Angela Pih, CMO of True Terpenes – Interview Series

Anyone with sales or marketing experience knows that driving success involves far more than simply asking if a customer is interested in a product. True effectiveness comes when leadership understands the precise motivations behind a purchase and how a product can streamline or improve business operations. Whether gained through hands-on industry experience or a deep grasp of consumer behavior, this insight is essential. In a young, fast-moving space like cannabis, it is especially valuable when marketing leaders bring cross-sector expertise—spanning cultivation and branding to vape battery technology and terpene science.

To take a closer look at effective marketing strategies and cross-sector leadership in cannabis, mycannabis.com spoke with Angela Pih, CMO of True Terpenes.

What subjects did you study at the University of Toronto, and what were the most useful courses you took there?

In freshman year, I started as a Commerce and Finance major. Took an elective in Sociology, read The Manifesto by Karl Marx and it changed my worldview.  

I shifted my major to Sociology, focusing on Group Dynamics, a study of behavioral and psychological forces that operate within and between social groups. It looks at how social interactions shape individual behaviors, establish cultural norms, and influence collective decision making.  

They taught me to pay attention to how people make decisions, how social influence operates and how individuals behave differently within a group. Those lessons have remained highly relevant throughout my career. Marketing is ultimately about understanding people: what motivates them, what earns their trust and what moves them to act.  

Group dynamics has also shaped how I build teams, navigate different organizational cultures and bring people together around a shared vision.

While working at Saatchi, what were the main types of businesses you worked with? What industries were they primarily in and how did you have to change your duties based on whatever industry they worked in?

At Saatchi & Saatchi, I worked across a diverse portfolio of global brands, including Procter & Gamble on brands such as Tide and Olay, Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol, British Airways and  HSBC. That gave me experience across consumer-packaged goods, beauty, healthcare, travel and financial services. 

The fundamentals of marketing remained consistent: understand the consumer, identify the brand’s meaningful point of difference and communicate it in a way that earns attention and trust.  

But the emphasis changed considerably by category. With Tide, I was on the team that launched TIDE in China, creating a mid-price tier in a new market where product performance and expectations are different. Olay required a deeper understanding of beauty, aspiration and personal confidence with women who did not grow up with beauty routines passed on from their mothers. Tylenol demanded credibility, clarity and sensitivity because healthcare communications carry a different level of responsibility. British Airways was about turning travel into an emotional experience, while HSBC required us to have commercial trust and global capability. 

That experience taught me that strong marketers do not impose the same playbook on every business. You preserve the strategic discipline while adapting the values, tone and execution to the consumer, the category and its cultural environment.

As someone who has worked in marketing and advertising in cities across the world, everywhere from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, what are the biggest differences in successful advertising strategies between different countries? Are some advertising regulations stricter in some countries than others, and how did you adapt to those huge changes?

The biggest lesson is that a globally consistent brand cannot rely on globally identical execution. Culture shapes how people interpret humor, authority, aspiration, beauty, family and success. A  message that feels confident in one market can feel overly aggressive in another, while an emotional story that resonates deeply in one culture may not translate at all in another. 

The media environment also changes the strategy. Los Angeles is shaped by entertainment, lifestyle and identity. Hong Kong is dense, fast-moving and highly international, so communication often has to work quickly and across languages and cultural reference points. 

Regulatory frameworks vary significantly by country and industries, especially in healthcare, financial services, and cannabis. I learned by identifying the most restrictive interpretations and  cross-referenced with consumer insights, not simply translate an American campaign. The discipline is to protect the core truth of the brand while adapting the expression to local culture,  consumer behavior, media habits and regulation.

When did you first begin working with cannabis brands? How did your years of experience provide you with extra expertise and understanding when you started working with those first cannabis companies?

I entered the cannabis industry in 2019 as Chief Marketing Officer of Papa & Barkley. It was a masterclass in cannabis because the company was purpose-led, product-focused and grounded in an authentic founder story. It was a company committed to capturing the first cannabis conversation with solventless solutions.  

I brought experience from global advertising, consumer packaged goods, beauty, wellness and  lifestyle brands, but I did not assume that the same playbook would simply be transferred into  cannabis. I immersed myself in the plant, the regulations, the supply chain, retail, budtender education and the culture surrounding the category. 

My previous experience helped me bring strategic discipline to positioning, portfolio architecture, product innovation and consumer insight. Cannabis taught me to apply that discipline with greater humility, adaptability and respect for the community that built the industry.

Given your experience in the California industry, how did you ensure the brands you worked with stood out and succeeded even in a saturated market with a rampant illicit market?

In a saturated market, being different is not enough. A brand must be meaningfully different and give customers and consumers a clear reason to trust it. In California, that meant starting with a sharp clarity on who we are designing for, a genuine product advantage and how to support dispensaries. 

The illicit market also creates a value challenge because licensed brands carry taxes, testing and compliance costs that unlicensed operators do not. Legal brands cannot win that battle on price alone. They have to make safety, consistency, transparency and experience tangible, while still delivering quality consumers believe is worth paying for. 

I also believe brands must own the full path to purchase. Dispensaries are essential partners. Successful marketing connects brand narrative, education, budtender advocacy, digital discovery, retail execution and retention. The goal is not only to earn the first purchase, but to create enough  trust and relevance to earn the next one.

