IAM2627 – Web Pioneer Behind a Global Women’s Health Company

In this episode, we have Aliza Sherman, a pioneering web entrepreneur and author, a global women‑focused health brand that clears up the confusion surrounding cannabis and CBD.

After discovering that much of the industry’s information was wrong, she turned a digital‑marketing prospect into a mission to educate women.

Ellementa runs live events, webinars, and film screenings in over 60 North‑American cities while also serving as a “bridge” that connects reputable cannabis brands with these informed consumers, emphasizing product testing, ethics and women‑centered messaging.

Aliza advises balancing business drive with personal wellbeing, relationships and staying true to one’s authentic identity.

Website: www.ellementa.com

LinkedIn: alizasherman 

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Aliza Sherman Teaser 00:00
So we focus on educating women about cannabis and CBD because there's so much misinformation out there. There's also very little good information about how it fits into a healthy lifestyle or women's health.

And even the role of women as moms, as parents, how do you handle what's going on with the legalization of cannabis in many different states? So that's our consumer side.

Intro 00:29
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:54
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Aliza Sherman of Ellementa.

Aliza, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Aliza Sherman 01:05
Great to be here. Hello from Alaska.

Gresham Harkless 01:08
Nice to see you. I hope everything is warm over there. And what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Aliza so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

And Aliza is a web pioneer who founded the first women-owned internet company called Cyber Girl, Incorporated, and the first organization for women to learn about the internet in the 90s, Web Girls International.

She is the author of 12 books, including Cannabis and CBD for Health and Wellness, An Essential Guide for Using Nature's Medicine to Relieve Stress, Anxiety, Chronic Pain, Inflammation, and More, and Happy Healthy Nonprofit and Social Media Engagement for Dummies.
Her work has been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, Time, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and she presented at the BlogHer annual conference. South by Southwest Interactive and South by Southwest Canada Business Tracks Women Grow Leadership Smit and the Women's Economic For. Aliza, are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Aliza Sherman 02:05
I am ready.

Gresham Harkless 02:07
Awesome. You're rocking and rolling. So I want I wanted to kick everything off to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. We'll let you start your business.

Aliza Sherman 02:15
Well, my current business, Elementa, which is a global women's health company, is probably my sixth or seventh or eighth company that I've started and run.

My CEO story for Elementa is I was researching for my digital marketing company and looking for a new market. And I saw that the cannabis industry looked quite interesting. This is about three, almost four years ago.

And I wanted to explore it as a way of finding new clients for digital marketing, but very quickly learned that everything I had learned about cannabis was wrong and realized that it could help me as medicine.

Then once I learned that it worked very well and I'm a big proponent of CBD, quality CBD products now for my own health, it made me realize that there was not a for out there for women to learn about cannabis and CBD for health and wellness. And that was why I started Ellementa.

And, I, it was the idea I came up with. I ended up in the role of CEO. I asked a friend of mine to join me, Melissa Pierce out of Chicago. She's the COO.

And then we asked Ashley Kingsley in Denver to join us. And so she's in charge of outreach, , for sponsors and for the women we serve.

Gresham Harkless 03:41
Nice. That's definitely awesome to kind of hear how things kind of progress from. you know, just as you said, just looking for clients.

And then all of a sudden you realize that a, there's nothing here that actually exists, especially if you're so ahead of the curve, there's a newer type industry, or I guess the industry is growing, maybe I should say.

So you're kind of ahead of the curve from that standpoint. And then all of a sudden you start your, your business from there.

Aliza Sherman 04:03
Yeah, I think that it is something that I've always done is that I actually do get paid by certain clients to do future trends. I'm always looking to see what's coming down the pike and what does that mean for the way that we market, the way that we communicate, the way that we take care of ourselves, the way that we use technology.

These are all areas of interest for me. So all the businesses that I've founded have been at the beginning or the forefront of new industries And then the industry takes off and I start to look for, well, what's the next thing?

It's just been my way of doing things because I love to be interested in something. I like to learn something new all the time and just expand what I do. So being CEO is really pushing the envelope for me. I'm normally president or spokesperson.

