 I'm Mellie James, host of Let's Mana Up. This show is meant to dive into stories of local product entrepreneurs and how they're growing their companies from right here in Hawaii. My guests today are Steve Sakala, co-founder and Shamir Britt, director of product at Mana Artisan Botanics and headquartered in Hawaii Island, KonaSide. And so welcome to the show, guys. Thanks so much for having us. Yeah. So why don't we have you guys start off by sharing how'd you get started? How'd the company get started? Oh, well, a little bit of a long story, but... We've got time. All right, excellent. So my passion for many, many years has been sustainable regenerative agriculture. And I've been in Hawaii now almost 15 years. And through my time in Hawaii, with the really kind of development of how do we make a sustainable living in Hawaii as organic farmers, hemp was certainly always a part of that. And I was a young activist right out of high school working on the hemp campaign in California. I had to work with one of the legends, Jack Carrera early on in the early 90s. So in 96, when we got the medical marijuana act passed in California, that really started this journey. And so when I got to Hawaii, I was really thinking about how do we begin to think about building a sustainable industry with hemp? And so that really started my entry into the farmers union where I became president in Kona for a few years and working with Scott Inwright, the director of agriculture here in Hawaii, how do we bring hemp to Hawaii? And so through that journey, we worked through policy and I started Hawaii's first CBD Hemp company about six years ago. And we knew that hemp was gonna take a little longer to come to Hawaii to grow, but I didn't wanna delay starting the products and really highlighting Hawaiian agriculture. So- Which makes a lot of sense because we've got a lot of that cache, especially, well, some of the other kind of the cannabis side of things. Right. And just everyone, you know, Hawaii's just got that kind of magic that people, everything, anything that's grown here is obviously better than being grown anywhere else. That's right. The brand of Hawaiian agriculture goes worldwide. And so I didn't wanna miss the opportunity because the industry was growing rapidly. We started a product line and that was called High CBD Organics. And then we had some folks come and stay on the farm with us. We do short-term stays on the farm so that they can come and experience sustainability at that level. And they decided to assist us and we took on some partners and started Mono-Artisan Botanics about three years ago. Wow. So I know we've got some images of the farm. Yeah. You can take a look. And you said it's near Kiala Kikua. Yeah, so- How far down is it? Yeah, so our farm is about 30 minutes south of Kailua Kona. And we are at the elevation of about 1,500 feet. And the farm is actually located directly between Kiala Kikua Bay and Honanau Bay, so Honanau National Park. So it's a really ideal location for growing so many of our ingredients that we end up using at Mono-Artisan Botanics and just a lovely temperature and growing conditions. Yeah. I know we have Shamir here, who's the director of product. So at the farm, you guys grow a lot of these really interesting ingredients that enhance, I guess, the hemp products. Can you share more about all that work? Sure, sure. So in addition to highlighting Hawaiian agriculture and how beneficial that can be for the community and for the land, we're really inspired to create products that really entice people to enjoy them on a daily basis and really support their health and wellness versus only taking it because they have to. We want to inspire people to do good. But part of that was complementing all of the virtues of hemp with other botanicals that grow very happily there on the farm. So we grow other herbs like turmeric and passionflower, home-free. We infuse our hemp oil with a really delicious aluminium nut oil. So all of these products are unique in that they combine hemp with other beneficial locally grown botanicals that have their own synergistic, helpful contributions to the product. How do you know how to do all that? Like, how do you know that the turmeric enhances or what's the ingredients and how does it enhance each other? It's a lifelong study of really understanding the nutritional benefits of these plants, these medicinal compounds that come together and synergize with our body's natural responses to help support reducing pain or just calming the body and easing the nervous system, being in a state of ease. And it's more about just pairing the plants that work well together and letting them do their magic. They do have similar qualities, like the turmeric. The turmeric, in fact, is one of the most widely studied plant medicines on the planet with several thousand peer-reviewed studies. So it's already a really hot ingredient out in the health food market. And the fact that we can grow it on the farm, produce it organically, regeneratively. It's anti-inflammatory, like some of the benefits of hemp. So it was a natural attempt to synergize. Maybe we should take a look at some of the products and you guys can share what your product offering is. We can talk more about all the cool things going on. Okay, cool. So what's going on here? So this was actually a farm to table dinner that we did to highlight how you can use some of the products. It was really lovely evening and we were highlighting the oils, which are a top-selling product. We have the purple label products, which are tinctures, which