Who Is Chelsea Kossower, Vice President Of Global Expansion At Puffco?
For the past decade, Chelsea Kossower has helped the world consume better. As Vice President of Global Expansion at leading technology brand Puffco, she created one of the highest-performing sales teams in the nation and focuses on the company’s international expansion and revenue operations. Kossower was Puffco’s first employee, starting in 2013 working directly with founder Roger Volodarsky. Instrumental in the brand’s success, she had the time of her life on a global tour for its tenth anniversary throughout 2023. Now she's psyched to innovate in all areas Stateside.
Chelsea Kossower On Her Puffco Journey, An International Cannabis Tour, And Being A Woman In Cannabis
HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE: You started with Puffco as a college student. How did you learn everything on the fly?
CHELSEA KOSSOWER: In my opinion with sales, you either have it or you don’t. But Roger is probably one of the best storytellers I’ve ever seen, and he taught me that “the best sellers don’t sell.” He taught me about consultative selling. And I was really lucky that the first few years of Puffco, I was able to sit next to him while he told people his vision for the future, why he created Puffco, I credit a majority of my selling skills and experience to Roger… I’ve also learned a lot from watching the people around me, from hiring people smarter than me on my team. Once I was able to get past my ego and realize, “This is the long game,” I just became a student and that’s how I got here.
What was most exciting for you in your worldwide tour?
In North America, we think we have the best of everything – shout out to Wooksauce Winery and Feeling Frosty in California, who make incredible water melt. But there are so many cultures growing at the speed of light. I had the best water hash at GWA, a cannabis club in Barcelona, and tried something from Spain’s Uncle's Farm called Piattella that was the most incredible concentrates experience I’ve ever had. Chile is the Barcelona of South America, with Mila Jansen the Hash Queen pioneering their hash game with the Dabadoo Cup. At Dabadoo, some of the best water hash I’ve ever tried was from a grower in Argentina. Some of the best flower was from a grower in Uruguay. I had some of the best flower rosin grown by a woman who won the competition. And in Chile, most of the growers are single-source, so they’re doing everything themselves. To see a country that’s closer to Antarctica than to us putting out parallel product, it blew my mind.
South Africa is one of the most magical places in the world. The hash scene there is a mixture of a dispensary and a cannabis club with full restaurants. Shout out to Green Buddha, a hashmaker in South Africa – when I gave him a Puffco Proxy, his eyes lit up and he said, “I’ve never tasted my hash like this before.” That’s why Puffco goes to these markets; our mission is to accelerate the culture.
What’s the good and bad of being a woman in cannabis?
I think it’s not what we say about this, but how we talk about it. I’ve always worked for a company that’s platformed me. About 40 percent of our executive team are women. I don’t feel that being a woman has ever hindered my growth opportunities or career path at Puffco. Back [in the day], yes, nobody would talk to me unless Roger was there. But claps to Roger, he shut that down real quick: “Hey man, call Chelsea. She runs all the sales.” I’m thankful I work with people who don’t see gender. In my travels, I’ve seen it a little more, but that’s a culture thing. The only way to break that is to keep platforming and elevating the strong women in our industry, and there are a lot of people doing that.
There’s a panel that travels globally called Women in Cannabis. It’s run by Fahi Shark in Barcelona. The panel has also spoken in Uruguay, London, and Brazil; it’s just a group of powerful women in each country representing what they do for the industry… But I do want to say, there are some incredible men out there too. So I think it’s important to shout out the people who don’t see what’s between your legs, just the value you bring for the work you do.
For more about Chelsea Kossower and Puffco, visit puffco.com or follow @puffco and @chelsea_puffco on Instagram.
*A version of this article originally appeared in Honeysuckle's 17th print edition, featuring Havoc of Mobb Deep. Get your copy now at dispensaries nationwide or click here to order!
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Featured image: Chelsea Kossower, VP of Global Expansion at Puffco (C) Puffco