So being CEO is a bigger, heavy lift. And it's been quite an interesting ride.

Gresham Harkless 05:04
Yeah, absolutely. It definitely sounds like you definitely have to be obviously forward thinking as you kind of spoke to be able to see what's coming and what's going where the trends are going to be able to make those correct decisions for yourself and also for your clients.

And so I wanted to drill a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about elements. If you tell us a little bit more on what we can find there.

Aliza Sherman 05:24
So Ellementa has two sides to the business. We have our consumer-facing side, where we're educating women specifically.

Women hold not just purse strings to the purchases of healthcare products, but they're also deciding what comes into the household, what goes into the medicine chest, and what to give their loved ones, their kids, or their partners, or even their aging parents. So women are a very key door opener for any brand that wants to get their product into the home.

So we focus on educating women about cannabis and CBD because there's so much misinformation out there. There's also very little good information about how it fits into a healthy lifestyle or women's health.

So, and even the role of women as moms, as parents, how do you handle what's going on with the legalization of cannabis in many different states? So, that's our consumer side.

And we have these events that go on in cities right now, over 60 cities across North America. We're looking to expand into the UK and Australia, and hopefully New Zealand, because I love New Zealand.

And so that's one aspect that whole education and events and we also do this online. We do webinars and online events like film screenings.

So these are again ways of educating the consumer. Now, we also have the brand side and that's where we work with companies who want to reach women.

Who appreciate the power of women as consumers, but don't know how to do it the right way, or they're limited because cannabis companies can't really advertise. So how can they directly reach the consumer?

So that is the B2B side of our company, is working directly with brands.

Gresham Harkless 07:11
Nice. I definitely appreciate that kind of holistic approach, not just from, you know, what you're teaching, but also having the B2C, but also having the B2B aspect where you're essentially the person, the connector, the connecting company for the women, but also for the brands as well.

Aliza Sherman 07:28
But we call it the bridge. We're the bridge.
We're the bridge between the consumer and we educate her so she's primed and ready to buy the right products. And then we are serving that brand.

How do you reach that woman in the right way? And also making sure these brands are paying attention to things like testing.
and getting your test results out there because this is plant medicine.

This is not the same thing as just buying a pill off the shelf. There's a lot of variability to plant medicine and anyone who knows alternative medicine, herbal remedies, Chinese herbs, aromatherapy, you're more familiar with that process. But most people are just used to pulling something off of the drugstore shelf or getting a prescription and then that's it.

That's what you use and it's going to do a certain thing. So plat medicine is a lot more individual, and that's the kind of thing that we want to communicate.

So we want to make sure that when we recommend a product, that company's paying close attention to the things that are important to women. Everything from, what am I putting into my body and into the bodies of my loved ones?

But also, what is this company like? Do they have good ethics and morals? Are they giving back to their community? Do they support women?
So that's also very important to know about the female consumer.

Gresham Harkless 08:44
Yeah, absolutely. And it's definitely great to hear because you're so dialed into the female consumer, that you are able to communicate with these brands and make sure that they understand the things that are at the forefront are the most important and the priorities, you know, from the consumer, because you're able to be that bridge, you're able to make sure who comes across or who doesn't come across that bridge, because you have that idea of what's at the forefront.

Aliza Sherman 09:06
Yeah, well, we call ourselves an expert in women and cannabis. We have been doing this for a couple of years now. We survey our women. We have a whole lot of data about the women who we serve, what they like, what they don't like.

We call it the perceptions of cannabis, the purchasing habits, and the preferences. Those three P's, if you will, are the window that we look through as we're gazing at what do women want and what do they need? And then when you discover what they want and they need and you serve them, everyone else benefits. Like I said, the kids benefit, the spouse benefits, the aging parents benefit, the circle of friends.

If your friend has cancer, who is usually the one that's going over to offer the support? So knowing how cannabis or CBD can help in these various aspects of our lives and our health, I think is really important. And that's what we do.

Gresham Harkless 10:07
Nice. Well, that's definitely great to hear and great to hear that you guys have been able to build that and then you'll have that in so many different cities across the world. So I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and you might have already touched on this, but this could be for you or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Aliza Sherman 10:25
For me, I think a secret sauce is operating entirely from a place of integrity. I believe in total honesty. I make a lot of mistakes. I know I do.