With True Terpenes, how do you use your cannabis experience to understand what your customers need and appeal to those needs? What is so revolutionary about Headstash, LOUD Flavors, and the further research into terpenes that True Terpenes is doing?

Having worked inside cannabis brands and operators in the US and globally, I understand that our customers are not simply buying an ingredient. They are trying to create a differentiated consumer experience that can be scaled consistently, meet rigorous safety standards and across markets. My role is to connect our sensory expertise and scientific rigor to those commercial realities. 

Headstash addresses a fundamental challenge in cannabis processing: time, heat and manufacturing can diminish many of the volatile aromatic compounds that give exceptional flower its complexity. Headstash combines high-terpene extract with natural aromatic volatiles to bring a fuller, more authentic expression of cannabis aroma and flavor. 

LOUD Flavors solves a different need. Consumers increasingly want bold, recognizable flavors, but intensity alone can become flat or artificial. LOUD was developed to deliver flavor in high definition, so fruit remains vibrant, cream stays rich and citrus stays crisp, with each note coming through where it belongs. 

What is most exciting about True Terpenes is the combination of sensory authority, scientific expertise and operational precision. We study how aroma and flavor behave in the finished application, not just how they smell in a bottle. That helps our customers move faster, reduce formulation uncertainty from batch to batch and deliver a consistent consumer experience at scale.

Outside of cannabis businesses, what are some common types of businesses that True Terpenes works with and markets to? How do those companies utilize True Terpenes’ products and formulations in their own production processes?

Terpenes have applications well beyond cannabis. They are used by companies working in food and beverages. Depending on the application, they can contribute a recognizable flavor, shape an aromatic profile, improve the overall sensory experience or help a product stand apart in a crowded category. 

Because terpenes are highly concentrated, formulation and consistency matter. True Terpenes works as a B2B partner, helping brands select or develop the appropriate profile and incorporate it at production scale. Our value is helping our customers build an enduring competitive advantage. 

What are some of the most prestigious awards and accomplishments you have received over your years of working in cannabis?

I am proud to have received three Cannabis CLIO Awards: a 2021 Silver for the CannaCraft Budtender Academy and two 2020 Bronze awards for Papa & Barkley’s Well Connected and a heartfelt patient testimonial, Serly’s Story. I also received the 2023 Green Market Report Women’s  Leadership Award in Science and Research, and was recognized in the 2025 Best of MJBiz  Awards for Women in Cannabis Leadership. 

I have been named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Cannabis by Global Cannabis Times and a Master of Brands by High Times. Serving as the 2023 CLIO Cannabis Jury Chair was especially meaningful because it gave me the opportunity to help recognize campaigns that was not only creatively executed, but also advanced the industry.

Awards are an honor, but what matters most to me is the work behind them, building brands, developing teams and helping cannabis earn greater trust, relevance and cultural legitimacy.

In your opinion, what have been the most meaningful episodes of Branding Like a Boss and why do you feel that those episodes were so thoughtful?

One episode that was especially meaningful to me was my conversation with Lulu Tsui, co-founder and Chief Experience Officer of On The Revel. Lulu has helped build New York’s most influential cannabis communities by approaching events as thoughtfully designed experiences, not simply commercial transactions. 

Our conversation explored how authentic communities are built through inclusion, education and genuine human connection. What began as a small gathering grew into Revelry and the Revelry  Buyers Club because the community felt seen and welcomed. 

Her story resonated with me both professionally and personally, it amplifies the importance of representation and creating space for voices that have not always been at the center. We also share the belief that a brand is not just what a company says. It is how people experience it and whether they feel they belong. 

That episode captured what I want Branding Like a Boss to be: a thoughtful conversation about the human decisions, values and relationships behind building an enduring brand.

What are your regular duties as a board member of Loyola Marymount University’s School of Marketing? How does that role give you an even greater understanding of successful marketing strategies?

As an advisory board member, I participate in Loyola Marymount University’s M-School of  Marketing, helping to shape the next generation of marketers. I bring an industry perspective informed by working across global brands, emerging categories and rapidly changing consumer behavior.

How do you see marketing and advertising within the cannabis industry changing and evolving over the next few years? Do you envision a rescheduling to Schedule III changing the regulations and possibilities surrounding cannabis marketing?

Cannabis marketing is becoming more data-led. The next phase will be less about broad claims and cannabis clichés and more about distinct audiences, specific occasions, product experience and measurable business outcomes. Brands will need stronger consumer insight, better first-party data and a clearer connection between marketing activity, retail conversion and repeat purchase. 

I also expect sensory experience to become a more important source of brand differentiation. As product formats become more familiar, consumers will judge cannabis brands with the same expectations they bring to food, beverage, beauty and everyday consumer categories: Does it taste good? Is it consistent? Does it fit naturally into my life? Can I trust it? 

Schedule III could be an important step, particularly by recognizing accepted medical use, encouraging research and potentially relieving the burden of Section 280E. That could give licensed operators more resources to invest in brand building, innovation and consumer education.  

The larger change would be one of legitimacy. As policy, research and public understanding evolve, cannabis marketing should become more evidence-based, more responsive and more integrated into mainstream consumer culture.

Thank you for joining us, Angela! For more information on True Terpenes, please visit its website.