Gloria Pope is from Amsterdam and was raised in Spain the first few years of her life, is fluent in English, Dutch and Spanish.

She moved to Miami in her twenties to pursue the vibrant Miami hospitality industry by creating cocktails at the most prestigious hotels and restaurants in Miami Beach.

After 7 years of mixing beverages she moved to New York City to find a different life.

Being in the nightlife / hospitality industry for many years she decided to make a change and put all of her energy into health and wellness.

For Gloria this means feeling good in her own body, having a happy positive mind without giving up the good life.

She is passionate about helping others to find better ways to move, eat, deal with stress, and design action steps for all that you want to achieve in life.

Her upbeat and warm personality makes you feel safe and motivated to embrace change and implement new habits. 

She is a IIN Certified Health Coach, Nutritionist and a fitness Trainer.

The founder of Mbrace.life, offering one on one personalized Health Coaching / training, and Mbrace.cbd that offers organic CBD infused wellness products. 

Everything she does works in harmony with each other. 

She likes to offer the whole package so that you have all the tools to be the best version of YOU. 

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I am originally from Amsterdam, Holland, the country of the cheese, tulips and best of all, Cannabis!

When I left Holland to search for new opportunities in the US, I first moved to Miami Beach where I worked many years as a mixologist at some of the trendiest establishments. Once I figured out this country and it became my home, I decided I wanted to trade in the nightlife and focus on my real passion, cooking, exercising and motivating people to achieve their wellness goals.

Over the last several years my boyfriend and I have been involved with cannabis companies here in the US and in Europe.

We have seen many grows, processing facilities and labs, spoken to hundreds of professionals in the industry and learned a lot.

​As much as I love Holland, and the quality of the cannabis there is fantastic, I can’t help to really appreciate what is being done here in the US!

I decided making my own CBD products and adding them to my overall wellness package made a lot of sense.

My standards of what I feel that should be put into my body or onto my skin are very high.

The most important part was to create CBD products with as high of a standard as the standard I hold to nutrition and skincare. Super clean, organic and beneficial to your health!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I decided to do an official launch party at one of my favorite restaurants in little Italy. It was organized with someone that has a big social following to help with the guest list.

My wish list was 50 ppl, intimate enough to have one on one conversations and have the opportunity to tell everyone about my brand.

It turned out to be closer to 150 people.

Within 30 minutes we were over capacity and it turned into a fun but very un-productive happy hour!

I have learned that you are better off with a small selected group of people that are there to hear about your story and your company. Just filling up a room with random people does not mean it’s a successful outcome.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I created and printed flyers and forgot to add my website and contact information to it!

That is a mistake I will never make again! ☺

Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people? 

Yes! I am working on a few great organic body products.

A hydrating body lotion, with beautiful ingredients that are filled with vitamins and minerals, that will give you a soothing feeling and keep your skin young!

An after sun hydration face mask. Great to take with you to those who get to go on a late summer vacation! Fingers crossed we can do that soon….

And bath salts for those of us that exercise a lot or need that extra stress relief to their body. Rich in magnesium and CBD.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I am so grateful to my boyfriend Bill.

English being my third language has not made me the best writer and there has been many occasions that we had to re-write pieces together. There is much more text and grammar involved than I imagined, from writing my website, to social media, newsletters and then of course pieces like this interview, that I am sure he will look over before I send it out!

But most importantly he has kept me sane…

I am a perfectionist and not always the most patient. Bill sets me straight and lets me vent until I have gotten it all out of my system!

So thankful for him!

This industry is young dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?

I am still a one woman show.

Everything that goes out the door, including marketing, is done by me.  I do my best to follow my heart in what people gravitate to and hope it gets received well.

I believe that if you put a lot of love and attention into your brand it will show as very authentic and real.

Keeping the personal touch, like writing a hand written note with each order means everything to the customer.

It shows you have sent it out with the best intentions to have that person healed from their issues.

Which at the end of the day is what my CBD products are supposed to do.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Cannabis industry? Can you share 3 things that most concern you?

Most excite:

1) That Cannabis is one of nature’s wonders and has been around for thousands of years!     This has been a medicine long before any of us existed and now it has been in the forefront.

2) It’s exciting to see that it is such a fast growing industry with much more to learn and see.

3) The fact that it has become legal almost everywhere and that many of you out there can benefit from this plant as medicine for many of your issues.

Most concern:

1) It concerns me that it might be growing too fast and too many un-experienced people will get into this business without having the knowledge or the passion.

2)Not always easy to find trust worthy relationships to work with. It is a wild wild west out there and you really need to “weed” out the un-reliable ones.

3)It concerns me that some of the companies we work with now, might not be able to stay in business when things get back to normal. Which is just really sad to think about.

Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business”? Please share a story or example for each. 

  • How difficult it can be to find the right connections and to not believe everything everyone says. Just because they are in the business does not mean they have the correct answers.
  • How many things are involved with creating a brand.
  • If you work alone like me, you have to wear many different hats and that can be very overwhelming. Not that it would have stopped me from starting it, just to be clear! I’m up for a challenge!
  • I wish I would have taken a course in organizing and structuring of a company. Including spread sheets! Not my strong point!
  • How important it is to build content.
  • There is so much sharing involved and you constantly need fresh information. Collecting ideas, knowledge, and content is key!
  • It is a long process!!! You do not get instant gratification and that is ok… It takes time to build a brand.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?

Your first idea is always the best 9 times out of 10. It will be your end decision or result!

Don’t compare yourself too much to other brands. Create your own vision. It is ok to look at others for inspiration, but you need to believe that your own ideas are good enough.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement  that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I wish there would be a standard education in plant based medicine, holistic health and nutrition. This should be a subject in everyone’s school, all over the world.

Mental and Physical health is all you have in this life, we realize this now more than ever.

Shouldn’t this be the most important and standard education in high school and college?

I believe so…

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

For my Health Coaching and Everyday Inspiration: @gloriapope

For my CBD products account: @mbrace.cbd

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!