Lo Friesen

Lo Friesen founded Heylo at 25, making her business one of the very few woman-owned extraction brands in the cannabis industry, and making her among the youngest business owners in cannabis at the time. Fast-forward five years and her Washington company is growing in market share by 15% annually.

“Washington is known to be one of the toughest cannabis markets in the country. And we’ve continued to grow year over year, including during the pandemic,” Friesen says. “And just knowing three out of every four startups fail to survive — especially companies, like Heylo, that are not backed by venture capital — so we’re proud to be going strong into our fifth year of business.”

During the past five years, Heylo never strayed from its dedication to transparency and education, two virtues Friesen holds as cornerstones of her business. As it turns out, the company’s earnest business practices and dedication to sustainable, pesticide-free cannabis products have also garnered the company a strong social media following across the country.

“We know people are hungry for our mission and our products in other states,” Friesen says. “We know through analytics on our website and our Instagram that engagement is all over the country … so ‘expansion’ is the word.”

Friesen declined to share details about Heylo’s looming expansion, but she assures that while the brand is growing into new markets, its dedication to transparency, education and keeping its extract products as close to the plant as possible will remain intact.