BreakING the Mold | Dear Flor’s Journey to Bringing Filipino Tastes to Cannabis
By Jennifer Redondo
Let’s talk about breaking the mold – both literally and figuratively, on flavors, on family traditions, and on cannabis culture. Filipino-Americans Lisa Angulo Reid and Brian Reid are doing just that with Dear Flor, the first cannabis brand to infuse classic Filipino flavors like ube, calamansi, mango, and buko pandan into their gummies. They’re bridging worlds by bringing a taste of home into an unexpected space, sparking conversations and creating moments meant to be shared.
We had the chance to catch up with Lisa and Brian, partners in life and in business, who’ve navigated countless challenges to bring this vision to life. Their goal? “Bringing Filipino culture to the world, one flavor at a time.” With a mix of resourcefulness, grit, and joy, they’re breaking stereotypes and building something bold and beautiful. Keep reading to hear their story – and to see how Dear Flor is changing the game.
1. Tell us about yourselves, Lisa and Brian.
Lisa Angulo Reid: I'm Lisa Angulo Reid. I am Filipina. I am a mother. My parents came to West Virginia in the 1970s, part of the wave of Filipinos that came in from the medical community. There was a large demand for nurses and doctors so my parents were able to come to this country with the loosened visa requirements for medical professionals. My parents ended up settling in the wild, wonderful state of West Virginia, where I spent most of my time growing up.
Professionally, I worked in advertising agencies for 25 years. I worked on some of the most trusted and loved consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands in the world. Think about any time you brush your teeth, wash your hair, feed your dog, or eat cookies – most likely, I worked on it. Two years ago, I started Dear Flor with my husband, Brian.
I’m the CEO of Dear Flor. Dear Flor is an independent Filipino, woman owned company. We make cannabis gummies. We are on a mission to bring Filipino culture to the world, one flavor at a time. Our gummies are 100% vegan and they’re all Filipino flavors.
Brian Reid: I'm the CFO of Dear Flor. My mother came to the United States from the Philippines in the early 70s and she met my dad in New York City. My mom’s parents were professors at the University of the Philippines and national scientists. My grandmother was actually the second woman to be named a National Scientist in the Philippines. My grandfather was a professor of botany who pioneered the study of marine algae. Growing up, I never lived in areas with a lot of Filipinos. But when I went to Boston College, the Filipinos found me. I met Lisa at a Filipino club picnic, as I was trying to get more in touch with my Filipino roots and culture.
I moved to New York City in 1997 to work in finance, becoming one of the first Filipinos to be a partner at a hedge fund back in the mid 2000s. Six years ago, I entered the cannabis industry, really on Lisa's recommendation. To learn about the industry, I had to sign up as a banker. I raised money for the first woman owned license in Massachusetts. The only way to learn the industry and the business side was really to get under the hood.
2. When and why did you start Dear Flor?
Brian Reid: When I started in the cannabis industry, we met so many different companies. Amongst the top gummy brands, there was little to no diversity – in leadership or in products. All the flavors were the same. At that time, we also started to see the emergence of interest in Filipino food.
Lisa Angulo Reid: We looked into the data to see what trends people were looking up on Google. The first thing we looked at was Filipino food and ube. Since then, ube searches have increased by over 500 percent. When you look at Tiktok and you look at the number of views for Filipino food and desserts, it’s up in the multi-millions. That suggests that it’s not only Filipinos searching for that content.
That’s when we concluded that there was a real opportunity for Dear Flor. We went to college together, and we’ve always known that we wanted to work on something together. When Brian first started working, he was a Research Analyst, so he goes deep once he gets interested in something.
Filipinos have been hiding in plain sight for years. When you think about the world of entertainment, we’ve been in Hollywood since the 1930s. Now, Filipinos dominate the entertainment world. We’re here, but we’re not here. When we think about representation and other spaces and places, Filipinos are always present, but maybe not always considered.
Brian Reid: We are at a very interesting time where it's perhaps the best time to be a Filipino. We’ve got Filipinos gaining recognition in the food space. That pretty much said to both of us that it’s time to create a Filipino product in cannabis.
