Experience Team members attend three meetings over Zoom, each of which is 90-minutes long. Meetings are facilitated by our staff, who focus on creating a welcoming, respectful, and interactive environment. During meetings, team members share their questions and concerns about legal/regulatory issues, get solutions to common legal and regulatory questions, and reflect on the impact of those answers on their business, peer community, and customer base.

Team members will also be assigned about one hour of homework ahead of each meeting by reading educational material and reflecting on individual needs and concerns. In total, team members are asked to contribute 8 hours of their time to the program.

Wednesdays from 12 PM – 1:30 PM CT on the following dates:

• March 5, 2025

• March 12, 2025

• March 19, 2025

We will provide each participant who successfully completes the program with an honorarium of $600 on or after the final meeting on March 19, 2025. To receive the honorarium, Botanical Product Experience Team members will provide their payment information in our secure, online, payment management system, Gusto. A social security number, TEIN, or EIN is required to receive payment so we can fulfill our tax obligations. Payment can be made via direct deposit or via paper check through the postal mail. Participants may forgo the payment if they wish.

We are looking for folks fitting the following criteria:

1. You own a business that makes and markets botanical products.

2. You are willing to share your stories and questions about legal issues related to botanical products rules and regulations and herbal production in sessions that will be recorded and potentially incorporated into our educational material (anonymous or credited, your choice)

3. You are willing and able to join online group meetings using Zoom (including having the necessary hardware, software and internet bandwidth), to access Google Drive, to complete written responses in an online form, and communicate in English.

4. You have the ability to join all of the scheduled meetings: March 5, 2025, March 12, 2025, and March 19, 2025.

Whether you are in the advanced planning stages of your botanical business, have just begun, or have many years of experience, we are looking for a diversity of voices! Please consider joining us.

We anticipate receiving more applications than we have available spots. We apologize in advance if we are not able to accept all applicants!  In that event, we will extend invitations based on our priorities. We are prioritizing the following individuals for participation, in no particular order, and we strive to create a diverse Experience Team representative of a wide variety of product types and personal experiences.

• Business owners that grow and/or forage at least some of their own ingredients such as mint, calendula, garlic and other botanical ingredients

• Business owners based in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and North Dakota.

• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color business owners

• Business owners who create and market a variety of products rather than, for example, just one or two alcohol-based tinctures

When we say “botanical products” we mean teas, tinctures, syrups, oxymels, hydrosols, salves, essential oils, and dried mushrooms/powders that are intended for sale as health and/or beauty aids. For example, we are looking for folks creating mint tea blends, calendula or comfrey salves, honey-based elderberry syrups, and much more. Our focus is on those who also grow their own ingredients and are offering value-added products to customers.

When we say “business owners” we mean folks with control over issues like what to produce, how to market it, and what records to keep on products. You do not have to be the legal business owner, but if you are we are also eager to learn from your ownership insights!