AZ Marijuana Arizona Marijuana Info
New Jersey mom and former Wall Street investment banking executive, Beth Stavola, has become a powerful force in the Arizona medical marijuana industry. Stavola decided to leave Wall Street years ago to purchase two Health for Life dispensaries in Mesa and launch the CBD for Life product line.
Before hopping a plane to Phoenix, Stavola had no experience in the medical marijuana industry, Asbury Park Press reports. In fact, she hadn’t ever given marijuana a thought before. She learned of the opportunity to purchase an Arizona dispensary from an investment adviser.
She said, “I got on a plane. I didn’t know what to expect. I was nervous. Do I need bodyguards? Machine guns? But once I saw the opportunity, I got more excited.”
To create her own blend of CBD products, Stavola hired a team of chemists who’d worked with major cosmetic companies to make sure her products would be highly effective. CBD for Life’s products are available online and in several dispensaries throughout Arizona.
Stavola said, “We were getting all this CBD stuff in the dispensaries. And customers said it was helping them. But it all looked like it was formulated in someone’s basement.
She wanted her dispensaries to be as upscale as her product line. She said, “Our stores in Arizona are high end. I want people to feel really comfortable – not like doing a drug deal on the corner. Our shops have marble countertops and hardwood floors. Our consultants are called consultants and are trained to be consultants, not just salespeople. We keep an anonymous database to learn more about how different products helped our customers so we can learn more about their effectiveness.”
Regarding her success in the industry, she said, “The best day of my professional career was being able to give a significant amount of stock options to my 120 employees.”
Stavola will be branching out to both Nevada and Maryland. She has cultivation and processing facility licenses in Nevada, as well as dispensaries in Nevada. She hopes to open her Maryland operations by December 2017.
Photo: fb.com/cbdforlife