Lisa Angulo Reid: We thought it would be compelling to offer Filipino flavored cannabis gummies. What better way to share our culture with adults, and get in front of them with a product that the cannabis industry has not yet developed.
In January 2022, we decided we would go all in. We didn't get to a place where we were ready to start making the product until October of 2022. We spent roughly eight months on R&D. We believe we had a real opportunity because of the brand, the product, and our mission.
Brian Reid: When you look at leadership across all of the cannabis companies from the market leaders to the emerging brands across all of the different areas of cannabis: cultivation, manufacturing, brands, retailers – there isn't much Asian, much less Filipino leadership in these spaces. Asians don't get to lead from the top.
Lisa Angulo Reid: And then you have some “Asian-inspired” brands that are run by white guys and maybe an Asian. Then you have Dear Flor. We are trying to do something very different. For the first time in some years, I get to lean heavily into culture and truly be my whole self in every aspect at work. That's not something many people get to do.
3. Tell us about Dear Flor’s Filipino flavor offerings.
Lisa Angulo Reid: We believe gummies can be ambassadors for our culture. With that said, we cannot have a bad gummy! We wanted the flavors to be reflective of the delicious flavors that our culture has to offer. We didn’t want to create another generic lemon or mango gummy. Lord knows, there are hundreds of mango flavors in the flavor libraries. We went through eight bespoke versions of mango until we got something that actually tasted like 7D Filipino dried mangoes! And then for buko pandan, we had to create a flavor that did not exist. As far as ube, we had to give it a flavor that would ring true for not just Filipinos, but for people who are encountering these flavors for the first time and make them taste good.
We have four flavors: mango, buko pandan, ube boba, and calamansi. All of them have different cannabinoids in them:
Mango: it’s the only non-ratio gummy, that’s 5 milligrams (mg) of THC. It’s the fun one. And it tastes like Filipino dried mango.
Buko Pandan: this is one to one, 5 mg THC : 5 mg CBD. It's got that lovely blend of very light fresh coconut and pandan vanilla notes. It's really good if you just want to chill, without putting you to sleep. If you have body pains, like your neck or back, or if you’re really hungover, this is the one you want to take.
Ube Boba: this is 5mg THC: 3 mg CBN, and it’s good for sleep. You take it 45 minutes before bedtime, and then you wake up fresh after seven to eight hours of sleep, with no drowsiness.
Calamansi: this is 5 mg THC: 5mg CBG, and it is really good for focus and energy. It’s what you take if you just want to get s*** done. If there is something that you need to finish – if you've got dishes or laundry that you don't want to do, this is the gummy you want. For people who like to work out, CBG is are really good in front of a workout. It's also good for recovery and your muscles after the workout.
We have a lot of users from different ages. Even my mother has been converted from melatonin to the ube gummy. She was complaining that her melatonin was making her groggy in the morning. She finally tried it, and now she uses it on days where she wants to sleep in.
4. What did your parents say when you entered the cannabis industry?
Lisa Angulo Reid: Obviously after 30-40 years, the mom that I have now is not the same mom that I had when I was in high school. Back in the day, my mom would complain to my siblings and I about how bad cannabis was and not to do it! Now she is very receptive to it. Though she doesn’t understand it all, I do notice that there’s a shift in her attitude. The benefits are more than just getting high, and attitudes are changing. My mom is learning more about what the products are and what they can do. Of course, part of her curiosity and interest is the fact that it's Filipino. And she has to like it because it's me!
Another reality is that my mother has been talking with her friends. Her friends are also curious and ask her to ask me which gummies they should take, or if I see them at a Filipino party, they tell me what they’re taking. It’s so funny. One Tita told me that the gummy she took made her dizzy. When I asked her how many milligrams of THC, she told me 25 mg. Well, no wonder. That’s too much for someone who has just started doing gummies. Ours are only 5 mg, so they shouldn’t have any issues. They can go low and slow if they want.
