Featured Past
Sessions

Understanding COGs and Margins for Profitability

Well-priced products are the basis of a profitable and sustainable business.  Cost of goods sold (COGs) and product margins are both critical to understand in order to get your products priced appropriately.  This class will teach you how to calculate COGs and margins to support a thriving business. 

With Sandra Velasquez

Lab Testing for Herbal Products

Lab testing can help ensure that your herbal products are safe and meet FDA expectations, but it can be hard to know what tests are right for your products. Let's talk about botanical identity, phytochemicals, contaminants like microbes, heavy metals, and pesticides as they apply to your herbal business. We'll discuss the types of tests available, their relative costs, what they tell you, and which are most important to your specific product types including herbal supplement products and cosmetics. Vendor qualification programs will also be discussed as a way for small businesses to make the most of their testing budget.

With Amanda Souther

Mission-Driven Marketing

Why does the world need your business? You probably know, but do your customers know? Weaving your values and mission into your marketing can help consumers connect with the magic your brand brings and can help you create a loyal customer base.  We’ll talk about how you can use the mission lens to craft an ownable marketing strategy, messaging, and communication hierarchy.

With Daniella Allam

Success Story Interview: Golde

Golde was born in Brooklyn in 2017 from a 1-bedroom apartment. Founder Trinity Mouzon Wofford teamed up with her partner, Issey, to launch Golde with a single product (the Original Turmeric Latte Blend!) Since then, they've grown to a small-but-mighty team and have shared their superfood essentials with thousands of supporters.

With Trinity Mouzon Wofford

Scaling Up Your Botanical Ingredient Purchasing

Many herbal businesses start small – buying a few pounds of herbs and other ingredients from suppliers that provide everything.   What do you do as your business grows and you need larger quantities? How do you find specialty suppliers? Is it possible to shorten your supply chain and work directly with growers and producers?  How do you develop good relationships with suppliers?  These questions and more will be covered to help you develop the supply chain that meets your business needs and ethics. 

With Ben LeVine

How to Get the Most from Branding & Packaging Design

In this workshop, we will explore how to effectively communicate your brand vision and goals to a designer, how to provide useful feedback and direction during the design process, and how to make the most of the designer's expertise to create impactful and effective branding and packaging.

With Kristine Arth

Plant Stewardship in Your Herbal Supply Chain

Good herbal product formulation and sourcing are critical for plant conservation.  We’ll talk about how to evaluate the botanicals going into your products and share some tools and resources to ensure that your supply is sustainable. 

With Susan Leopold, Ph.D.

Success Story Interview: Meow Meow Tweet

Meow Meow Tweet’s mission is to create ethical and natural personal care products that are not stressful to the earth, do not harm animals, are manufactured and packaged in a positive work environment, and are presented to the consumer at an accessible price point. 

With Tara Pelletier and Jeff Kurosaki

The 411 on Operating a Successful, Compliant, & Ethical Herbal Business (BIPOC only) (live, not recorded)

Join community herbalists and educators Amanda David and Mandana Boushee as they share their personal and collective experiences navigating their herbal businesses and endeavors over the span of two decades. In this knowledge share, they will review the basics of standard operating procedures and structure and function language needed to run an FDA-compliant herbal apothecary and/or clinical practice. They aim to share this information in an accessible and approachable way, with everyone leaving with tangible and concrete tools to weave into their businesses. Finally, they'll spend time discussing how they've managed to build successful and sustainable careers as herbalists without making compromises around our ethics and values as anti-capitalists and earth stewards as they orient towards an ever-evolving herbal economic landscape. 

NOTE: This class will only be live at the conference and not recorded.

With Amanda David and Mandana Boushee

Building a Unique and Ownable Brand Voice

This session is for herbal product entrepreneurs who want to create a unique and ownable brand voice that resonates with the purpose and people. You'll learn how to communicate your brand's values and mission while developing a voice that resonates with your community. With real-world examples, you'll discover how to inject personality into your messaging and stand out from others. By the end of the workshop, you'll have the tools to build deeper connections with your customers and create a loyal following for your herbal product brand.

With Summer Singletary

Watch these and more Emblossom Conference recordings.