The Emblossom Herbal Business Conference is a new herbal event designed to meet the needs of emerging herbal product businesses, providing education on regulatory issues, marketing, and ethical business practices. The conference will be a two-day online experience for emerging herbal brands who can benefit from unlocking the secrets to a legally compliant and flourishing business, and will be held February 23th and 24th 2021.

The conference will host sessions on regulatory compliance, marketing, and ethical business practices. Focusing on companies making herbal dietary supplements, cosmetics, and foods, the audience will range from companies still in the daydream stage through mid-sized brands. Herbal experts will speak on formulation, GMPs, sustainable sourcing, claim substantiation, federal regulation enforcement, choosing a contract lab, cultural appropriateness and reparation, design thinking, and more.

“So many of the small herbal companies I talk to are aware of the regulations, but they don’t know where to start and there are so few resources that make the regulations accessible or easy to understand,” says co-founder Dr. Zoë Gardner.

Co-founder and marketer Summer Singletary talks about seeing the need for the conference, "after years of working with seasoned and emerging botanical brands, I realized that understanding the business of CPGs and herbal regulations is a huge barrier to scale. I wanted to cultivate a space for herbal companies to gather and

learn, in hopes of creating a marketplace that's led by a diverse group of purpose-driven CPG founders who center equity and sustainability in their business."

AHPA’s very own Chief Science Officer, Dr. Holly Johnson, Ph.D., Josef Brinckmann, Ann Armbrecht, Kevin Spelman, Angie Kwong, Mary Goff, Shabina Lafleur-Gangji, Tami Wahl, Sara Weinreb, Daniella Allam, Summer Singletary, Amelia Ahl, Erin Wilkins, Sajani Amarasiri, Lauren Haynes, Rachel Budde, and Zoë Gardner.

The conference is committed to equity and inclusivity. Herbalists Amanda David and Mandana Boushee will host In Living Color, a virtual space designed by and for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) participants, providing a refuge for people to gather, connect, rest, and share in the celebration of lineages &

lived experiences.

The conference is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23rd and Wednesday, February 24th, from approximately 11:00 am to 6:30 pm eastern (8:00 am to 3:30 pacific). A series of free webinars prior to the conference will take place February 9th, 11th, 16th, and 18th, at 2pm eastern (11am pacific).