are the traditional way to use cannabis in a medicinal way. It's an alcohol extract. And then we have a really delicious lehua honey. So one of the world's rarest honeys from the big island infused with a CBD hemp extract. And what's really great about these products is that they're intended to be enjoyed directly. You can use each of these as they are or you can pull them right into your favorite food or your favorite beverage. And so the idea is to really make it easeful and inspiring for people. I enjoy this. This feels good. This makes me feel good. So I want to enjoy it on a daily basis. So why would someone, I mean, I'm just trying to get back to basics. Yeah. You know, CBD, we're hearing about it so much. We're seeing it in water, we're eating food and these chef's, these amazing dinners and stuff. Absolutely. Why would someone start taking it and what are some of the symptoms? I know you've done quite a bit of research as have you and, you know. Right. Among the macro level. Right. So it's a good question. We're still waiting for a lot of the science to back up what we know as anecdotal evidence. Having been involved for cannabis for over 20 years, it's a broad spectrum. We have an endocannabinoid system in our body. We have more endocannabinoid receptors than any other single receptor system in our body. It's located in our organs, our extremities. We have them in our brain, even in our bones and eyes. So that's skin. Yeah, skin. That's why we get so many diversified benefits from the cannabis plant. And so CBD is the non-psychoactive cannabinoid that we're able to extract from hemp that really gives the body an overall wellness capacity. So it puts your endocrine system on crack. In a good way. You know, it actually helps to support so many different organ systems in the body. So just like we have these receptors. Yeah, it's optimized. It's a super food. It's a whole body. Okay, okay. Yeah. And it really just kind of helps stabilize how all these different organ systems communicate with each other, how they regulate the body, ultimately how we end up feeling on a day-to-day basis, how we'll be sleep, how we'll be focused, how we feel agile and alive. These are all so many different systems communicating in the body at one time. And then this receptor systems throughout the entire body and affects all of those. So it's really incredible. Yeah, because that's, I think for a lot of people, they're like, well, how does it also help you focus but also helps you sleep but also helps you be more agile or not inflamed. So how is it able to do all those things so they seem so different? Right, great question. The endocandaminoid system base function is balance or homeostasis. So that's why it works differently for everybody. If you're needing sleep, it's going to adjust your GABA production. If you are overactive, it can help you focus because it's calming some of the nerves down. So it really does depend on the person and what your system needs is how it's going to react. Which is also why it's really beneficial for both those that have very good health and want to maintain that and support that. And they want to feel the way they feel now, 10 years from now, as much as those that have compromised health that they really wanted more people to support. And what form is most popular or is it all kind of different? No, that's, we see in our business that the drops are typically our best selling and the most popular and typically the oils. They're very mild in flavor. We've made them really delicious with Hawaiian ingredients, of course. So those are going to be the most, and by using them internally, you're getting the most optimized health benefit because you're hitting more of the endocandaminoid receptors. And then I think secondly is the topicals. For those that have the, any information at the skin level, joint challenges, things like that. So. Yeah, I think there's benefits to both. Depending on what people are looking for, certainly the largest benefit would be taking it internally because you're gaining that systemic benefit, that whole body benefit. And then there's advantages for a local application as well. And someone really wants to feel like they can work a specific area or they gain a lot of relief by physical manipulation of the area. Topical application is excellent for that as well. So, you know, they both have their strong suits and they work very well together. I know you started the business six years ago. And it was the first DVD company in Hawaii. And there's quite a bit of competition, you know, nationwide or globally. Like what is that landscape look like and how are you folks, you know, kind of cutting through all that. And obviously you're the best. Well, we have the best tasting for sure. And we pay a lot of attention to organic ingredients, which I think is one of the things that really separates our company out from a lot of the other companies nationwide is we don't just look at is our hemp organic, which is a crucial ingredient to have organic because it's a phytoremediator. So in other words, hemp can pull toxins out of the soil and put it into the plant tissues, which is why a consumer wants to always make sure that they're using an organic cannabis product. So that's one of the reasons why we really focus on Hawaiian grown ingredients that we know where they come from and we develop relationships with our farmers. But it's a really dynamic landscape. It's really fascinating how quickly this industry is grown, mainly because people are seeing such diversified benefits. And it's kind of the