From Family Tradition to FDA Approval: The Savanh Wellness Story Susan Burns had the pleasure of speaking with Sysamone Phaphon, the CEO of Savanh Wellness, an Asian-inspired hemp wellness company. Sysamone shared her unique journey in the cannabis industry, which began with her family's traditional use of the plant for food and healing, a practice that was normalized in her household from a young age.
In this inspiring episode of the Bodacious Women in Cannabis podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sysamone Phaphon, the CEO of Savanh Wellness, an Asian-inspired hemp wellness company. Sysamone's story is not only about her entrepreneurial spirit but also about cultural heritage, family traditions, and breaking barriers in both the cannabis industry and her community.
Sysamone's journey with cannabis began in her childhood, where it was a normalized part of her family life. Her parents, who are refugee immigrants, grew cannabis in their garden and used it in traditional cooking, such as infusing pho broth with weed buds. This early exposure to cannabis as a natural and beneficial plant laid the foundation for Sysamone's future endeavors.
Despite the challenges posed by the war on drugs, which caused her family to pause their use of cannabis, Sysamone's understanding and appreciation for the plant grew as she became more educated. She entered the cannabis market legally when California became regulated, carrying forward her family's legacy and the lessons they taught her about the plant's healing properties.
Sysamone's first role in the industry was with an active ingredient manufacturer, where she supported other brands entering the market. Her experience there, combined with her personal background, led her to create Savanh Wellness. The brand is a testament to her culture, featuring products with Asian flavors like lychee and guava, and even the packaging includes Laotian language to honor her heritage.
One of the most remarkable achievements Sysamone shared was her success in obtaining Thai FDA approval to import her products into Thailand, a significant feat given the patriarchal business culture there. She navigated through the challenges with determination and the support of her brothers, who accompanied her as a sign of respect in meetings with Thai parliament members.
Sysamone's "Bodaciousness" is evident in her ability to stand firm as a female leader in a male-dominated culture, both in the United States and abroad. Her brand not only showcases her culture but also empowers other women in the AAPI community to embrace their heritage and pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.
Listeners can support Sysamone's work by purchasing products from Savanh Wellness online and can connect with her through the company's social media platforms or by email. Her story is a powerful reminder of the impact one woman can have in changing perceptions and inspiring a community.
For anyone interested in the cannabis industry, Sysamone's advice is clear: don't be afraid to ask questions, seek guidance from those with experience, and be persistent in your endeavors. Her journey is a testament to what can be achieved with grit, tenacity, and a deep connection to one's roots.
https://www.savanhwellness.com/
Announcer: Welcome to the Bodacious Women in Cannabis podcast, the show where the bold and brilliant women cannabis business leaders share their journey and their expertise. Here's your host, Susan Burns.
Sysamone Phaphon: Hello, this is your podcast host, Susan Burns. As a cannabis lawyer by profession, nothing delights me more than showcasing bodacious women in cannabis. Today, we are talking with Sisamone Papone, and she is the CEO of Savon. And this is an Asian inspired hemp wellness company that I am so looking forward to hearing about. Welcome, Sisamone.
Susan Burns: Thank you so much for having me, Susan. I'm so excited to be here.
Sysamone Phaphon: Yeah, it's an absolute pleasure. So, okay, tell us about how you how you ended up in Savant. I know I did a little bit of background research on you, and you have an amazing history and journey.
Susan Burns: So talk to us. I love sharing this story. It shocks a lot of people. But I was consuming before I even understood what the plant was. My mom used to put the weed bud in our pho broth. My dad used to grow it in our backyard garden next to our lemongrass, our Thai chili peppers, Thai eggplants, and things like that. I come from a very cannabis-friendly family.
Sysamone Phaphon: You had infused vegetables before you knew it because of cross-pollination.
Susan Burns: And so my parents never taught us that this plant was a bad thing. They taught us it was for food, for health, for healing. They did many different things with it. And so growing up, it was normalized in my home. And so naturally, when California became regulated, I entered the market with, you know,
Sysamone Phaphon: What an incredible story to grow up in an environment where it was naturalized. Yeah. Let me just ask, stop you right there. You're the first person I've talked to and I've talked to a lot of wonderful women, but, um, so how, how, how, I mean, were you, were you mildly high, do you think, or do you not know the difference?
