Carrie Mapes is the co-founder of Hello Again. Her personal experience with menopause left her reeling from brain fog and energy loss, but now, with her symptoms under control, she feels empowered and ready for adventure. After a curious visit to a dispensary with co-founder Patty Pappas, the two realized that cannabis could treat many of the symptoms associated with menopause and Hello Again was born. Before founding the brand, Mapes was a teacher, a crisis text line counsellor, an artist, and a stay at home mother. Surprisingly, and yet completely un-surprisingly, the skills she honed as a mother and community volunteer translated to running the brand seamlessly. At Hello Again, Mapes focuses on the client-facing aspects of the brand and cooks up marketing strategies, customer experiences, and dispensary outreach. Mapes also enjoys painting, playing paddle tennis, and cheering for UCLA and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Area Code 420 (AC 420): How was the Hello Again product conceived? What motivated you to develop such a product?

Mapes: My friend and co-founder, Patty Pappas, and I had recently become empty-nesters and took our first trip to a dispensary. The Pottery in Los Angeles is a beautiful store and there we received a thorough education on how cannabis works in the body and what conditions cannabis can successfully address.

We knew right then that we wanted to use cannabis to lift our own menopause-related physical, emotional, and cognitive struggles without experiencing the typical psychoactivity.

But what we wanted was nowhere to be found. There were plenty of end of the day products for pain relief and recreational products, but nothing that utilized THC/CBD to balance a woman’s systems without the accompanying head high. So, we dedicated ourselves to formulating, branding, and marketing Hello Again. Hello Again is indeed the first of its kind. Not only are we the only cannabis brand that exists solely for female non-psychoactive wellness, but also the only cannabis brand specifically formulated for women in menopause. 

AC 420: Were you a user of CBD products prior to developing Hello Again?

Mapes: I, like many people, did not really understand what CBD was. I knew it was cannabis-related and I did not understand or consider cannabis for my recreation or wellness.

In my 50s, I opened myself up to cannabis, created the product I needed and became a first-time entrepreneur. Patty and I owe a lot to Hello Again. First and foremost, it is allowing us to feel like ourselves again through good nights of sleep, control over our body temperatures, even moods, mental clarity, and relief from pain and dryness.

The creation, launch, and growth of Hello Again has offered us an opportunity to work and grow as human beings once our jobs as hands-on parents ended. 

AC 420: What do you feel is your biggest business challenge?

Mapes: Our unique challenge is destigmatizing cannabis and educating our customers about not only cannabis, but also menopause. The most acute symptomatic time for a woman is not when she finally stops her period, but for the 5-to-10 years before when she may not realize that her physical, emotional, and cognitive challenges are due to the hormonal chaos of perimenopause.

Women rarely want to identify with menopause because they think of something that happens to old grannies. Today’s woman in her 50s is leading a vibrant, demanding, and modern life. We hear from women all the time that they cannot sleep, have anxiety, and are experiencing mental fog, but they sometimes say they are not in menopause.

In the end, our job is not to convince or diagnose them with menopause. Our job is to make women aware of this effective, natural, non-psychoactive option. 

AC 420: At this early stage, do you have plans for additional CBD feminine products?

Mapes: Our products were designed for women in menopause. However, it did not take long after our launch to hear from women of all ages who were finding relief from menstrual cramps, endometriosis pain, arthritis, bursitis, and more. We are currently formulating specific products for these women.

AC 420: What are the top two metrics you will be paying closest attention to?

Mapes: We always have our eye on the federal declassification of cannabis as a schedule 1 drug and the potential changes that will bring to cannabis businesses.

We know the strength of our brand depends upon slow, organic growth. The single most powerful recommendation for personal products happens between a satisfied customer and a potential customer. 

AC 420: Where can the product be purchased and what’s the price point?

Mapes: Hello Again cannabis-based vaginal suppositories can be purchased at licensed dispensaries in California. We are currently available from Redding through San Diego, CA. Our website, www.helloagainproducts.com helps women find dispensaries or delivery services in their area. 

Pricing varies from city to city because of the independent city cannabis taxes. To make it more complicated, some dispensaries choose to bake those taxes into the listing price and others choose to tag them on at the end. Customers can see variation in list prices for these reasons. In general, our eight-unit boxes sell for around $42-$50. That puts the price per suppository at about the same price as a specialty coffee or cold-pressed juice. We call that a bargain for a good night’s sleep and a good day’s work.

AC 420: As co-founder, what keeps you up at night?

Mapes: Access to customer data is complicated and scarce in the cannabis industry. Hello Again exists solely to meet the needs of our customers, but we are challenged to access those women. We have to come up with ways to survey and reach our customers in order to meet their needs.

AC 420: What excites you most about your company?

Mapes: We are bringing an effective product to a group of women who have been underserved.

AC 420: What is your favorite funny story about yourself?

Mapes: As a fairly strait-laced girl who grew up during the war on drugs, there are plenty of people who would think it is funny that I started a cannabis brand.

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Sheldon Baker is CEO of the Baker Dillon Group LLC and has created numerous nutraceutical brand marketing communications and public relations campaigns for many well-known supplement and food industry companies. For interview consideration or brand marketing consulting, contact him at Contact@The420AreaCode.com.