An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Develop a talent pipeline in your community: As an entrepreneur, connect with cannabis community groups to find employees that have the skill sets you need — and understand the culture and product.
As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Carmen Brace of Aclara Research.
Carmen Brace is an emerging trends expert with vast experience at the intersection of cannabis, wellness and the consumer packaged goods industry. She is a breakthrough strategic thinker with a successful career at the forefront of global CPG brands and entrepreneurship into emerging wellness trends.
Her futurist mindset and pioneer work ethic led to founding one of the first dedicated cannabis consumer insights companies, Aclara Research. She published the first studies on cannabis and wellness in 2017, identifying CBD as an emerging functional food ingredient.
She is a member of the Illinois Governor’s Committee on Cannabis and Health, serves on the board of directors for Chicago NORML, is an expert witness for the Illinois legislature and a featured speaker across many of the industry’s top conferences.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the cannabis industry?
After a 20 year career in traditional CPG sales and consumer insights I took a year sabbatical in Spain and Mexico to explore how insights were applied across the globe. This experience led me to think about cannabis.
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?
I quickly realized that the most valuable cannabis consumers were using cannabis to solve health and wellness needs that impact over 100 million adults. It was not about getting high, it was about getting well.
I fielded the first study of cannabis and health care in 2016 and predicted that CBD would become a functional food ingredient. At that time many didn’t believe my prediction, but it was spot on.
My foresight led to new partnerships, clients and legislative work in Illinois. And that work has directly led to more people realizing that cannabis use is driven by consumers that seek to improve their wellbeing and health.
This experience has taught me to persevere, to never give up and to take action in accordance with my convictions.
It has taught me that you must know your great skill and place big bets on yourself, no matter what. When you are ahead of the crowd, there are few that can validate your vision, but you’ve got to move forward.
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?
I had to laugh at myself when I began shopping in dispensaries and had no idea what “flower” was. But I caught on quickly! It’s important to be willing to learn and ask questions.
Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?
It made me realize how effective the stigma of cannabis had been on the American psyche. Colleagues that I truly respected made comments about ‘doobies’ with odd facial expressions when they found out I was working in cannabis. People never questioned what they had been told about cannabis, which was a bunch of lies.
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 am thankful to have a community of business leaders across the CPG industry that have opened doors for me as I built a team and consulting practice in cannabis and emerging wellness trends. It’s not easy to start a business as a self-funded entrepreneur and few people understand how tough it is. I’m grateful to have clients and friends that have given me spot on counsel when I needed it.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I’m interested in Global cannabis markets and emerging wellness trends. This year, I’ve spent most of the year in Latin America, learning more about legalization and market structure. It’s helpful to have a global perspective on the industry to see what may develop.
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?
This is all about access to capital. We’ve got to have capital to grow the business, and women and Black people are not getting the capital. 19% of cannabis businesses are owned by women and less than 2% are Black owned. Few women and far fewer people of color have access to the funding needed to scale a business.
There is one tradition in the funding community that hold these groups back from significant revenue growth –
The “Friends and Family” round.
Many women — and many more people of color — do not have access to family and friends with sufficient capital to raise a $500K seed round. And if the raise is for a plant touching business, capital requirements may exceed 8 figures.
Family offices and VCs are not in the business of seeding unfamiliar entrepreneurs with seed capital. These people live in a world where that task is completely attainable. But for many women and especially POC, it is not.
This is the greatest impediment to entrepreneurship. If we don’t have the initial capital to prove out the MVP, we will never be able to grow revenue and jobs.
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.
Know your regulations: working in US cannabis is similar to working internationally — the markets (states) are completely different.
Know your legislators: Develop relationships with your elected representatives that are writing the regulations that will impact your business. Regularly give them advice.
Develop a talent pipeline in your community: As an entrepreneur, connect with cannabis community groups to find employees that have the skill sets you need — and understand the culture and product.
Conduct market tours once a quarter: No matter what you do, consumer demand is the driver of the industry. Keep up with product and retail innovation through regular market visits.
Monitor the types of cannabis companies that are successfully raising capital: Subscribe to Pitchbook or New cannabis Ventures to understand capital flow shifts.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?
Being on the leading edge of the fastest growing industry in the US
Cannabis is a $27 billion dollar industry in 2022 — the fastest growing industry in the US and it’s still federally illegal. Starting a cannabis consulting business has been a rollercoaster. It’s exciting to see the innovation, understand the history and grow the infrastructure of the industry for the last seven years.
The opportunity to help people understand the health benefits of cannabis
Over 62% Americans are more concerned about their health post-pandemic. People want to improve their well-being. It’s fun to educate people — consumers, legislators, clients — understand how these insights inform their work as the industry evolves.
Uncovering a level of resilience that I didn’t know I had
Being an entrepreneur in any industry isn’t easy — but cannabis has unique challenges. It’s satisfying to remember the successes and struggles that have led me here today.
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?
The most pressing concern is to release the 40,000 people that are in prison for non-violent cannabis possession charges out of jail. And expunging everyone’s record of cannabis possession.
Most of us have read the history and know that cannabis criminalization was led by 2 political leaders that codified their racism into legislation — Harry Ainslinger and Richard Nixon. They knowingly lied about cannabis addiction to make it easier to imprison people of color.
And it worked. Black Americans represent 12% of the US population, 30% of all cannabis possession arrests and less than 2% of cannabis business owners.
With this history, we can’t allow anyone to be in jail for using cannabis. And now it’s the fastest growing industry $27B in the US.
From my home in Chicago, there are over 100 stores that sell cannabis or CBD products stores within 10 miles. Their shelves are loaded with flower and beverages and topical creams, which I can walk in and legally purchase in less than 5 minutes. Why do we have 40,000 in prison for convictions that are based on outdated laws that are in no way reflective of the current industry reality.
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?
Many legislators don’t know the history of cannabis and why it was placed on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. I’d start there.
And I’d keep talking to legislators about cannabis and health. Cannabis is an effective solution across health conditions that impact over 100 million adults. And right now, I’d focus on women’s health. Cannabis has shown to be an effective remedy from Autoimmune diseases which impact over 23 million people — and 82% are women. Clinical research on CBD and other cannabinoids will lead to more effective medications with fewer side effects.
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?
Cannabis must be treated differently because cannabis doesn’t kill people. It’s been used since 2900 BC as a health aid. Unfortunately, this changed in the 1930s and 1970s due to the successful efforts of Harry Ainslinger and President Nixon who both chose to criminalize cannabis –I n order to codify their racist beliefs into legislation for personal gain.
In order to fully activate the power of cannabis as a health aid, regulatory treatment needs to be similar to health protocols and structure, not products that can cause sickness and death with prolonged use.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I’m a fan of Daniel Burnham, who was an early futurist. His 1909 Plan for Chicago focused on transforming the city from a transportation hub to a culturally relevant, beautiful and business friendly city.
“Make no Small Plans; They Have no Magic to Stir people’s Blood. Make Big Plans, Aim High in Hope and Work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever growing insistency.”
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 lead more colleagues to be the Buddha in the Boardroom. Nany of us realize that we can lead profitable businesses that do good in the world — by identifying scenarios where all can win together. Decide to win and commit to finding solutions that honor all stakeholders.
Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you only continued success!
Wisdom From The Women Leading The Cannabis Industry, With Carmen Brace of Aclara Research was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.