Cannabis Meets Cosmetics
Phil Engfer
Who is Phil Engfer?
As a child with parents who were organic gardeners, Phil Engfer grew up with his hands in the dirt. Phil’s fascination with plants and the ecosystem grew so large that he even did a report on composting in junior high school for his Earth science class. Through his childhood friend, Ian Rice, Phil met and developed a working relationship with Benjamin Rice, a local defense attorney and fierce advocate of efforts to support and defend the legalization of cannabis. Through that connection, Phil was introduced to WAMM Phytotherapies, Women and Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, which is officially the nation's oldest medical cannabis collective. WAMM “work[s] with dispensaries to supply free or sliding scale cannabis to low-income patients with cancer, AIDs, MS, pediatric epilepsy and other life threatening conditions”.
After Phil interactions with WAMM and learning more about the plant itself, he was able to see first hand, the good that could come from cannabis.
In 2015, Phil became a founding partner of Strong Agronomy, an ecologically-minded farm management company in Watsonville of which he remains involved in to this day. Phil also currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for 1212 Gateway, TBL Cosmetics, Environcann, and is President of WAMM Phytotherapies.
We sat down with him to learn more about his journey and his involvement with TBL Cosmetics:
How did you end up in cosmetics and creating a cosmetics brand?
Various products from 1212 Gateway product line.
We (Phil and Ian) had the opportunity to pursue a product line involving CBD in the Hollywood/LA area. One of our partners presented a need and opportunity to develop a sophisticated brand for the CBD space. We brought HerBody to market but this was the same time COVID hit so we had to pump the brakes.
However, we decided to launch 1212 Gateway which doesn’t have CBD in it. For me it was interesting to look at both brands and all the state by state regulations that apply to CBD. We were able to look into our product line without CBD able to tap a global audience with 1212 Gateway with almost no boundaries.
What is something new or exciting that you’ve learned about cannabis?
Hardip Kalsi
One of the things I’ve taken away from this and that I’ve enjoyed the most over the last couple of years working with this team specifically was learning about the application of CBD, a cannabinoid that we isolate and are about to put into skincare products…One of TBL’s brands is Her Body which has CBD infused into its formulations.
[I’ve been] learning from Hardip Kalsi, our chief science officer, who does all of our forumaltions and has a biochemistry background. Learning from her about different extraction methods and ways to integrate them into formulations and different skincare applications has been a great learning experience. I’ve learned more about skincare and the different cannabinoid applications in the last two years than I’ve learned my whole life. Credit goes to Hardip for being informative, well versed, and careful in her sourcing and intentional products she puts out.
What mistakes have you made?
One of the big ones we made as a young business was jumping to opportunities with a short timeline and not having all the contracts and relationships completely sealed. We have a much more dialed playbook now.
What are your thoughts on the startup community in Santa Cruz?
Being so close to Silicon Valley and all the opportunities here I think it’s a perfect launch point. It attracts talent and its close to money and resources. It’s central to a lot of logistics being near ports, freight, and shipping channels. We love it!
What advice do you have for startups or founders?
Believe in what you do and do what you love because no matter what you do you are going to have work very hard at it. If it’s something you love, it will drive you that much more and make you want to achieve your goals.
Also, try to have resources and funds and all potential pitfalls thought through. Those are the most challenging points. Getting into tight spots, no matter how much you love it, can be stressful.
What’s next?
TBL is currently raising capital and looking for talented team members. We are looking for good partners to put money behind new ventures and further establish ventures that have already launched. We are doing a 3 phase raise and have our pitch deck and materials ready to go for anyone interested in supporting us. We have a local headquarters here in Santa Cruz that we’d love to show folks. Please contact TBL to learn more: info@tblcosmetics.com