Innovating Individuality: How Novel Cannabis Formulations Are Changing Industry Strategies

The founder of the Upward Cannabis Kitchen, Carlton has a passion for crafting high quality cannabis products. Through the development of a tea based cannabis beverage line, Carlton was able to explore ancillary endocannabinoid modulators and the wide world of botanicals and brings this passion into their work as a cook, consultant, and caregiver. When not developing personalized formulations, Carlton helps their mother – Dr. Melanie Bone – with her cannabis wellness practice in South Florida. With the list time remaining, Carlton enjoys volunteering with a local Harm Reduction Group and making art and wonderful memories with friends.

Shea Alderete is a passionate and strategic entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in the cannabis industry. Previously, Shea had a professional career in baseball and recognized that there was a gap in the market for anti-inflammatory medicines for pain relief. Shea has long term experience working with some of reputable brands in the cannabis industry such as Moxie and HTH, where he set the innovative standard for cannabis extraction and paved the way for their success. He has won numerous cannabis product awards with the Cloud Vapes brand, which today is a $70M USD-a-year profitable business. In addition to this, Shea has won the Chalice Cup of California for the best CBD products as well as the Canada Karma Cup for the best vaporizer and terpenes in 2016. Shea Alderete has focused on revolutionizing cannabis for the past decade to provide clean medicine from its extraction. He brings the technical background to produce high quality cannabis product and the innovation of cutting-edge technological processes to Gen X.

Dr. Tristan Watkins is a neuroscientist that studies how terpenes and cannabinoids interact with the nervous system and applies this knowledge to create cannabis formulas that deliver distinct and predictable effects. His cannabis research began as a passion project during graduate school at Vanderbilt University, where he researched reward system activation in cannabis users and how changes in brain structure and function lead to changes in cognition and behavior. Dr. Watkins currently serves as the Chief Science Officer of LucidMood, the leading brand of functional cannabis products.

Randy Reed has more than 18 years’ experience in business management, botanical extraction, cannabinoid delivery systems, patient education, and product development. In 2011 he Founded Remedios Collective, one of Seattle’s original medical marijuana dispensaries.. He is a best in class manufacture across multiple product categories. Winner for “Best Liquid Edible” in the 2017 & 2018 WA Dope Cup, “Best THC cartridge” in the 2018 WA Sun Cup, “Best THC Oil”, “Best CBD Live Resin”, “Most Potent CBD Live resin” 2018 WA Dope Cup and more. Randy has gained a reputation for creating all native terpene and cannabinoid-rich extracts including the first-ever CO2 live resin and the first 100% cannabis-derived terpene beverages. His thought leadership in respect of preservation of native chemovar and minimizing chemovar drift through novel extraction and formulation methods has challenged industry paradigms.

Cannabis breeder and plant scientist specializing in Horticultural Production doing studies at the University of Minnesota. A life long plant enthusiast trained in traditional North American, Lakota Sioux and Ayurvedic herbal medicine. Herbal medicine utilizes the secondary metabolisms of plants to foster good health. These constituents often amount to terpenes, tannins and specialized secretions, which are produced in most plants as part of a natural process to protect growth in midst of adverse conditions (weather, pests) or promote the next phase of growth (seeding, pollination). Understanding what internal and external mechanisms that drive these processes from seed to flower, is paramount in successful horticultural production.