balance point to the pharmaceutical challenges that are happening in the health industry. So to have a natural organic alternative and product that can be used for so many different things that is actually good for our bodies instead of just covering a symptom up, it actually gets to the root cause of some of these challenges. But it's difficult to navigate the noise of the industry with thousands and thousands of CBD companies out there, which is why we really focus on our specialty. And that's knowing our farmers high quality ingredients and delicious things. Sounds good. Where's our product? I've got some for you. Oh, thanks. So that kind of goes into like your key messaging. Like there's obviously such a high level of education for the consumers. And granted, I think in the last six years, maybe there were a lot of naysayers or people who didn't understand. How has that changed in the last few years and what have been some of the growth that you've seen because of that awareness? And how are you creating that messaging? Well, I would say with how fast this industry is growing, we're quickly beginning to see more and more educated consumers. And at the same time, we're meeting a lot of newcomers who are curious and interested in how to use these products. Is it good for me? What is best for me? There's a lot of questions and there's a bit of misinformation out there. So there's big opportunities to continually educate, which is a big part of what we do. Because more than anything, we want the people to be able to understand how important it is, their decision-making kind of falls in line with their health. It's not always just about what the product looks like or what the product costs. It's how is this gonna work? How is this going to help me? And more and more people are wanting to understand. They want to understand how. And they're asking more questions, which is great. Yeah, the first few years, we spent almost our entire time talking about what is CBD. The education pathway was our way to reach our consumers. And I'd say we still probably do. I mean, we do very little sales. We do almost all education as far as working with our customers. But it was all about what is CBD. And then Sanjay Gupta's CNN special came out, named Weed 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Ironically enough, it changed the landscape around education. People began to understand what CBD was, through this mainstream media source. And then we got to really refine how we were doing our education, because it wasn't talking about just CBD, it was talking about what are the differentiators and what's the importance of organic agriculture and regenerative agriculture in selecting our ingredients and putting them into a high quality product. And I feel like the more and more people began to learn and hear of these things, the more interested they became. And that's exactly what we want, right? We don't necessarily want someone to make a one, two choice because these are important choices that people are making for their health every single day. And the energy and the intention that we put into creating this line to not only be able to highlight the plants and how important it is to support Hawaiian agriculture and how important it is to support how beneficial the plant is, but also how do we help empower other people to make better choices for their health and wellness? And not fall into the track of this is the magic bullet, this will fix everything. That's one thing that we're often very clear about because sometimes people have these expectations. You know, they have this connection or attachment to immediate gratification because we live in that kind of culture these days. And for us, I think it's also very important to communicate this information in a responsible way and to really help set them up for reasonable expectations about how this actually works in their body and why this is an investment in their health and why they are worth making these choices for very high quality products that help them feel better, that benefit the planet, and support all of these other connected elements in business. Really well said. I'd love to hear more about that and also start talking more about starting business in Hawaii and some of the challenges we have with being entrepreneurs here. We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be back in a couple of minutes. All right. Thanks to our ThinkTech underwriters and grand tours, the Atherton Family Foundation, Carol Monli and the Friends of ThinkTech, the Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education, Collateral Analytics, the Cook Foundation, Dwayne Kurisu, the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Hawaii Council of Associations of Apartment Owners, Hawaii Energy, the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, Hawaiian Electric Company, Integrated Security Technologies, Gailin Ho of BAE Systems, Kamehameha Schools, MW Group, the Shidler Family Foundation, the Sydney Stern Memorial Trust, Volo Foundation, Yuriko J. Sugimura. Thanks so much to you all. Welcome back. I'm Mellie James, host of Let's Mana Up, and we have Steve Sakala and Shamir Britt, who are with Mana Artisan Botanics based in Hawaii Island. Welcome back, guys. Thank you. So I know we were talking at the end about health benefits and getting people on that road. You know, what other types of health benefits or areas that you want to touch on that are related to your product? Yeah, so, you know, we have selected all of our ingredients very consciously to really highlight the