Maybe I don't always. I admit to all of them, or so says my husband. But I really want to learn from my mistakes, and I want to learn from others. So I'm very open.

I'm very transparent. I will tell you the way it is. Sometimes people think that's a little bit too blunt. Ultimately, when you operate with complete honesty, then you don't have a lot of backpedaling to do.

You're not hiding anything. People realize that they can trust you sooner and earlier. It takes less time to trust somebody who's really open and honest, I believe. That's my secret sauce.

Gresham Harkless 11:11
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I feel like being consistent because a person knows exactly who you are, that goes a long way because they know you're going to be blunt.

You're going to be honest and definitely If they understand that, then they know that that's what's always gonna consistently happen.

So I appreciate that and appreciate what you're doing. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Aliza Sherman 11:39
Well, I do wake up quite early and it's not always a deliberate thing. It happens. It's when you get older, you just kind of sleep less and wake up early, but I use it to my advantage.

I really find that those morning hours, I have so much more clarity, no distractions at all because everyone else is asleep.

and I am much more productive. So I can front load a lot of my work in those wee early hours. And then by the time everyone starts waking up and the emails start flowing, the phone calls start happening, I've taken care of a lot of the work.

Gresham Harkless 12:15
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget, and this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or if you could hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Aliza Sherman 12:26
I would tell my younger self that business seems like it's everything, but if you don't have everything else around you in good shape, business is not going to be the cure-all.

And so I think this kind of touches a little bit on what I was saying to the previous question. At the end of the day, nobody said on their deathbed, I wish I'd spent way more time at work. I think many of us aren't even in touch with that yet. We feel invincible.

We feel like we're going to live forever. When you kind of go past 50, which is where I'm at now, you begin to slow down and realize, hold on a second. I did a lot of crazy things, particularly around work back in my 20s and 30s. It's not sustainable.

And then as people around you, your loved ones pass away, you're like, wait a minute, wait a minute, what's really important? So I love work. I love my company and I love business in general. My whole identity has been around that.

I would tell my younger self, Find your true identity, your truth, your personal truth. Live that. Business will be really great if you do that. Relationships will be good.

Family life would be good. Taking care of yourself will be really a priority if you live your truth. So that's my nugget. That's my takeaway for my younger self.

Gresham Harkless 13:52
That's absolutely perfect. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show. So Elisa, what does being a CEO means to you?

Aliza Sherman 14:04
Being a CEO to me means steering the ship, having a vision about what is out there, but being able to steer flexibly to be able to find the best path for the ship that you're steering. The ship is the business. And not considering your company your baby. It's not.

A business is a vehicle, it's an entity that is separate from yourself. So you want to steer that ship. You absolutely want to have empathy. You can't be non-emotional.

But there is a path for this entity. And you're bringing a lot of people along with you. So having that vision and having a clear view of what's out there, and then steering that ship with flexibility. That's really what being a CEO is all about.

Gresham Harkless 15:02
Melissa, I appreciate your time and appreciate all the awesome things you're doing. I wanted to pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best they can get ahold of you.

Aliza Sherman 15:13
Well, I think that the key thing to remember is we're all kind of in this together. Either if you're in the cannabis industry, we do have this feeling we're all in this together because there's a lot of things going against us right now and we're all trying to do good work and bring good things to people, good medicine to people.
But even as somebody running a business, we're all in this together. This is hard.

Running a startup especially, very hard. And you can find me at alizasherman.com, A-L-I-Z-A-S-H-E-R-M-A-N. And then I'm at Aliza Sherman, pretty much all the social media platforms out there. I like Twitter, so I tend to be on Twitter the most.

I'm a little bit on Instagram. But my company, Ellementa, is at Ellementa Woman, singular, pretty much everywhere.

Gresham Harkless 16:06
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes as well.
And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Aliza Sherman 16:12
Thank you. You do the same.

Outro 16:13
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by CB nation and blue 16 media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase.

It's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five star rating.

This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr.
Thank you for listening.

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