Susan Burns: My dad had 16 kids and how do you really chill children out? And so, I mean, technically with my mother, he had eight and then with his first wife, he had eight, but we were very close knit. My mom helped take care of the other kids as well. And so how do you really calm 16 kids down kind of throughout their lives? And so I saw it more as, I honestly, we always just loved eating my mom's cooking. We always just, it was, I never felt there was a high. that came out of it, it was just always so good. The food was always just so good. And honestly, I didn't even realize what I was consuming until later on when I was being taught weed was bad. This is marijuana, this is bad. And I was like, holy shit, mom, this is what you've been putting in our fuzz, one of the herbs.
Sysamone Phaphon: Was that difficult when you learned? Did that cause any problems? Shameful or other kinds of things?
Susan Burns: Yeah, for sure. I mean, the war on drugs definitely gave my parents pause. It definitely paused what they did for a moment during that time, especially because they were refugee immigrants and they didn't want to get in trouble. They didn't want their children to get in trouble, things like that. And so for during the war on drugs, there was a good period of time in which my father did stop. cultivating. My mother stopped utilizing it in food and her bombs and things like that. And we went through a period of time where like, we listened to the media, we listened to what people are telling us that it is not, it isn't good for you, it's bad, it can lead to this, things like that. How traumatizing. Yeah. And then, you know, I became more educated as I grew up and started seeing different research come out about it. And then, you know, started also helping my parents understand like we weren't doing anything wrong. Actually, we were told we were. But technically, this plant itself We were right about it. It does have benefits for health and wellness. And so I just went about it, of course, more legally once the industry became legal. And I decided to enter the space and continue my parents legacy and what they taught me about the plant. Yeah.
Sysamone Phaphon: So how did you enter the space? What was your first story?
Susan Burns: My first job in the industry was working for an active ingredient manufacturer that produced both THC cannabinoids and CBD cannabinoids in nano emulsion form. My role was head of growth. I supported other brands entering the market and innovating ideas and products. And so I helped them with like marketing verbiage, turning science into a marketable verbiage. for their products they were creating. I got to help so many brands from creating infused beverages, to creating infused click spray, to gum, to lube, and so my time working for I worked for two different manufacturers in the industry, taught me a lot, and then led me to what I do today, which is leading Savanna Wellness, my own brand, my own products that were inspired by my upbringing, but also created for our AAPI community.
Sysamone Phaphon: And what makes it different for the AAPI community and just for everybody, Asian-American, Pacific Islanders, right?
Susan Burns: I wouldn't say there's a difference. It's more of helping them come to the realization that what we've been doing for generations, whether growing hemp or cannabis, isn't something bad. It's always been something that we are right about in terms of its benefits. Also helping them, doing what I did for my parents is educating them and really guiding the way in our language too. Also, because we do have a lot of people in the community where English is not their first language. And so they want to learn this stuff. They want to know about it or they've had misinformation about it. And I help clarify it through their language. One of the education projects I created was a book that is translated in 11 different Asian languages that helps educate on cannabis one on one, all kinds of different things. And so for me, I feel like our community, one, of course, I want to showcase our culture. So when you look at my brand, you see my culture throughout the brand. It's sprinkled in its writing, even phonetically. The flavors are spelled out in the Lao language. Flavors are even Asian, lychee, guava, things like that.
Sysamone Phaphon: How is it, give us an example of one of your favorites that's spelled out and how is it spelled out in the language? Can you say, can you tell us?
Susan Burns: Yes, so my bomb itself is actually inspired by my mom. She used to use tiger bomb a lot and she also used her own pot. Love that. And it's called, we call it yamang in our culture. And the only way people will recognize it in English is if we say like tiger bum and they'll understand the similarity and so on the actual packaging. of my bomb, there's the written word of yamang in English, but also in Laotian language spelled out in our letters as well as yamang. You'll see that on our gummy skewers too. You'll see the word lychee for the flavor, the gummy flavor, and then you'll see how we pronounce it in English as maklinchee. And then you'll see the writing in Laotian as well for the lychee flavor.
Sysamone Phaphon: That's fabulous. I'm so, I'm so proud of you for doing this.
Susan Burns: It's wonderful. Yeah. It must be so affirming.
