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.

ISA Announces Speaker Lineup for April 29 Edibles Webinar

Industry experts from Undefined Inc, Wana Brands and dreamt will discuss the future of infused edibles

ISA and Vertosa announced today the speaker lineup for their upcoming webinar “Form, Function & Flavor: Edibles for 2021 and Beyond.” Dorian Morris, Founder and CEO of Undefined Inc., Mike Hennesy, Vice President of Innovation at Wana Brands and Carolina Vazquez Mitchell, MS, Chief Science Officer at dreamt will join the live event starting at 2 pm PST on April 29, 2021. This engagement is the second in a series of webinar events stemming from a strategic partnership between ISA and Vertosa, announced in November 2020.

“Our speaker lineup brings together a diverse group of powerful industry leaders, each with their own unique perspective and in-depth knowledge of both the edibles market, and the cannabis industry as a whole,” said Jacqueline Rosales, President of ISA. Jacqueline will moderate the event and lead the conversation about product development in the edibles market and how the products of the future will fit into consumers’ lives. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees can register here.

In 2021, we’ve seen an explosion in new edibles products that address specific needs – sleep, anxiety, creativity, energy, diet support and immune support. Innovative brands are embracing new delivery forms, flavors and functions to meet consumers’ evolving interests.

“With stress at an all-time high, accessibly priced, plant-based solutions are even more important now,” said Dorian Morris, Undefined Beauty Founder and CEO. Morris was recently featured in the Target Takeoff Beauty cohort, in which she discussed her new collection, focused on adaptogenic mushrooms for stressed skin.

MEET THE SPEAKERS
Dorian Morris

Founder and CEO of Undefined Inc. A true champion of inclusivity within wellness, Dorian Morris is a beauty junkie with deep expertise across categories from cosmetics to haircare to skincare to food/wellness. She is the Founder/CEO of Undefined Inc which includes Undefined Beauty, a clean, conscious, inclusive lifestyle brand focused on democratizing wellness and destigmatizing plant magic.

Adriana Hemans

Vice President of Demand at ISA, where she heads up the Cannabis Research Division. She helps cannabis brands build more customer-centric businesses through data and insights. Adriana’s work has been published in numerous industry publications including mg Magazine, Marijuana Venture, and The Cannigma. She has been invited to speak onstage at cannabis events across the country, including NECANN (Northeast Cannabis Business Conference) and the NCIA’s Annual Cannabis Business Conference.

Austin Stevenson

Chief Innovation Officer at cannabis and hemp infusion technology company Vertosa. Austin plays an integral role in the business development of Vertosa, facilitating partnerships with leading brands to produce top quality cannabinoid-infused beverages, topicals, edibles and more. Prior to joining Vertosa, Austin leveraged his bio-tech experience building the regulatory Hemp/CBD testing program for Eurofins – a world leader in food, environment, and product testing services – where he worked with CVS and Walgreens to test and verify the quality of their retail CBD topicals. Austin and the Vertosa team are also committed to community action and industry leadership. He serves as a Member on the City of Oakland’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission, for which he supports the licensing of equity partners and works to break down financial barriers to entering the industry by championing grant funding. He is also an Advisory Board Member on EAZE’s Momentum Program, a business accelerator designed to support and empower underrepresented founders in the licensed cannabis industry, as well as a founding board member of the Cannabis Beverage Association.

Mike Hennesy

Vice President of Innovation at Wana Brands where he oversees their research and development program, new product design, educational training content and growing partnerships with new cannabis technologies. Hennesy led the team in creating Wana’s new Quick line of gummies and tinctures that use innovative encapsulation techniques to increase the bioavailability of cannabinoids that bypass liver metabolism and take effect quickly. He developed Wana’s online interactive training program for budtenders and employees that covers the science of the endocannabinoid system and directed the development of Wana’s vape line, including the line’s unique proprietary terpene blends.