nutritional benefits of these products as well as the hemp. So we have actually a few pictures of some of our ingredients. Turmeric is one of our most exciting and diverse ingredients. We grow a majority of our turmeric that we use in our products currently right on Honaonale Farm, which was the birthplace of Mana Artisan Botanics. It's a seven and a half acre pomeculture farm that we grow many medicinal. We have 150 macadamia net trees, over a hundred different fruit trees and medicinal plants. Also raised goats and sheep, chickens and ducks, all kinds of fun critters. So, you know, with those ingredients, we really highlight the nutritional components of our products. And we also work with other local farmers as well. Fantastic family farmers that hold the same high level of respect and understanding of how to cultivate really high quality plants. So kind of talking about the 180 acres in Honaonale, like, right? Or Honaonale Farms, near Kalikikua. How far is that from Kona? So, 30 minutes south, about 15 miles, one road. It's slightly longer drive. Yeah, so, yeah. So being in Hawaii already, we're pretty remote. And then you went to, like, the Big Island and then you went into, like, very deep outside of normal, like, town. But anyway, so, question being, you know, starting a business in Hawaii, what have been some of, like, your lessons that you've learned and then challenges that you guys have faced? That's a really good question. I don't think I ever intended to be a manufacturer. My passion was always the agriculture side. And really when I started to discover CBD and its tremendous health benefits, I knew I wanted to share it and wanted to figure out a way to share it. But I wanted to do that within the context of my passion of agriculture. So, learning how to do manufacturing from an agriculture background was, first of all, a learning opportunity, let's call it. And then discovering how to be a manufacturer in Hawaii was a unique opportunity. I mean, just shipping things in, obviously, to Hawaii to do manufacturing has its challenges and its additional costs. So I think that was one of our major barriers out of the gate. How do we get our manufacturing production up and running in a way that's cost-effective to entrepreneurs and just getting things here was a unique process. I think also growing a team that has the same level of appreciation and desire to make an impact in our community, both small-scale and large-scale, has the drive and the commitment and the curiosity to continue learning because this is such a quickly-growing industry, growing insanely fast. So being able to be fortunate enough to find other team members that are willing to join us on this path is a big one. It's a fast-moving one and there's so much opportunity. And that's certainly been both a challenge and a reward. We had some unique challenges being in the CBD industry, of course. Yeah. A lot of the legalities were moving targets, especially in those early years, which has really, I think, flattened out with the support of our national legislature passing laws that really support the agriculture of hemp and see the diversity of potential. But in those first couple of years, merchant providers, especially from here in Hawaii, trying to figure that out with those moving targets. So with the medical cannabis dispensaries during that same time, was that helpful or how did that impact? Yeah, it's a good question. I don't think it really had any parallel impact, at least not here in Hawaii. I'd say on the mainland, there was a lot of parallel development, certainly Colorado being the first state that went legal and also the state that really pioneered hemp growing or back again. I would think there was a lot of parallels coming out of Colorado, but not really for us here in Hawaii. The dispensaries really are regulated under such different laws that it didn't have much of an impact in our CBD. So what's coming up next for you guys? So you got started six years ago growing the farms going well. You've got all these incredible tasting, making it taste better and enhancing all the ingredients. And I know that you guys opened up where people can purchase the store in Kona. We do. We have a retail space. People can come in and do tastings. Maybe we can bring up our product shot. We have a really nice array of products. Green labeled ones are topicals. All the others are ingestibles or can be used as ingestibles. So yeah, they can come right into our shop in downtown Kona. We're also in quite a few stores here on Oahu. We try and offer tastings when we're around. We're going to be at the Kala Hotel. A couple nights from now are actually tomorrow night. Four seasons on Saturday. So people can come and taste. But there's a lot of new products coming. Oh really? We can't share those yet? Secret? Not just yet. But we'll say that there's a lot more opportunity to incorporate. There will be more opportunity to incorporate more amount of products in different aspects of your day to day. So for instance, our topical products are excellent because they can be used for multiple things. Our orange and red labeled products are honey and our oil. Those are mixed use products. So they're delicious, you know, taken as is. But they're also really lovely on the skin topically. And we'll be... The honey on the skin? Yes. It's amazing. I wear it as a facial mask on a regular basis. Wow. Think of it like the Manuka honey, right? If you get a nick or a scrape or something like that. A viral antibacterial. That's the qualities of honey itself. And then the cannabis really