Once we saw CBD’s potential to help us fulfill our mission of helping families thrive (yes, pets are family members too!), we decided to shift our focus towards identifying opportunities in the hemp space where we could add value. We got to work by setting up meetings with hemp farmers, extractors, manufacturers, brands, and retailers and quickly identified a recurring theme: all parties mentioned there was a gap in the market for quality product manufacturers. Existing manufacturers operated in secret (even from the brands they served), did not educate, and were not focused on using clean label ingredients, which resulted in a lack of transparency and shelves inundated with products that had less than ideal ingredients and in many cases were underdosed and/or mislabeled. We saw this as our opportunity to build something that would have a positive impact on the lives of many.

But life is more fragile than we think, isn’t it? On a Friday morning, I got a call from my doctor telling me I had lymphoma. Getting a cancer diagnosis shakes up your world completely, but I was lucky to have my family and my team next to me for support, which made it easier to find inner strength. As we waited for the follow-up test results, I experienced first-hand how challenging the mental battle was going to be. Under the guidance of my doctor, I started taking a daily dose of our full spectrum tinctures and started practicing mindfulness routines like positive affirmations and meditation to help me stay mentally strong throughout the treatment process. Seeing first-hand how much it helped me navigate the hardest time in my life, made it personal for us, and as I went into remission, we decided to launch the Leafwell Botanicals brand to help others striving for that mind-body-spirit connection to live their best lives.