Meet Eric Eslao, CEO of Défoncé Chocolatier, based in Northern California. The company produces cannabis-infused chocolates, and proudly donates to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Cannabis Industry Sector: Infused Products and Extractions
NCIA Member Member Since: May 2016
Tell me a bit about your background and why you launched your company?
I’m a Bay Area native and I absolutely love living here. I completed my undergrad at USF and MBA at SFSU. And had a super fun career at iTunes. So I literally never left the Bay Area, which is very rare.
I started the company a few years ago as I felt consumers deserved a better edible. While the overall aesthetic is what people notice first, it’s really the elevated taste and the amount of care we put into the product that I’m most proud of.
What unique value does your company offer to the cannabis industry?
A great-tasting edible.
Cannabis companies have a unique responsibility to shape this growing industry to be socially responsible and advocate for it to be treated fairly. How does your company help work toward that goal for the greater good of the cannabis industry?
Edibles–historically–have had a bad rap. Whether it’s due to some of the insane dosing that was considered normal or issues with microbes, edibles were a crap shoot for even the experienced cannabis user.
As we move into an era where dosing is more normalized and regulations are more in line with normal food manufacturing, we’ll see more sophisticated products and operators. As a result, I feel the edible industry will start to have equal footing with well-respected food brands. This normalization will elevate our industry as a whole.
What kind of challenges do you face in the industry and what solutions would you like to see?
In California, we’ve had a medical market for 20 years. Going from two decades of quasi-legal businesses to a regulated market is a large hurdle–especially for operators that have been at it the entire time. To make sure we don’t leave behind the people that got us to this point, I would love to see veteran operators allowed more time and given more resources to be compliant–specifically the cultivators that have risked their livelihood to get us to adult-use.
Why did you join NCIA? What’s the best part about being a member?
It’s great to be part of a group with like-minded individuals: cannabis professionals looking to elevate the industry as a whole.
News Alert! Omnibus Update: Medical cannabis businesses protected through September 30
by Michelle Rutter, NCIA Government Relations Manager
After years of continuing resolutions and many rounds of negotiations, Congress reached a budget deal and passed a new omnibus spending package that funds the government through the remainder of FY2018, which ends on September 30.
This new spending bill does include the Leahy amendment (formerly the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment), which prohibits the Department of Justice from using tax dollars to enforce federal law against state-legal medical cannabis patients and businesses. Following the rescission of the Cole Memo in January by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, NCIA and our allies in Washington, DC pushed even harder to ensure that this language, which has been included in federal appropriations bills since 2014, was included in the spending package for the remainder of FY2018. In addition to language protecting state-legal medical cannabis programs, the omnibus bill unfortunately also included a provision that continues to block Washington, DC from taxing and regulating adult-use cannabis, despite the fact that voters approved the legalization measure nearly four years ago.
In normal budget cycles, Congress passes a fiscal year budget that goes from October 1 until September 30. But in these extraordinarily partisan times, Congress has been unable to agree on an annual budget and has patched together short-term funding bills called Continuing Resolutions (CR’s), which maintains current funding levels. Since just last September, there have been five such short-term CR’s. All of these CR’s have included the Rohrabacher-Farr (now Rohrabacher-Blumenauer in the House and the Leahy amendment in the Senate) amendment which protects medical cannabis businesses, programs, and patients in states where it’s legal. The last of these continuing resolutions is set to expire on Friday, March 23rd. The new omnibus spending bill will continue to fund the government through the remainder of FY2018, which ends on September 30, 2018.
The congressional appropriations process for FY2019 is already underway. While we have achieved a victory in extending medical cannabis protections, there’s much more work to be done. NCIA is lobbying not only to continue the medical cannabis protections, but to also expand protections to protect all legal cannabis businesses from federal interference, including adult-use businesses operating in the eight states with such programs. We are also working to pass a cannabis banking amendment, as well as an amendment that would protect veterans who choose to participate in state-legal cannabis programs. In addition to all of these appropriations amendments, NCIA is still working to pass legislation that would solve the cannabis banking problem, amend IRC Section 280E, and, ultimately, end cannabis prohibition.
VIDEO: Aaron Smith invites you to #NCIALobbyDays this May 21-23
Over the last several years the cannabis industry has experienced unparalleled economic growth. But, as business owners in the industry, we know first hand that this success also comes with persistent challenges. As long as we still experience the crippling effects of federal policies like 280E and unfair banking regulations, our success is merely potential.
