Caroline Frankel
Owner and CEO of Caroline’s Cannabis
When Caroline Frankel says she plans on taking her Caroline’s Cannabis brand out of Massachusetts and across New England before going national, there’s no reason to doubt her.
It wasn’t that long ago that she was a stay-at-home mom watching her three young children and studying the growing cannabis industry on the West Coast in preparation for her home state of Massachusetts going rec-legal.
“I decided at that point that I was either going to go back to work in the marketing industry, or I was going to take a leap of faith in myself and build my own company,” Frankel says. “And that’s what I did.”
The Johnson & Wales University business school graduate, 10-year marketing veteran and self-described “20-year cannabis enthusiast” enrolled at the Northeastern Institute for Cannabis, a move she says was “pivotal,” and never looked back. In 2019 Frankel became not only the first woman to get a retail license in Massachusetts, but her Uxbridge store was the first independently owned pot shop in Massachusetts.
She says customers drove from all over the state to support her shop and the women- and social equity-owned brands she likes to feature. The company grew organically and without bringing on any investors, she opened a second location in Hopedale.
The company is now 30 employees strong and Frankel is looking to not only open a third location and get a delivery license for the Hopedale store, she is working on getting a product manufacturing license to make her own Caroline’s branded products to sell in other shops. She has also entered the lottery for a license in Connecticut and has an even bigger goal in mind.
“I would like to start branching out into other states in New England. And I’m looking to create a national brand,” she says. “Those are my true intentions.”