Brian Reid: My mom is a very conservative Filipino mom. She doesn't use cannabis. But she does like that we have a company of our own. It's really important that we start elevating ourselves and getting perceived in a different way. It's really important because we're parents. Our mission is not just for us, but it is our kids' future that is in this business.
5. What’s it like raising kids while running a cannabis company?
Lisa Angulo Reid: Our kids are old enough to know! Our kids are growing up very exposed to Filipino culture. For a lot of folks that went to college with us, it was their first time getting into Filipino culture through Filipino clubs. When I think about how we're raising the kids today, our kids are very exposed to Filipino culture, but in a very different way. They're getting exposed to the culture because we're very involved in the community here in New York. When our son was just 12 years old, he expressed interest in organizing to help the Filipinos in Elmhurst and Woodside neighborhoods. We attended an information session, and he had so many questions that they recommended he testify. Even if we didn’t live in the neighborhood, this is about preservation of the Filipino cultural community in Queens.
Our kids have actually become very entrenched in our business, and it was actually killing them during R&D because we would talk about the candies and the flavors, but they couldn’t try the candy. We have a rule in our house. The kids know that they're not allowed to eat any candy in the house unless we've given it to them. We have to be extra careful because they are kids, and we have to have conversations about cannabis, what it is and what it can do.
Brian Reid: We live in Greenwich Village. These kids see everything. When I started working in cannabis, our son was just 8 years old. One of his friends asked what his parents did for a living. He shared that, “My mom works at an advertising agency and my dad works in cannabis.” At that point of time, we had to be transparent about what I do for a living.
Lisa Angulo Reid: We learned we had to be very open about what daddy does for a living. And we’ve learned to be transparent about what we do at Dear Flor with our kids, and with other parents. We don’t shy away from the conversation. You can’t.
6. Where did you get the inspiration to name your company, Dear Flor?
Lisa Angulo Reid: In Filipino culture, we have a whole culture of women named after flowers – Flordeliza, Maria Flor. When we were thinking about what to name the company, I kept thinking back to my mother's letters with her sister, Auntie Floring. She would write to her and ask her older sister questions. The whole concept around Dear Flor hopefully resonates with you, because you probably have a Tita Flor or know someone named Flor. It feels familiar if you’re Filipino. If you’re not Filipino, it’s an invitation or a friendly greeting. We have always looked at Dear Flor as coming from a place that is the older sister who gets it, gets where you are at this point in time, and always has the advice that you need at the moment. It's not judgy.
7. What was the biggest obstacle that you've had to face while creating Dear Flor?
Brian Reid: One obstacle? But we've got many! Which one do you want me to start with?The single biggest obstacle that we've had is the setup of the licensing for the cannabis industry.
Lisa Angulo Reid: It goes back to our 2023 launch in California. We launched at three MedMen locations: Cow Hollow, Abbot Kinney and Beverly Hills. Cannabis markets are not set up to let independent woman-owned brands thrive, much less minority, Filipino-owned brands. Everything is working against you on every front.
So what happened to us? We found a manufacturer that was a minority woman-owned, independent business. They were also our distributor for the first run. As a brand we can not be paid directly by the dispensary. We collect from our distributor. Our first run was paid cash on delivery by MedMen. Our manufacturer/distributor delivered our products to MedMen, collected the payment, and then they never paid us.
Brian Reid: At this point in time, we had enough product to sell at MedMen stores, and it was selling like crazy in our first month. We sold a lot, especially the ube gummies. They added five more stores, which basically doubled the size of our orders in December.
Lisa Angulo Reid: Then in January, MedMen’s Chairman stepped down and their CEO was fired. They had a Chief Restructuring Officer come in because the company is effectively bankrupt. So we did not make any money on that first run and to this day, MedMen owes us almost $20,000 that we’ll never see.
Brian Reid: Not only is there an issue of non-payment, but companies pay too much for their leases and have too much debt.
The licensed market doesn't work in California, unless you have super deep pockets. That’s why you only see the top three brands on the shelves.
