ISA President Jacqueline Rosales Answers Cannabis Questions in San Fernando Valley Business Journal

Rosales spoke to the Business Journal about why ISA started doing market research into cannabis, what people are buying post pandemic and why she admires quarterback Tom Brady

ISA’s company president, Jacqueline Rosales, has been featured in the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. In her interview, Rosales talks about where consumers are coming from post-pandemic: how the big shifts are centered around self-care and self-sufficiency tools. She believes consumers are really focused on the question of how am I going to do things at home?

Rosales gets very personal when she delves into the details of her history with medical cannabis, which is as a result of being involved in an awful car accident in 2015. Because of her multiple injuries and being laid up for a long time, she found a very good health care team who was able to explore cannabis, which eliminated much of the ridiculous amounts of prescription medications. It was this experience that made her realize the huge opportunity there was to be part of the emerging cannabis industry. Fast forward to 2021, and ISA already has two years’ worth of data, thanks to Green Time, a community of cannabis consumers.

Rosales offered her advice to someone looking to start a business: “Take risks. Fail often”. And most importantly: “People. Hire people who are smarter than you”. When she states this, there’s passion in her voice, “I feel that if we have the greatest team that we can do anything!”

ISA President Jacqueline Rosales Profiled by Cannabis Media Outlet, Ganjapreneur

Rosales’ exclusive interview explores how she spearheaded the field of cannabis consumer research. The interview also showcases her predictions for the future of the industry.

ISA announced today that company president, Jacqueline Rosales, will be featured in an upcoming release by Ganjapreneur, an industry-leading cannabis-focused business publication. The extensive interview will be released June 29 on ganjapreneur.com.

In her interview, Rosales, a 25-year veteran of the insights industry, shares her personal history with medical cannabis and talks about what drives her passion for the industry. “After having a personal experience with the benefits of cannabis after a life-changing car accident, I felt even more passionate about helping brands understand how complex and layered the consumers are in this market. Having that perspective helped our teams deliver those “ah-ha” moments of learning to our clients,” Rosales commented in the interview.

In addition, Rosales touches on ISA’s research tools that have been developed specifically to serve the cannabis industry. Rosales and ISA are widely known for founding The Green Time, the world’s first cannabis consumer research community, providing brands with quick, targeted access to cannabis consumers and business leaders. In 2018, ISA grabbed headlines with the launch of the CANNApinion poll, a bi-monthly online survey of 1,000 cannabis consumers, developed to be a low-barrier-to-entry research product for emerging cannabis brands.

When asked about what advice she would give to other entrepreneurs, Rosales describes the importance of building a team with diverse viewpoints and the role of passionate leadership. “My advice is this: be passionate and believe in what you’re doing. Having a way to display your passion is extremely helpful for leaders,” Rosales said.

Ganjapreneur provides up-to-date insights on the cannabis industry for cannabis entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders. Their partnership with ISA began in 2020, when Ganjapreneur published a series of articles about the impact of COVID-19 on cannabis consumption and product preferences, backed by ISA’s data and analysis. Since the launch of their dedicated cannabis division in 2018, ISA has demonstrated their commitment to sharing business intelligence with the cannabis industry. On Monday June 21, at 2 pm PST, ISA’s VP of Demand Adriana Hemans will lead an Arcview mentorship workshop. The interactive 60-minute discussion will feature new research about evolving consumer preferences. On July 27th ISA will bring together a panel of experts to discuss marketing and branding in the cannabis industry, with key takeaways for business leaders.

How Business Leaders are Handling COVID-19 Disruptions

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep families homebound and non-essential businesses shut down, business leaders have been forced to make some tough decisions. We polled business leaders from across the U.S. to find out what measures they’re taking and how they’re feeling about the future.

At SoapBoxSample, we’ve been conducting research aimed at understanding American’s attitudes, perceptions and awareness of COVID-19, throughout every phase of the pandemic.

We recently surveyed 201 business leaders (including owners, managers, and sole proprietors), April 2 – 3, 2020, to learn how COVID-19 has or will affect their businesses. Among key findings, 80% of respondents said they had to make changes to the salary, employment status or daily operations of their business due to COVID-19. Among those who said they had to make changes, 52% noted that the most affected change was to their daily operations. Emotions expressed in the survey ranged from fear to anger to hope.

“Depending on how long the pandemic lasts, it could destroy our business in totality.”

“Until the restrictions are lifted, I can’t open the business again. The business had only been in operation for 6 months when the virus started, so it will be difficult to start up again. Lack of funds will be the biggest difficulty.”

However, not everyone had such a grim view. Some business owners are looking at it from a positive perspective, and some noted their opportunity to capitalize on this unique moment in history and strategize for the long term.

“I am a motion graphic artist so I believe the affects will be positive. More companies now will see the value in having their operations be more virtual and my skill set will help with that.”

“In the long term, my company will be larger. I am buying distressed businesses and will profit from many aspects of the crisis.”

A subsequent SoapBoxSample poll fielded April 2 – 3, 2020, measured Americans’ perceptions of when the world would “get back to normal” after COVID-19. Among 409 US residents, 59% said between 1-6 months, while 19% think it will be a year or more. Some of those surveyed expressed more uplifting sentiments about the future.

“I think once everything is contained we can go back to normal and this experience overall will make us all more aware and will have a positive impact in the sense that we will all be more careful.”

“We, as a nation, will overcome this, just as we did other catastrophes, such as 9/11.”

To learn more and read other research in our COVID-19 series, visit https://www.soapboxsample.com/blog/.