Announcer: Yes. Yes. It's definitely, it's been,
Susan Burns: very validating as well as very. I'm very grateful to be able to do this, especially doing it in a regulated market, having the opportunities to be able to kind of not just create, bring these products to the market, but also show the culture and share the culture with others through my products, through my design, through the brand.
Sysamone Phaphon: Do you have a market outside of the AAPI community? I would imagine you would.
Susan Burns: We do. So the long, I mean, technically we service everyone here in the States. A lot of our retailers are American owners that carry the brand because they have AAPI consumers as well. One of our big markets that I really appreciate is Hawaii, actually. We are in Hawaii and Hawaii is a big location for tourists, especially coming from Japan, from Korea, from China and whatnot. And so they love going into one of our main retailers there, Hemptuary, because When they see our products or they see the products offered, they can identify with it as an Asian brand. Even if technically they can't read the Lao language on there, they can identify and like, oh, wow, that's an Asian brand. That's an Asian owner that produces that product. And then our books, our retailers also carry. And so they're able to access those books for free. and see that there's content explained in their language, the Japanese language, so they can understand what they're consuming. They can understand the benefits of CBD and the difference between cannabinoids and things like that, and just fully be educated when they decide to consume.
Sysamone Phaphon: That's wonderful. In California, I'm in Minnesota, and we now can grow I think it's up to eight plants. Can you grow in California? Yes, you can. So your community is able to grow their own again?
Susan Burns: Yes, but of course, we have kind of the same limitations. If I remember correctly, it's 12 plants for us here in California.
Sysamone Phaphon: That's enough to keep you for a while. Yeah. I think ours is something weird, like you can only have so many, like 50% of them can be flowering at the same time or something. The little nuances. Yeah, that's so funny. So in your journey from firmulation to starting your own company, you must have had some other adventures along the way. And I'm just wondering if you've encountered any particular challenges that sometimes our listening audience likes to understand what your challenges are and how you overcome them.
Susan Burns: I mean, I would say as a brand, our biggest challenge probably is supply chain issues, right? It's finding the right partners in the supply chain. It's finding that fit of who can work with you also in your MOQs. I mean, in this industry, there's a lot of people that want to build a brand. And a lot of people also can't adhere to like MOQs or certain requirements that manufacturers provide or even understanding What's an MOQ? Oh, minimum order quantity. Yeah. And so one of the big things that when building your brand, most of us start from scratch, right? We start at home. And then when you start to scale and grow, you then have to begin to put these pieces in place for your supply chain, like who is your active ingredient manufacturer? Where are they sourcing from? And then where does it go from there to your production, your manufacturer, to co-packing? Who's also your printer for your pouches? And is it compliant? Is your label compliant? It's all the different pieces of the supply chain. And putting it together can be a lot for certain brands, especially brands that have no experience in the industry whatsoever, but they have an amazing idea to create a product. And or maybe they have an amazing formulation that they've created at home in their kitchen, and now they want to mass produce it and turn it into a brand. I would say that that's been I'm okay now. I've figured that out. But that is a big thing for newcomers who are interested in building a brand, especially those that are very new to the industry. The biggest challenge for me was putting together reliable and efficient and really good genuine like supply chain partners that just fit what I needed and fit also the stage I was in and had the ability and the willingness to grow with me as I grew.
Sysamone Phaphon: And do you have any pointers for people going through that? Any mistakes you made we can learn from?
Susan Burns: Definitely ask. Don't be afraid to ask other brand owners. Some will be happily share their supply chain or where they go, which conferences and expos they go to. to find the right partners. I've happily had so many conversations with other potential founders or brand potential brands that were coming into market or wanted people that wanted to create a product and didn't know where to go after that. So I was happy to provide like guidance of like, OK, these are good conferences you go to to interview. These are good questions to ask possible manufacturers that you're thinking of. You have an idea. These are kind of your next 10 steps before you even get to a manufacturer and whatnot. I think the hardest part is that some people are afraid others will steal their idea or they don't want to share it yet because they feel like they shouldn't. But for me, it's like, I think you should always ask, especially if you're new, feel free to ask. Researching on the internet can only help so much, you know, it gives you general information, but getting the information from someone who does it day to day and has been where they're at in terms of figuring that whole supply chain out, it's always best to just ask someone who has done it, regardless if they are kind of your direct or indirect competitor, you just never know how much they're willing to help. And I'm always happy to guide other women because I feel like there's so much of the market that we can all share. And so for me, I not only did I ask my former bosses, my team members, I made sure I killed everyone with questions to fully understand what I was stepping into when I was building my own brand.
