Katarina Maloney placed the ad, looking for a roommate in her Southern California home. Janell Thompson, a recent transplant from Salt Lake City, answered it. Maloney, a businesswoman, thought it would be fun to get a roommate. Thompson, a new girl in town, just needed a place to stay temporarily while she got settled.
Five years later, those roommates have turned coincidence into opportunity. Not only did they move in together, but they went into business together. Now Maloney and Thompson are in charge of two booming companies that aim to help people live healthier.
After realizing their mutual interest in vaping, they created Hookahzz, a brand of e-cigs and e-hookahs that offer a healthier alternative to both smoking and traditional vaping. The company’s mission is simple: To offer a healthy, new-age alternative to both nicotine and cannabis while creating stylish products that fit into the modern marketplace.
Soon after launching Hookahzz, Maloney and Thompson discovered that they could be helping more people too. They dug deeper into the health advantages of CBD (aka cannabidiol), which is one of the main compounds in cannabis. Unlike THC, which most people know about, CBD provides all the health benefits without any physical or mental impairment. Knowing that this could help people (and animals), the two launched Hemp Health, Inc. to create products for people who didn’t want to vape.
And none of it would have happened without that Craigslist ad.
The two of them were a match from the get-go. At their first meeting, Maloney and Thompson decided they’d be roommates. In fact, Thompson moved in that night. It was just a temporary set-up, but even after Thompson moved, they remained friends. They’d meet for dinner or drinks. They’d travel together. They were, simply put, a great fit.
So when they tried vaping and agreed they could make better products, they were natural partners. Maloney had a background in online marketing and branding.
Thompson had worked in the legal field then moved on to the wholesale industry. They were a ying and yang, fitting together perfectly to launch a new line of vaping products.
They wasted little time. After coming up with the idea, they booked plane tickets the very next day to fly to China. They needed to meet with manufacturers that could help them create the products they knew would be a hit. And that’s when Hookahzz was born.
Their devices have a stylish look to them and their e-liquids have fun flavor names such as Razzleberry, Pink Diva and Melon Madnezz. They’ve caught the eye of celebrities and participated in Emmy parties, but none of these things is what really set Hookahzz apart. They put a priority on health.
They focused on CBD, realizing its potential to help people. In recent years, CBD-heavy marijuana has been getting national attention for its health benefits, especially for kids with epilepsy. But Hookahzz was ahead of the curve, already selling CBD-infused e-cigs that were one of the first on the market and were legal in all 50 states.
Additionally, Hookahzz made a point not to add propylene glycol (also known as PG). It’s a popular component in the e-juices that vapers use. Most of their competitors use PG, but Maloney and Thompson were concerned about its toxicity. The FDA hasn’t outlawed it, but it’s used to make things like polyester.
“I would not want to smoke it, would you?” Maloney says.
Realizing, however, that some people just didn’t want to smoke but could still benefit from CBD, the pair launched Hemp Health, Inc. It focused on delivering CBD in other forms, such as oral sprays, capsules and concentrated oils extracted from high stain CBD hemp. It opened up the market for people looking to sooth their ailments with CBD.
These products don’t just help people, but pets too! One of the reasons they launched Hemp Health, actually, was because of Thompson’s dog. Her 11-year-old Labrador, Roxy, was arthritic at the time, going through the early stages of hip dysplasia and had needed a number of tumors removed.
“Knowing that CBD could assist with all of the ailments she was experiencing, I immediately began researching the safeness of CBD for canines and was extremely happy to learn that CBD could benefit all mammals in the same way,” Thompson says. “I was ecstatic and began immediately supplementing her with CBD and in less than a week, I noticed improvements in her mobility and mood.”
After that, Hemp Health launched a pet-specific line called Pharma CBD Pet.
As Maloney and Thompson look to the future, they see big growth for both Hookahzz and Hemp Health. Both businesses are in the process of expanding into Europe, where they hope to help even more people. Beyond that, they’re constantly exploring new product ideas.
Some that are coming very soon include a new CBD cream, yummy edibles and pet treats that will be released by Hemp Health. Hookahzz is launching new CBD refillable cartridges, a new 150-mg bottle of vaping liquid and a new e-cig and EVOD kit, all of them in the company’s eye-catching and stylish designs.
Big things are ahead for both companies, but as busy as they get, Maloney and Thompson still find time to be friends too. They do things like go diving with sharks in the Bahamas, tour volcanoes in Hawaii, ride whale sharks in the Caribbean and go castle lurking in Slovakia.
They work hard, play hard, enjoy their success and push each other to be even better. All that wasn’t in the fateful Craigslist ad. It’s just a happy result.
“This was meant to be,” Maloney says.
After hearing their story, that’s hard to argue.
For more information on Hookahzz and Hemp Health, find them on the web:
- hookahzz.com
- hemphealthinc.com
Katarina and Janell Thompson are co-founders of Hemp Health Inc. and Hemp Hookahzz. They had a vision to help people who are in need of legal cannabis. They have made 2.1 million sales in their first year and plan on doing minimal double this year!