Vella Bioscience is a healthtech company dedicated to sexually empowering every woman.Vella, our flagship product, is a nano-encapsulated topical lotion specially designed and formulated for women who seek easier, more intense and more frequent orgasms, regardless of their hormonal status. Vella is the first and only lotion that relaxes vaginal smooth muscle, a prerequisite for sexual response, and is the only cannabidiol (CBD) sexual enhancement formulation to have been clinically demonstrated in a study of women aged 23 to 61.

Lead the physical product development / commericalization efforts and ecommerce store.

Lead alongside a small team: licensure, real estate, strategic positioning, recruitment, and operations of an 8x license med/rec brand in Massachusetts. Specifically, enabled our best performing store in Pittsfield by getting sign-off from Dollar General in less than two weeks.

Co-founder and Chair. Lead on fundraising, IP, contracts and licensing, development planning, strategic planning/marketing, and oversight and commercialization of MMS product development and offerings.

First hire by Co-Founders Chris Weld and Michael Cohen. Lead successful business, licensing, and recruitment strategy for 4x recreational licenses. Had a hand in packaging and logo design as well as retail.

Driver of meaningful relationships and partnerships for collaboration in philanthropy and business for Berkshire County dispensary applicant.

Created architectural schematics for cultivation modules; defined operational strategies and goals for Manna Wellness’s cultivation facility; facilitated all-hands meetings between Boston architecture/design firm Stack + Co., Denver Relief Consulting of Colorado and Manna Wellness; facilitated two all-hands pre-development meetings with Pittsfield city representatives; wrote and/or delivered testimony on behalf of Manna on four separate occasions; researched all industry BMPs of operating cultivation and retail facilities in the medical marijuana industry; shadowed Denver Relief Master Cultivator Nick Hice for two days; toured entire operations of three separate dispensaries (RI, CO, VT); sought and acquired a coveted ArcView presenter slot; presented at ArcView; edited and supervised the execution of Manna’s advisory board contracts and Manna NDAs; created Manna’s official internal documentation; designed RMD educational documents; co-authored Manna RMD Phase II application; managed and organized Manna’s supply chain; authored Manna’s business plan; managed architectural and civil engineering firm contracts and deliverables; coordinated work between civil engineers and architects; oversaw Manna special permitting; negotiated real estate purchase option; assisted in detailed financial projections; co-authored Manna location press release; acquired talent for advisory board and Manna staff; developed and managed Manna facility security; developed Manna infusions program; secured 1.2M in financial investments in Manna; responsible for Manna’s name; designed Manna’s font and logo; conducted interviews with Berkshire Eagle, Boston Globe, iBerkshires, NECN, YNN and other media outlets.

Developed, wrote and taught self-created syllabi for first-year writing and English courses at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Class size was between eighteen and twenty college students. Responsibilities were as follows: meeting departmental learning outcomes for first-year students, meeting university learning outcomes for first-year students, meeting learning outcomes for each section, meeting student expectations for the course, communicating assignments and class expectations to international and ESL students, creating all written and oral assignments as well as all daily class room activities and class documents, grading, fostering a healthy and respectful learning environment, instigating student curiosity across wide array of topics and disciplines, assisting students with social or learning disabilities overcome their difficulties, acculturating the students to the schools honor code and value system, and maintaining safe, secure classroom. Courses Taught:• ENGL 1105: First Year Writing—Virginia Tech: Fall 2012 (x2)• ENGL 1106: Writing From Sources—Virginia Tech: Spring 2012, Spring 2013 (x2) Research and wrote capstone project on Disclosural Practice of MS Patients in MS Communities Online.

Collaborated and edited Ph.D. student dissertations as the sole graduate writing tutor in the center during the summer semester I at Virginia Tech. Workload included organizing and clarifying student thought, improving writing processes, assessing and evaluating the skills and subject expertise of each student, habituating successful writing strategies for each individual student, improving the overall organizational /rhetorical structure of written documents, assisting with the comprehension of written assignments, articulating and executing the vision of the written and researched content of each student’s work in a timely fashion, and, lastly, coaching undergraduate writing tutors.

Worked as the sole, graduate researcher on Prof. Kelly Pender’s NIH Grant Proposal on the rhetorical construction of risk as it pertains to medical decision-making and material outcomes (e.g. prophylactic surgeries). Primary responsibility was sifting through Lynch Syndrome International forum posts using a rubric of eight verifiable rhetorical maneuvers commonly found in posters responses in order to identify genetic risk, the degree of risk, the rhetorical construction of risk, and to comprehend risk as an exegetical, material process leading to certain medical decisions, such as in cases of familial inheritance of genes associated with cancers. Secondary responsibilities were identifying and describing unique or anomalous rhetorical constructions of genetic risk, tracking posters, and interpreting results. Wrote an exit report covering all findings.

Taught the children of Dr. Brigitte Schmidt and Dr. Nicholas Schulz for a period of three years culminating in the acceptance of one to Carnegie Mellon University at the age of fifteen and the other's successful completion of her freshman year of high school. Responsibilities included supplementing the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School’s online curricula; developing the children’s writing, reading, and STEM skills; facilitating the children’s social and academic development in and outside the classroom; SAT test preparation; ACT test preparation; brainstorming and editing essays; assisting with college application materials and summer research internship materials; instructing the children in Geometry, Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, AP Calculus, AP Physics, AP English, and AP History; and creating integrated scholastic projects (e.g. Youtube PSAs).