This is why it is essential that cannabis business owners are also industry advocates. With the challenges posed by the current administration and the uncertain federal policies governing our industry, it is critical that we make our voices heard on Capitol Hill.
Join 300+ cannabis industry professionals at NCIA’s 8th Annual Cannabis Industry Lobby Days on May 21-23 in Washington, D.C. to advocate for our industry and forge a unified front with the industry’s most politically engaged leaders. Register before April 30 for a chance to win tickets and travel for two to #CannaBizSummit July 25-27.
Watch this video to hear more from NCIA’s Co-founder and Executive Director Aaron Smith.
For more information about NCIA’s 8th Annual Cannabis Industry Lobby Days,
In order to run a successful PR campaign or build your own PR department you will need a set of tools that you can pull from again and again. Here are key strategies you need to tackle in order to build a successful toolkit.
Define your story. Story telling is at the heart of every PR campaign and will drive everything you do. As you know, cannabis is on fire wth new products introduced everyday. The ones who tell their story in a compelling way are the ones that will stand out. Ask yourself: how is your company, product, or service better or different than any other on the market? Is your product the first of its kind? Are you a bootstrap entrepreneur? Have you been a cannabis activist since the 90s? Does your company help people in need? Your story will be the DNA that is weaved throughout your toolkit, from your elevator speech to speaking to media.
Develop a media list. This list should have the following components: reporters’ names, titles, contact information, what they cover on their “beat,” —and this one is important—what you have pitched them and when you have pitched them. This is your guide to keeping organized and remembering who you’ve contacted. Cannabis beats are starting to fragment now into silos like “business,” “products,” and “lifestyles.” Don’t make the mistake of sending a business-focused press release to a lifestyle reporter. It’ll be ignored. There are companies like Meltwaterthat provide a comprehensive and constantly updated media data base. While there is a yearly subscription, it will help save an immense amount of time since pulling together a media list is time intensive.
Develop a media kit. When sending out a press release or pitching media, you should provide them with everything they need to run your news. Include facts about company executives and leaders as well as their headshots, a company overview, press releases, and compelling photos and images of your product or service. The goal of a media kit is to make it easy for reporters to understand the who, what, why, when and how of your company and its unique story. If reporters are provided with all this information (most importantly high-quality images and photography) at their fingertips, your chances of coverage increase. Your media kit should be online, digital, and easy to access.
Develop a press release. This could be its own blog but for now here are the key steps. Keep it simple. Stick to the who, what, where, when and how. Write a compelling headline that helps your news stand out and write the body of the release in the inverted pyramid style, meaning, have your most important information in the lead paragraph then include less important news below. (Industry secret: Most reporters will stop reading after the first paragraph. Make it a good one!) Write your press release in Associated Press (AP) style. This is the language that reporters understand and will recognize when they see it. Be upfront and transparent, clear and concise. Reporters are too busy to dig for the news in your release so keeping it simple will help you get more coverage.
Distributing your press release. Using your media list, send one email at a time (never do a mass, BCC: pitch), customize your email and make it personal. The goal here is to build relationships with reporters, not spam them. It’s important to follow up after sending your release but don’t make yourself a pest as reporters are overworked, cover myriad beats, and are always under deadline. Always. If you want a broader approach distribute your press release through a wire service. The huge advantage here is the breadth of media outlets your press release will get in front of, however, you won’t get that personal touch point. Wire services can be expensive but depending on the scope of your news, entirely worth it.
Leverage social media. Again, this could be its own post, but the short take is: use your social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) to announce your news. Since a press release is written in a specific style for reporters, feel free to re-craft for your social audience in a friendlier, accessible voice. Reach out to reporters on Twitter with your news (with a big caveat: some do and some do not like to be pitched on social media and in public; do your research before tweeting a pitch). Lastly, when and if you get any coverage, you must post it on your social media pages. It’s a powerful way to increase your visibility, build credibility, and connect with new followers.
Carol Ruiz is co-founder and Partner of Higher Ground PR and Marketing. Janitor, construction crew clean up, waitress, documentary filmmaker, adjunct professor… just a few of the paths Carol Ruiz walked before finally finding what she would do for the rest of her life.
At these former gigs, as founder of NewGround PR & Marketing (a highly regarded agency in the real estate space), at Higher Ground, and at dinner tables the world over, Carol is a storyteller. Storytelling being the heart and soul of public relations, it’s no surprise that Carol was drawn to the world of PR.
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Meet Eric Eslao, CEO of Défoncé Chocolatier, based in Northern California. The company produces cannabis-infused chocolates, and proudly donates to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
