Helen Cho was originally hired as a freelancer to help Aloha Green Apothecary build out its website. But when the executive team, comprised mostly of lawyers, needed someone to handle patient relations, she was there to lend a hand. After that, she started doing legislative work. Then vendor relations. Then hiring. And before she knew it, they were asking her to come in on Monday and leave on Friday as the Hawaiian company’s director of strategy.
“I think the message there is: if you have an opportunity, you grab that tiger by the tail and hold on,” says Cho, who is originally from New York. “When the company is in need of something you are capable of doing, you figure it out and do it well. It’ll take you to places you never thought it could.”
During the past three years, Cho has helped Aloha Green Apothecary get its production facility up and running, open the doors of the company’s first dispensary, grow its staff to approximately 80 employees and outfit a $500,000 lab. She is currently helping the business plan its second retail store on the island of Oahu.
Unlike many who lament the changing regulatory landscape of cannabis, Cho finds it to be the industry’s most endearing quality.
“This level of growth and change has been able to engage me,” Cho says. “I’ve never had such a fulfilling job.”