Welcome friends, it’s Catherine Sidman, @Sidco_Cat and this is my podcast. As a cannabis industry professional for the last decade, I have unique access to the experts, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who make this industry great! Join me and my guests as we dive into the people, processes and products that make up this wild ecosystem of cannabis, psychedelics and emerging medicines.
This interview checks all my boxes: we have science, we have girl power, we have canna mom energy and we have a love the plant and the stewards of it. I’ve gotten to see Jill demonstrate the Orange Photonics Light Lab at a couple of shows and a good Life Gang event in Miami. It is a hoot to walk up to a dab bar, had off a sample to Jill for analysis, take a dab, and by the time you are done exhaling, have a potency number. But this little orange pelican case is more than a party trick. The Light Lab makes in-house QC approachable at reasonable price with low technical requirements. I’ll let Jill tell you about the box, I’ll tell you about Jill. Like so many of my colleagues in the space, she had a career in full swing when an opportunity in cannabis presented itself and she jumped in with both feet.
The transition from electronics, aerospace and pharma to Cannabis is one of the seminal events in my life. In terms of my career growth, personal relationships and overall outlook on life, there are very few other moves that have had such a huge impact. Coming into Cannabis when I did was a once in a lifetime opportunity. How often is there really anything new? Even in this age of technological advancements, there is very little that is truly new. Being here, in this space, for the sunset of the prohibition of this plant, is an honor. Even with the mixed bag that is the regulated industry, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I’m not going to lie, friends, my experience over the last few years of industry growth has left me a little salty, a little jaded . . . I am kind of a chalky diamond at this point. My crystal structure is there but something is in the lattice, and it just isn’t growing right. Sure, you can sell it, but people know it isn’t what it could be. Jill reminded me, both in the conversation and our real-life conversations, how exciting it is to have a tool that is useful to customers whose products you love. It is exciting to serve this market because we are our customers’, customers! Gals like me and Jill have been in lots of labs, have sold a lot of equipment and consumables, we have been of service to science—some of it was even interesting. But we both found a home, right here in cannabis. It is the plant, of course, but without the stewards of it—without the farmers and processors, I wouldn’t have a relationship with the plant. Helping those who toil to provide access is my favorite. It’s Jill’s favorite. I’ll be it’s your favorite too. And now, let’s chat with Jill Carriero from Orange Photonics.