Carolina Vazquez Mitchell, MS

Founder and Chief Science Officer at dreamt. A gifted academic with deep experience in the developing regulatory standards of the cannabis industry. Carolina’s areas of specialty include organic chemistry and biochemistry research, laboratory testing and laboratory practices, quality assurance, and R&D for cannabis products, pharmaceuticals, foods, and beverages. She has more than 10 years’ experience with organic synthesis and extractions and has extracted DNA, RNA, proteins, terpenes, and other pharmacologically active molecules. Carolina is a nationally recognized cannabis scientist, and has been a featured expert in Rolling Stone, HelloGiggles, mg and Forbes, and was named one of Dope Magazine’s “Outstanding Women in Cannabis.”

ABOUT VERTOSA

Vertosa creates industry-leading active ingredients for infused product makers. Their catalog of patented and patent-pending nano-emulsions are carefully designed  for the specific needs of each customer, with pre-suspended aqueous solutions that create incredibly homogeneous and stable products while maximizing bioavailability, clarity, and taste. Vertosa works closely with their lab partners and clients of all sizes throughout the manufacturing process to achieve target potency and successfully bring consistent, reliable, quality infused products to market.  Learn more about Vertosa at vertosa.com.

ABOUT WANA BRANDS

Wana Brands is the No. 1 edibles brand in North America. Wana leads the industry in quality, consistency and potency, providing a range of different options that enable customers to create the specific cannabis experience they want. Wana products offer diverse product forms, four different CBD/THC ratios as well as a variety of different dosages, onset times and duration of effects. The portfolio is designed so products can be used singly or in combination to address specific health, wellness, and recreational needs. Wana products are available in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Arizona, Oregon, and Oklahoma dispensaries, with Massachusetts among the states imminently coming online. Wana Brands is available internationally in Canada. For more information or to subscribe to Wana’s e-newsletter, visit www.wanabrands.com.

ABOUT UNDEFINED INC

Undefined is clean, conscious, inclusive plant magic. We live at the intersection of wellness meets adaptogens (like beautiful CBD) meets purpose-driven conscious capitalism. My mission is to “undefine” and democratize beauty and destigmatize plant-based solutions through an unapologetic, uncompromising, unfiltered approach. Wellness shouldn’t be illusive or exclusive—let’s democratize it.

Undefined Inc partners with BIPOC founded, female-led, LGBTQ+ suppliers from their manufacturing partners to their creative team.

ABOUT DREAMT

dreamt is an award-winning sleep aid made with cannabis. The science-backed formula is a precise blend of THC, CBD, and other sleep-inducing compounds, such as melatonin, valerian root, and L-theanine. This unique formula was created by dreamt’s founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Carolina Vazquez Mitchell, to treat her insomnia during her chemistry PhD at USC.

dreamt is a female and minority-owned social equity business based in Los Angeles.

SoapBoxSample Will Provide Critical Data for USC-LA County COVID Research Collaboration

LRW’s Access Division, SoapBoxSample will assist USC and Los Angeles County with antibody testing and behavioral surveys of LA residents to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of COVID-19

March 29, 2021, Los Angeles, CA — LRW, a Material company will join forces with the University of Southern California (USC) and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) to conduct the Los Angeles Pandemic Surveillance Cohort Study, which is designed to track changes in residents’ health and wellbeing as well as gauge behavioral effects of the pandemic within the region. The complex study of 3,000 county residents will involve multiple touch points – including COVID antibody testing and re-testing at timed intervals, along with surveys to measure residents’ behavioral patterns and test hypotheses significant to public health.

The collaborative project is an early initiative within the Population Health COVID-19 Pandemic Research Center (CPRC), part of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. It brings together multi-disciplinary thought leaders from medical, health and public policy fields of academic research, LA County medical and public health officials and experts in sampling strategies, analysis and research design from LRW’s Access Divison – SoapBoxSample.  Principle investigators of the Los Angeles Pandemic Surveillance Cohort Study include Professor Howard Hu, MD MPH ScD, of the Keck School of Medicine at USC; Professor Neeraj Sood, PhD, of the Price School of Policy at USC; Rani Kotha, JD MPH, of the Price School of Policy at USC; Paul Simon, MD MPH, of the LACDPH, and Will Nichols, MD MPH, of the LACDPH.