Sysamone Phaphon: And you did it anyway.
Announcer: Yeah.
Sysamone Phaphon: Oh, that's good. And on the other side of the coin, how about, so you started on this journey and you went through all of that asking and trying and retrying and formulating and reformulating and doing everything to arrive at where you did today. But is there anything on the journey where you were like, I never thought in a million years that this amazing, wonderful thing would happen. This is so great. Something that you just didn't anticipate. I always think of it as kind of a reward for striking out on your own and forging a path.
Susan Burns: I would say that For a small little brand that I am, one thing that I am very proud of, it's an achievement that hasn't been fully announced. We're working towards announcing it for the fall. But our little American brand actually received Thai FDA approval. to be able to import one of our products. And we have three products in the pipeline that they're still reviewing for the ability to approve. If anyone in the industry has been watching the news, they have been seeing the chaos that is Thailand, where they decriminalize and are trying to reverse it. But there is a market where CBD, hemp CBD, hemp-derived CBD products is still very welcomed. Um, one of the things that was working against me, of course, is that I'm not a corporate company, I don't have millions of dollars to put towards expansion into an international country, let alone I'm still working through the states here. I also am bootstrapped. I don't take any investment. All the revenue I make from our sales goes right back into the company. And so there was a lot of doubt of like, could you really achieve it being where you're at? Being a sole female founder, running a small business, you're up against multiple CBD brands that are trying to get into Thailand as well. And some have attempted to buy their way in with different parliament members and things like that. And so I was a David versus Goliath type of situation. But I'm proud to say that I'm actually the first and so far the only American brand that has been approved for to import my products there. And it's it's been a three year battle, a three year like, process of back and forth. I even almost threw the towel in so many times of like, you know what, is this it? But every little thing that I made, I scraped and I put aside for this budget of the Thai FDA approval. I worked directly with parliament members. I found my way into all the right people. I used education and being able to speak the language helps too as you know you're of you have Thai descent yes so I'm of Lao Thai and Cambodian descent and so you know I utilized every resources resource that I had to be able to figure out how to make this work it took me three years to get the first approval which we really just received last month and now we're finishing up trying to get approval for three other SKUs and then Now we're going to work through logistics and how we get these products over there and into their market.
Sysamone Phaphon: Yeah, that's great. That's a fabulous frosting on the cake. Good for you. And yay for tenacity. Yeah. Yeah. So we're getting hints of this, of course, all throughout our conversation. What is it that you think makes you uniquely bodacious?
Susan Burns: I mean, what I just shared about Thailand, I feel like, and if most people immerse themselves into the Thailand business culture, they would see that it's really strong with nepotism, as well as patriarchy. It's very strong over there still. And it's stronger than even here. In America, we have a lot of very strong independent women that are able to speak their mind, speak up, change things. And with Thailand, it's still very much patriarchal. And having a woman, let alone lead her own brand, but also have a voice over there, it's hard. It's challenging. But I feel like it makes me bodacious that just not just achieving that, but being able to stand amongst these elderly Thai men who in every meeting I've had to take my brothers with me just so that I can get respect. first of all, just walking in the room. And of course, walking into the room, I mean, it still happens here in America where like people will think the man is like the leader of the company, they'll go shake their hand first, or they'll direct questions to them. But it's not like he's my assistant. Yeah, exactly. It's not as intense as in the Asian culture. Actually, the Asian culture, it's very rare to see a woman lead a company. It's always a man, literally majority of the time. I mean, the stats over there are even worse than over here of having female CEOs. And so I not only have I had to fight against our own American corporations and companies to achieve this approval, I have to fight against the patriarchy in Thailand. And I have to also continually show up and show them that I actually run the company, direct your questions to me. And so many times at every meeting, it never fails, they always go straight to my brothers first, shake their hand and direct the questions at them and don't give me a second look until they ask the first question. And then my brothers are like, you gotta ask her, she's the boss. She owns the company, we're just here to support her. And so I would say my grit, my tenacity, my persistence, and my, I don't give a shit if I'm a woman, you're gonna talk to me directly. And I brought these men just for eye candy, and that's it.
