Providing a platform for a new series of LinkedIn Live and YouTube programming covering the full spectrum of cannabis news, Beard Bros Media has called upon today’s most authentically outspoken thought leaders to host these collaborative sessions and to help blaze a new trail in culture, education, and industry.
Fitting that description perfectly is Beard Bros Media correspondent Angela Pih whose diverse background in ultra-high level marketing will provide the backdrop for her coverage of the intricacies of branding and marketing in the cannabis space, and perhaps what lessons we can all learn from more mainstream industries.
Touted by colleagues and friends alike as a consummate professional, Pih entered the California cannabis space in 2019 when people were still excited about what the future held for regulated cannabis markets. Though she acknowledges that the Cali market may have a different vibe today, she is spot on as always when she says, “We all have a role and accountability to help make things better.”
Pih’s cannabis resume reads like a winner’s list at any cannabis awards show, a testament to her positive influence at each stop along the way.
She entered the industry with Papa & Barkley in 2019 focused on brand marketing and consumer education, a role that immediately helped her to understand and appreciate the depth and diversity of the cannabis community that she, like all of us, has come to love.
Pih’s next stop landed at Cannacraft and saw her take the lead on marketing and brand building at a company co-founded by Dennis Hunter who did 6.5 years behind bars for the cannabis plant. This success story of street smarts blending with big business in a regulated marketplace fascinated Pih and again opened avenues for her to bring proven marketing strategies into a sheltered and skeptical cannabis market.
Together with Dennis, Ned Fussell (the other Cannacraft founder), and a dedicated team surrounding them, Pih helped Cannacraft lead 12 brands and launch 70+ new products in the California cannabis market in just 18 months.
The Cannacraft roster of top shelf brands includes consumer favorites like Farmer and the Felon, ABX, Care By Design, Loud+Clear, and more.
Having summited that peak, Pih was seeking a new challenge and found it with a move to Statehouse Holdings, the group that purchased Harborside and inherited much of its past baggage as a result.
With her hard-earned understanding of how much of a role tradition and legacy play in the cannabis culture, and how that can impact a brand’s success in the industry, Pih set out to make right what once went wrong, focusing on the plight on California’s legacy sungrown / outdoor cannabis farmers, many of whom felt slighted in past interactions with Harborside.
Pih launched a marketing campaign called the Sungrown Story, highlighting the people behind the plants, and the crucial role that these farms play not only in the past, but in the future of cannabis legalization. Of course, too much of the marketplace still has not acquired the taste for full term sungrown weed, but that is not from a lack of effort by advocates like Angela Pih.
This trifecta of marketing, branding, and retail experience has given Pih a full spectrum overview of some of the most misunderstood aspects of doing business in a regulated cannabis industry.
These days you can find her applying that array of experience in a role with manufacturing powerhouse CCELL, a global leader in vaporizer hardware innovation and production.
Sitting down to sesh with Angela, you can just kick back and relax as she stuffs cones full of delicious dank nugs from Moon Made Farms, or some Pink Jesus from Sonoma Hills Farm, or whatever special stash she may have scored as a member of Club Swami.
The Beard Bros Media Network invites you to tune in to our new LinkedinLive series featuring Angela Pih and more highly accomplished hosts at the links below.
Angela is the Global Chief Brand and Marketing Officer at CCELL.
Angela has a unique perspective and set of expertise in cannabis, fashion, beauty, wellness, and premium lifestyle brands. Having led category-leading brands at StateHouse, CannaCraft and Papa & Barkley. Her experience encompasses; Brands, DTC, retail dispensaries (Harborside and Urbn Leaf) and fully vertical enterprises.
At StateHouse and CannaCraft, she held a dual role of driving marketing as well as innovation and new product development.
Angela specializes in high-growth companies primed for national and international expansion. As a growth and sales-driven leader, she takes a holistic omni-channel approach to solve business challenges, grow brands, and influence consumer behavior.
Angela is a recipient of three Cannabis CLIOs. Angela received Green Market Report’s Women’s Leadership Award in Science & Research in 2023, Cannabis Now’s Women of Influence in 2023 and an Emerald Cup for Care by Design in 2022.
Angela is on the Board of Advisors at Lucid Green. She is an Advisory Board member and Adjunct Professor at Loyola Marymount University’s mSchool of Marketing. Angela is a nationally recognized marketer, having been a keynote speaker at the American Marketing Associations’ annual conference.