“Our partnership with USC and LA County began last year, when SoapBox was brought on as a partner for the first COVID antibody research in LA County. We will continue to provide critical insights as we strive toward restoring normalcy in LA County,” said Jacqueline Rosales, President of LRW’s Access Division. It’s the most challenging yet rewarding work of my 25+ year career in the data insights industry. ISA has been headquartered in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years, and our deep roots in the community make us uniquely suited for this groundbreaking research engagement.”

SoapBoxSample will recruit a representative sample of 3,000 LA County residents, including 2,000 adults and 1,000 children. Participants will be recruited from neighborhoods with high, medium and low population densities. By including a diverse cross-section of the LA community that represents multiple age groups, socioeconomic strata, genders, and the racial and ethnic makeup of the county, this study aims to shed light on the potentially inequitable impact of the pandemic. The overall goal is to generate data on the “true” prevalence of COVID-19 infections, as well as it’s progression over a defined period of time.

Thus far, SoapBoxSample has assisted with COVID-19 antibody testing for over 5,000 California residents. County-wide testing programs in Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County and Stanislaus County have leveraged SoapBoxSample to reach and test representative samples of their populations, empowering health officials to develop public health policies supported by critical data.

“Even as the vaccination campaign proceeds and continuing measures such as masking, social distancing and other guidelines are embraced, it is clear that this pandemic has a long way to go,” said Howard Hu, professor and the Flora L. Thornton Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine. “A rigorous understanding of the pandemic’s ongoing impact will be critical to devising the public health strategies to navigate this current situation and to allow us to return to some form of ‘normalcy’ as quickly and safely as possible.”

Jacqueline Rosales Appointed President of ISA Group

The former SoapBoxSample COO and 25+ year insights industry veteran, Jacqueline has assumed ISA’s top leadership position

Jacqueline Rosales, President of ISA

“I am beyond excited to lead ISA moving forward. We stand on a strong foundation of 38 years of excellence; including capabilities, reputation and staff. Our plan is to integrate and evolve to meet the ongoing needs of our clients and the marketplace. Our continued goal is connecting brands with their consumers in new and exciting ways.”

The ISA Group announced today that Jacqueline Rosales has been promoted to the top leadership role at the company. As ISA President, she will oversee ISA’s four divisions – ISA, Q-insights, SoapBoxSample and icanmakeitbetter. Jacqueline previously served as COO of SoapBoxSample. Founded in 1982, ISA is one of the largest insights firms in the U.S., specializing in quick turn, high-impact custom research solutions.

Jacqueline Rosales joined the ISA Group in 2012, when she was recruited to launch and lead ISA’s online division, SoapBoxSample. With more than 25 years in Market Research and proven success in launching, stabilizing and growing organizations, she quickly gained a reputation for her enthusiasm and unconventional leadership style. Under Jacqueline’s dynamic leadership, SoapBoxSample grew to become the most sizeable division of ISA. After ISA acquired community insight platform icanmakeitbetter in 2016, Jacqueline then took the helm of two divisions — SoapBoxSample and icanmakeitbetter.

Despite the challenges of 2020, Rosales lead the group through a fast and successful shift across the organization resulting in stellar performance in an extremely difficult year.

Anthony Kretzmer, ISA’s current president, will retire at the end of the first quarter, effective March 31, 2021. Anthony has led the ISA Group for nearly 20 years, overseeing the launch of SoapBoxSample in 2012, and the acquisition of icanmakeitbetter in 2016.

“The last 19 years at this wonderful company have been gratifying in the extreme,” relayed Anthony Kretzmer, current President of ISA. “Congratulations to Jacqueline on this well-deserved promotion. I know ISA will continue to flourish and thrive under Jacqueline’s leadership.”

