brazil’s favelas. Favelas is a neighborhood that has historically received the brunt end of police brutality and government neglect and has been the center of Brazil’s war on drugs. Project Favela is working on providing tools for these communities to help sustain themselves in the form of equipment and buyback programs to help provide sustainable livelihoods instead of relying on non-existential government assistance and handouts.
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?
The gender gap is slowly closing, but we still have much more to do to level the playing field. As an individual, you can choose to use your voice and show support for companies run by women. As a company, you can hold your managers accountable in the hiring process to ensure there’s no discrimination at play. Teams should be hired based on qualifications, but if you’re looking at a team with 18 men and two women, there may be an underlying factor skewing those numbers. As a society, we need to keep pushing for gender equality not only in the workplace but as a whole, as those gender norms will shape the thinking of future generations so that one day it will be a no-brainer that women should get equal pay as men.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?
The limitless opportunities, the experience of being a part of the first era after prohibition, and the potential cannabis has not only to be an alternative to alcohol or other drugs but to be medicinal in ways we haven’t even fully discovered yet.
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?
My three biggest concerns in the cannabis industry tie together: the black market, taxes, and fees. The black market still runs rampant even in states with legalized marijuana. For example, an article Forbes published claimed that 80% of cannabis operations in the state of California are the black market. That high number sounds crazy, but when you factor in the added cost of taxes and fees for cannabis businesses, it turns out that the black market can sell their cannabis for a much lower price. They don’t have to worry about testing for banned pesticides, heavy metals, and chemicals. If I had the ability to implement three ways to improve the industry, I would lower the state taxes on cannabis to be more on par with taxes on common goods, reevaluate the regulations to trim back on unnecessary expenditures for cannabis businesses, and build programs to better support the industry instead of holding it back.
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?
The most persuasive argument for the federal legalization of cannabis is simple — it’s already happening whether you like it or not, so why not be able to tax it? Many states have legalized cannabis and proven it’s no more (if not less) dangerous than alcohol. Legalizing cannabis will not only allow new businesses to emerge and strengthen our economy, but they’ll also bring a new source of revenue for the government to allocate for things we currently don’t have the budget.
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?
While they both can be smoked, tobacco has historically been detrimental to the health of millions of Americans and has nowhere as many regulations as the cannabis industry has. Have you ever seen a lab report for a Marlboro showing the potency, pesticides, heavy metals, and microbials? These are all things that are required in <50lb batches in the cannabis industry, making the cannabis industry a much cleaner one and not on par with tobacco.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” — Seneca. I like to think back to this quote when contemplating taking the easy way out. I always try to remember that while I am lucky to have opportunities come my way, they’ll pass me by if I’m not prepared to take them.
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’d bring back the movement of giving back and being a community. You see so many movies from back in the day about working in food kitchens, volunteering with the elderly, and just overall knowing one another, and I feel like that’s lost in our time. We’re so wrapped up in our lives that we forget others are living theirs too.
Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you only continued success!
Ana Redwood of Redwood Reserves: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.