Sysamone Phaphon: Well, that's high praise for your brothers.
Susan Burns: I brought them as bodyguards and that's it. And they knew that too. I love my brothers for it. They never would let me travel alone to Asia. Every time I had to go and meet with the parliament or our partners and things like that, they would go with me as my bodyguards and they They always chuckled every time we went into a meeting and they were talked to first versus me and they would have to just point the people to like, it's actually her that you need to talk to.
Sysamone Phaphon: Culture shock for everybody.
Susan Burns: Yeah. Yeah.
Sysamone Phaphon: Yeah. So, Simone, how do you think that your bodaciousness impacts your brand and is maybe infused in your brand and how do you think it it plays a part in that?
Susan Burns: It definitely because it's 100% women owned. I feel like the brand itself, and this is coming from a lot of other people inspires a lot of our generation of Asian women, my especially the girls in my family, my nieces. It inspires a lot of women in the AAPI community, not just in in my space but in other spaces to actually go and build their own brands and their own Asian inspired products not even just hemp like I feel like ever since I've developed this brand and launched it and showcase that You can put your language in there. You can put your culture in there. You don't have to assimilate to the current market because there is a community of people that identify with your products and more prone to purchase your products because they identify. with it. And so I feel like I've gotten a lot of great feedback, generally, that the brand itself with the culture sprinkles throughout it like it has inspired a lot of other women in the Asian demographic to also be proud of their heritage and be proud of their culture and take those steps to really sprinkle that in their brands too, regardless if they were putting out a Asian sriracha, or if they were putting out another hemp brand or hemp product. I've seen just an influx of so many female owned brand products for the consumer market that now are really Asian inspired and culture is front and center. And it's no longer a lot of products being imported from Asian countries. It's our own Asian-American citizens that are creating these products and showcasing their heritage.
Sysamone Phaphon: So you're a pioneer still.
Susan Burns: I'll accept that.
Sysamone Phaphon: Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess that's not, we don't see that every day in our regular run-of-the-mill life where you're where it's in your face about, well, you know what, this is also, this is a whole different thing for the Asian American AAPI community, you know? And so that's, thank you for illuminating that and also being a pioneer in the area and a role model for so many. And I think it, it might be freeing and inspiring for the males in your culture too.
Susan Burns: Yeah, I mean, especially my brothers. I mean, they are just so proud. And mind you, I'm the youngest girl in the family. So it's a lot of my older brothers looking up to me, too, and so proud of me and showing off my book, showing off my products. My older brother actually showed my book to one of his friends that was visiting from Laos. And that friend happened to pass it off to somebody in Thailand, which led to also a lot of work in finding the right partner over there to support me with the Thai FDA. And so not just the girls, right, in the Asian culture, but the men are starting to change as well. They're starting to change their mindset in the way they look at Asian women, in the way that they view them as no longer submissive and subservient. They're now looking to them as like, really strong Asian women that run the family, support the family, and can build companies as well. Yeah.
Sysamone Phaphon: That's some kind of impact, Simone.
Announcer: Thank you. Thank you.
Sysamone Phaphon: Yeah. So tell us, where can people find you? So if you're available for, you know, somebody can contact you to ask you a question about business or to buy your product, where can we find you?
Susan Burns: If you'd love to purchase a product and support us, we do sell online. It's www.savanh. Savanh is spelled S-A-V-A-N-H. It's savanhwellness.com. And then, of course, all of our handles are the same. It's at Savann Wellness. We're pretty much on every platform. You can find us on IG. We're very more active on IG, but you can find us on Facebook, LinkedIn as well. And if anybody wants to connect with me, it's very easy. CSimoneP at SavannWellness.com or you can happily DM us through any of our socials and our team will respond and direct you to me.
Sysamone Phaphon: Okay, and just so everybody is remembering this, Sissamone is spelled S-Y-S-A-M-O-N-E. Correct. Sissamone. I love that name. It's beautiful.
Susan Burns: Thank you, Susan.
Sysamone Phaphon: Yeah, thank you so much. What an inspiration.
Susan Burns: Thank you. Thank you. And thank you so much for having me.