Carrie Mapes, Co-Founder OF Hello Again- Interview Series

“Women make up almost two-thirds of U.S. CBD users.”

This has been revealed by a gender study that was carried out by NielsenIQ. The study also revealed that 1 in every 3 women in the U.S is likely to use a CBD product in the next year. THC/CBD brands that hope to maintain their relevance have no choice but to develop female-focused THC/CBD products that meet the dynamic needs of this clientele. And who is better placed to develop such products than “herself?”

We love the idea of women taking back this space, which has been shared since puberty and using it for their own wellness.  GYNOMITE!

Carrie Mapes, co-founder of Hello Again

Meet Carrie

Carrie Mapes is the co-founder of Hello Again. Her personal experience with menopause left her reeling from brain fog and energy loss, but now, with her symptoms under control, she feels empowered and ready for adventure.

After a curious visit to a dispensary with Co-Founder Patty Pappas, the two realized that cannabis could treat many of the symptoms associated with menopause, and Hello Again was born. Before founding the brand, Mapes was a teacher, a Crisis Text Line counselor, an artist, and a stay-at-home mother. Surprisingly (and yet completely unsurprisingly), the skills she honed as a mother and community volunteer translated to running the brand seamlessly. At Hello Again, Carrie focuses on the client-facing aspects of the brand and cooks up marketing strategies, customer experiences, and dispensary outreach. When not slaying in business, Carrie paints, plays paddle tennis, and cheers for UCLA and the Dodgers.

What prompted you to get into the cannabis industry? Were you always passionate about women's issues, and specifically the challenges that come with menopause?

In our 50s, Patty and I went to our first dispensary out of curiosity.  Adult-use dispensaries were beginning to pop up in Los Angeles and we decided to check one out.  There we learned how cannabis works in the body and what conditions cannabis can address: anxiety, mood, temperature regulation, brain fog, focus, pain, sleep.  We recognized all of these conditions as part of menopause.  It was our introduction to cannabis that drove us to creatively solve our own menopause.

Hello Again is a female-centric cannabis brand. Do you feel like women are well represented in the cannabis industry?

Since Hello Again vaginal suppositories have been on the shelf, we have seen a burst of female-founded female-focused brands enter the California market.  Our relationships with these women have been terrific and one of our favored parts of this journey.  Because of the space we fill and the events we participate in, it is easy for us to feel as though women are well-represented in the cannabis industry.  Large-scale trade shows, however, serve as a reminder that the cannabis industry is still largely male and the culture largely reflects that.

You have a unique product, the vaginal suppository. What motivated you to create this particular product and what has been the general market response to this product?

Early in the conceptualization phase for Hello Again, Patty and I realized that in order to deliver a consistent experience without a psychoactive high, our product needed to be a vaginal suppository.  The vaginal delivery system bypasses the digestive system and the liver, therefore avoiding inconsistency provided by stomach contents and metabolism speed.  Avoiding liver metabolism is key to providing a non-psychoactive experience as the metabolism of THC in the liver generates a biological by-product that is also psych-active.  The female reproductive tract is very dense with cannabinoid receptors, so a vaginal suppository delivers the cannabinoids (and other botanicals) directly to the receptors in the local area.  Once we knew our product needed to be a vaginal suppository, we knew we could also address vaginal dryness, a common experience as women age.

We love the idea of women taking back this space, which has been shared since puberty and using it for their own wellness.  GYNOMITE!

Menopause is a “hushed” conversation, but Hello Again is breaking the silence on this issue. What has the journey been like?

We hope our customer-facing brand presence reflects our outlook on menopause and this phase of life.  From the very beginning, Patty and I knew we did not want Hello Again’s messaging to be negative about menopause or aging.  We encourage women to take care of themselves, to consider the power of cannabis to balance the body’s systems and to view this stage of life as an opportunity.  We urge women to strengthen the V-Force by being fully present in their lives and we know women need to feel like themselves in order to make this happen.

What changes do you hope to see in the legal cannabis industry in the near future?

We believe Hello Again is part of the de-stigmatization of cannabis and the movement to consider cannabis use for wellness.  This de-stigmatization will help in the eventual declassification of cannabis.  In the meantime, the cannabis industry needs and deserves safe, reliable banking.

About Hello Again

Hello Again is a Los Angeles-based, unique cannabis brand founded to take on the symptoms of menopause.  Their small but mighty vaginal suppositories combine the medicinal powers of cannabis with specific botanicals to relieve brain fog, hot flashes, irritability, vaginal dryness, as well as provide sleep.  Women of all ages can also use Hello Again to relieve anxiety, menstrual cramps, and endometriosis pain.  All this relief without a head high!  Founded by friends Carrie Mapes and Patty Pappas, Hello Again is committed to helping women feel like themselves again and get on with the business of their lives. GYNOMITE!

Thank you for the great interview, packaging waste in the cannabis industry is one of the biggest challenges that we have to overcome, I’m happy to see that you are leading the path forward. Readers who wish to learn more should visit Hello Again.