Lisa Angulo Reid: If there is no space for independent, minority-owned, women-owned, Filipino-owned brands, and if we can't exist in this space, what's going to end up happening? The industry is going to become very very homogenous and quite frankly, boring as f***. There will be no creativity. Consumers will end up being the biggest losers because they will be forced to buy the same two or three brands that dominate the shelves.
Brian Reid: So we pivoted from the licensed cannabis market to federally legal hemp Delta-9 (D9). This is the biggest irony. Cannabis is federally illegal, but state by state it’s been legalized. Hemp D9 is federally legal by The Farm Bill, less than 0.3% THC by dry weight. Our gummies are below that. We follow the same protocols, SOPs, and testing. We can fulfill our mission which is to spread our culture, one flavor at a time.
Lisa Angulo Reid: We love the D2C space because it allows us to sell directly to our consumers. It allows us to keep our finger on the pulse of what it is that they want, because we see the data. We can see what they're buying. We can see what they're responding to. This allows brands like ours to be visible. It allows Filipinos like us to build brands and lead companies.
8. What is one of the biggest lessons that you've learned so far?
Lisa Angulo Reid: I think it's not so much a lesson that I had to learn, I think it was more of a validating lesson than anything. It's about having the conviction to keep doing what you're doing. Everyone around us is always saying, “Hey, this is kind of crazy. Are you sure you want to launch a Filipino brand?” We have always been adamant from day one that we wanted to do something that was a cannabis gummy, not another candy and I still believe that this is a very unexpected way to introduce people to Filipino culture and flavors.
Brian Reid: The biggest challenge I’ve had was communicating to some folks that never saw me as Filipino. I grew up in white areas and some of the folks I grew up with, just saw me as Brian. They don't really want to hear about me being Filipino. Especially at this phase in life, I've learned that you really want to surround yourself around people that believe in you. When we launched our seed round, which was just friends and family, we wanted people who believed in our mission and what we were doing. We actually had to turn people away because it didn't feel right to us.
Lisa Angulo Reid: It is important for us to be able to build this company the way we want with people who believe in us.
9. What's your long-term vision and goals for Dear Flor?
Lisa Angulo Reid: In three years, we’ll still be cranking. Hopefully, we'll have multi-million dollar revenues. But really, the real mission is to be a multi-million dollar Filipino CPG Company. This is our channel to bring visibility and representation for Filipinos at this moment in time.
There's just a whole lot of other possibilities that can open up. For the moment, our sights are set on the U.S. market and just getting our culture out there to as many people as possible, and for us to seize the opportunity to do it.
10. What does it mean to be Filipino American?
Brian Reid: This is the best time to be a Filipino in America. This is the first time that we really can be visible. This is the first time we can really share our culture. There’s so much cool stuff, really good art, music and food emerging. We are seeing Filipinos in leadership positions represented both in corporate America and in politics. This is why we always tell our kids to be proud and that's why we embrace it.
Lisa Angulo Reid: Being Filipino American today means investing in your community and people. This is something that we have not yet wrapped our heads around as a community. This is where the Chinese and other East Asians get it right – they invest in themselves and in their businesses. Filipinos need to start investing in themselves and other Filipino businesses because if they did, they would create generational wealth for their families and communities. And as a community, together Filipinos would gain status and influence in a way that would impact the entire country (and not just Filipinos) across industries – entertainment, business, you name it.
11. What's next?
Lisa Angulo Reid: I feel like we just started that piece of the equation, but what's next really is about getting the word out there about Dear Flor and our mission is to spread our culture one flavor at a time.
Brian Reid: Now, we have to go across the country. There's so many Filipino communities. It's really cool seeing Filipino stuff sprout up. Part of our job is to see what's emerging and how connected it is.
12. Where can people find you and purchase Dear Flor?
You can find us on our website. We are also on Instagram @lovedearflor. For the month of November, we have a special gift exclusively for Kollective Hustle’s readers: https://dearflor.com/discount/KOLLECTIVE25. Use the promo code KOLLECTIVE25 at checkout. The gummies make great gifts, and it could also be a great gift for yourself to get you through the holiday season.
Written by Jennifer Redondo
Co-Founder and Co-Author of In Her Purpose