highlights those qualities. We're excited to continue highlighting each of these products as really special moments. You know, these are opportunities for you to connect with yourself, to treat yourself. For me, one of my biggest inspirations with the line is kind of a symbolism of a sign of respect for ourselves and for the planet by choosing to use products that are made with such high quality ingredients. You know, this is an act, an opportunity of ritual, an opportunity to pause, to care of ourselves on a regular basis. And I think we can all use a little bit more of that every day. I could. I definitely could. So kind of speaking of that, who's your target demographic or what has been most successful? Yeah, it's a great question. I think anybody that's really looking for a health conscious choice when it comes to CBD, we were certainly one of the leaders by using organic ingredients. For those that are looking for the organic foods, health food, choppers. But one of our best and fastest growing channels is the spa channel. So massage, facials, those are, and Shamir really covers that channel. Yeah, we've definitely discovered how much the spa market really is a bridge for so many people to start discovering other ways in which they can implement better and improve self-care practices. So, you know, we really like to praise, you know, the spa teams and the people that are facilitating these experiences for people that are coming to them for respite, but oftentimes are really only considering that as a treat, as a once in a while thing, as a gift, or as a surprise. And so there's ample opportunity to introduce really high quality options for them to have an amazing experience there at the spa and then also carry that back home with them, take it with them when they're traveling on their work trip. Take it before bed, give it to their grandparents because these are all tokens of better self-care. So, you know, for us, the spa scene, and we've been so well received in that market in particular, we're really, really excited about that. A lot of growth potential there. Yogis too, I think those that are real health conscious that are also very active, your joggers, you know, working out regularly and especially the yogis, really appreciate that with the high quality ingredients as well. So can you share which stores you're at? So if anybody listening or watching those where they can get your stuff, I know it online as well. Mono Artisan Botanics. Yep, monobotanics.com. Monobotanics.com, okay. You know the stores probably a little bit better. Well, you can find us Heaven and Earth, Despawn Salon here in Honolulu. You can find us on the Big Island at various places. So we have many local retailers on the island like Clean Pot USA. We have spas like Four Seasons, Huala Lai. We'll soon be in Coquillo, which is the private resort community. We have some other like actually many retail partners on the mainland, additional spas like Cable Mountain Spa in Utah, the estate at Yontville and Napa. Kahala here. Great. You can go into the spa and buy there as well. The easiest is a lot of it's online. Yes. If you want to deliver to your door. Absolutely. Yeah. So how can the community, you know, help you? How can the community support? Yeah. I think for me, really, this is something that I have always been passionate about. And that's along with our education, belief in education. You know, seek out products that support a farmer that's farming with respect to the land. And that helps all of Hawaiian, all of us and not just our company. But, you know, look for those, those products that are using high quality ingredients, organic products, support Hawaiian farmers. We're all out there trying to do the right thing. For those of us that think about organic and regenerative agriculture support, it's going to be a little bit more in price, but that puts the respect to the land and to the farm. And on that note, just because we, we place so much emphasis and care around the quality of the plants that we use. It's also one of the reasons why we have always been and will always be an isolate free company. So all of our hemp based products are made with a whole plant, full spectrum extract. It means that we're not working with one particular plant compound. We're working with all of the naturally occurring compounds, and they really synergize and work together to communicate along with the other compounds in the botanicals and products to really create a better and enhanced experience and feeling in the body. That's what isolate free means. Yes. Isolate free means that we're working with the entire naturally occurring compounds in the plants. Canvas plant has over a hundred different compounds, many, many cannabinoids as well as terpenes. So those in combination are what Shamir was referring to on the science and they call it the entourage effect. All those compounds together is what traditionally gives the health benefit of the cannabis plant. When you use an isolate, you're using only one compound, which is the CBD. So we've avoided that believing that nature knows best and what I have created for our health benefit. I want to thank you guys for being on the show today. Thanks for having us. Learned a lot. And also, you know, great to know that, you know, you're at many different spas and retail locations in Hawaii, but that, you know, easiest place is at mana botanics.com. You got it. So thanks and good luck with the next couple weeks during the holiday season. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. All right. Happy holidays.