Cannabis Brand Citizen Bloom Botanics’ High-Wattage Beauty And Wellness Products Don’t Have High Prices

Citizen Bloom Botanics founder Nicolette Baglio knows how to make lemons out of lemonade. The former competitive athlete contracted Zika while living in Puerto Rico in 2016. The virus wreaked havoc on her joints, which dashed her dreams of becoming a certified yoga instructor. “I could not put my body weight on my wrist for like two years,” she says.

Since Baglio got the virus, which was initially considered most dangerous for pregnant women, more research has been conducted to understand it. “It’s actually more like Lyme disease. It stays in your spinal fluid, and 30% of people that got it get neurological disorders. I had two weeks of really severe symptoms. All my joints swelled, I looked like I had elephantiasis in my ankles,” she shares. “It was awful. I have nerve damage in my arms and my legs.” To manage her considerable pain, Baglio made topical CBD products for herself because she couldn’t find anything on the market with a dose high enough to bring her relief.

In 2018, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Living in North Carolina, a state where cannabis use has been decriminalized, cannabis became a key part of her mother’s treatment plan, which Baglio believes allowed her to live a year longer than the doctors said she would. She passed away in December 2019. 

“This was right before COVID. I was working in the craft beer industry. My husband, too,” recalls Baglio. “We all got laid off on March 18th 2020. It was wild. Asheville just shut down. Then, on Mother’s Day, my dad called to tell me that my mom had left some money. It wasn’t a lot, but it was capital that I’d never had before.” Baglio put the $25,000 toward building her own lab. By November 2020, she attracted a seed investor who put in another around $50,000.

The entity that would become Citizen Bloom Botanics was born, but there was one small roadblock to deal with first. The original iteration of Baglio’s company was called Urban Co. “We were denied our trademark for Urban Co., so we went into a full rebrand into Citizen Bloom Botanics,” she says. 

The direct-to-consumer cannabinoid-infused beauty and wellness brand offers custom-crafted products with the highest potency available for its price points. Citizen Bloom Botanics’ Super Boost liquid supplement with 2,000 milligrams of full-spectrum CBD and CBG is the brand’s most expensive item at $60. Several similar products on the market retail for over $100. The brand also offers a face oil, body oil, body butter and several aromatherapeutic roll-ons. All products have 10 ingredients or less and are oil-based. They don’t contain no creams, waxes, alcohols or anything that Baglio says could counteract the cannabinoids. 

“We’re a little bit different in the market in that we actually formulate our product,” she declares. “They’re all proprietary to us—and our dose is much higher. We’re actually in that therapeutic dose [range]. Not only are you getting the dose that you need to actually feel and sustain the wellness benefits of cannabis, but we’re providing them at prices that are really disruptive in the cannabis industry. With our dose-to-price ratio ratio, we provide about 400% more value in terms of CBD than our competitors.”

Baglio says that the company has achieved a six-figure annual run rate thus far with no ad spending. It’s selling just through its own website, and Baglio reports it has a 90% retention rate. She says a lot of the growth has been fueled by micro-influencers, including a group of about 30 super users that test new products. She intends to flesh the micro-influencer relationships out to embark on a formal ambassador program. “Because there’s so many limitations around ads for us, I’m finding that this is the best way for us to really build this cult following,” says Baglio. “It’s almost like a salesforce.” 

The founder expects Citizen Bloom Botanics to expand into retail in 2022, starting with regional chains in the South. The brand has received a number of retailer inquiries and is in the process of moving to a bigger facility to accommodate the increased production needed for retail launches. 

Also on the docket for 2022 is a bigger capital raise, projected to be in the low six figures. “We’re looking for strategic leadership with incoming investment,” says Baglio. “For Lord Jones to be acquired for $300 million without a trademark and their quality product [is] massive. We’re building a company to grow it and sell it. I want to be a high-dose, affordable, everyday wellness product, and I want it in as many hands as possible.”