Jacqueline is a thought leader, and sought after speaker, sharing her experiences with entrepreneurship, leadership, research and categorical expertise. Check out her Linkedin page to learn more.

UCI’s Customer Experience Advisory Board Welcomes SoapBoxSample’s COO as Their Newest Member

Image of UCI Campus

Jacqueline Rosales Joins Industry Thought Leaders to Guide the Next Generation of Professionals in CX

August 12, 2020, Los Angeles, CA — Research firm SoapBoxSample announced today that Jacqueline Rosales, COO of SoapBoxSample/icanmakeitbetter, will be joining the Advisory Board for the Customer Experience Program at the University of California-Irvine (UCI). With 25+ years in consumer research, Jacqueline Rosales was a natural fit for the Advisory Board role. Through her leadership at multiple insights firms she has demonstrated expertise in providing top brands with research they need to create great customer experiences. Consistent and collaborative research approaches enable brands to create feedback loops where consumers can feel heard and organizational strategy is supported by market insights.

“I am proud to share my knowledge and experiences with a group that will one day be among the leaders in their industries,” said Jacqueline Rosales. ”I’m excited to take this opportunity to give back to the industry and support the next wave of people who will contribute to the Customer Experience discipline.”

Executives from across the country are carefully selected by UCI to serve on the Advisory Board. They search for people who offer expertise within a multitude of industries in an effort to provide students with insights from industry thought leaders. The Program offers either a four-day, hands-on immersion program or an eight-week online program. Students will learn to apply principles that drive Customer Experience Innovation and the techniques developed by top companies. Jacqueline and other experts in their fields will be guide the students throughout the program.

UCI and SoapBoxSample also collaborated in the Spring of 2020 with a partnership to conduct epidemiological testing in an effort to understand the cumulative incidence of both symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in Orange County, California. With experience in managing serosurveillance testing in Los Angeles County, SoapBoxSample was able to lend their expertise in reaching diverse, multicultural audiences to aid in this crucial research initiative. SoapBoxSample’s COVID-19 research was featured in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Business Insider, and the KTLA 5 Morning News.

COVID-19 Research Study Grabs Attention from Local Los Angeles News Media

https://ktla.com/news/coronavirus/how-you-can-be-part-of-a-covid-19-research-study/

When a groundbreaking research study designed to measure the spread of COVID-19 launched in Los Angeles, CA the week of April 10, 2020, it didn’t take long for the local news media to take an interest.

Jacqueline Rosales, COO of SoapBoxSample/icanmakeitbetter, appeared on KTLA’s nightly 7 pm news broadcast, explaining to the public the intention of the study and how Angelenos can get involved.

“This is really groundbreaking research, to give us one piece that we are missing,” Jacqueline commented. “Without that piece it’s hard to understand, what is the prevalence, when is the peak, and how do we get people back to work?”

SoapBoxSample, an LRW Group company, recruited hundreds of Angelenos to participate in a new antibody study that took place April 10 and 11 across six testing locations throughout the county of Los Angeles. The new testing strategy hopes to shed light on many of the unanswered questions related to the coronavirus. To date, testing has mainly been performed on those who are very sick (and able to secure a test), and evidence suggests that there may be an unknown number of asymptomatic cases in the population.

“It can potentially identify people that are immune from the disease,” said Dr. Neeraj Sood, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research at USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, the principle investigator of the research initiative.

Working in partnership with researchers from the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy and the LA County Health Department, SoapBoxSample, recruited a random sampling of hundreds of LA residents, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, to participate in a finger prick serological test, with the purpose of identifying the presence of COVID-19 antibodies. Researchers hope the results of the study may hold the key to when Southern California and the nation can return to a state of relative normalcy.

“This project gave us the opportunity to lift the spirits of our staff during a very difficult time, said Jacqueline. “Everyone involved in this research initiative was excited to give back to the LA community where we live and work.”