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Women of Distinction

wanted to leverage my deep at the Chopra Center. You can left the tech world to deal with and hemp. The year was 2016, and
understanding of the analytics imagine which route she selected! massive trauma in our lives. But Pelin hadn’t yet heard about the
market as well as my ability to ex- Looking back, the rapid improve- that break also gave me the time to now wildly popular supplement.
ecute on a winning go-to-market ments in her wellbeing and quality really reflect on what I wanted to “Andy told us that CBD was
strategy. I hit the ground running of life upon adopting the recom- do going forward. And one thing delivering absolutely remarkable
by bringing on a highly experi- mendations of the Chopra Center that came through loud and clear improvements for his son Max,
enced senior management team MDs would serve as a key turning was that I had spent my career ex- who was born with cerebral palsy
and positioning the company as point in Pelin’s life and career. celling around the “how” aspect of and started to tell us about its anx-
a leader in the emerging market- The health issues in Pelin’s what I did: how I took care of my iolytic and anti-inflammatory ben-
ing analytics space. As CEO of a family escalated when her hus- customers, my shareholders, my efits. Given the tremendous pain
start-up, you end up being a chief band Scott, who is the co-founder employees, how I lead companies, Scott was experiencing due to his
everything officer, spanning sales, and CEO of Nanovision, nearly how I engaged with people. But if open-heart surgeries and the issues
marketing, finance, R&D and cus- died of a massive aortic rupture I were honest with myself, I didn’t with the plethora of prescribed
tomer support. I was grateful to pain medication, we thought we’d
have the respect of the engineers try some CBD transdermal patch-
and often sat down with them to es to see how they assisted with
discuss the business optimization the pain… they appeared to really
scenarios they were developing work, and I was intrigued. When
for various major clients. I also Andy and I started asking our
enjoyed spending time closing friends and colleagues about CBD
deals with major customers and well before it was as popular as it
then ensuring we could indeed is today, we found out many were
meet their specific requirements.” already using CBD for a variety
Anametrix received major of conditions. Not just epilepsy,
industry accolades, including for which I know many have now
best business intelligence (BI) heard about, but really everything
and big data solution, and was from brain tumors to Parkinson’s
acquired by Silicon Valley firm and Alzheimer’s, autism to sleep,
Ensighten in 2014. For the next and everyday chronic pain. The
18 months, Pelin led the technical breadth of the potential benefits
and cultural integration between was honestly astounding to me!
the two companies as well as the Just as interesting—especially
expanded corporate rebranding given my analytics background—
and positioning as Ensighten’s was how a lot of others indicated
Chief Strategy Officer. that CBD did not benefit them.
While it’s clearly in Pelin’s and dissection in 2015. “We ended have a solid “why”, a purpose They said, ‘Yeah, I tried CBD, I
DNA to attract and embrace new up having to airlift him to a San that I was truly passionate about heard about all the hype, and it
challenges, she felt the exhaustion Diego hospital for what turned out behind it all.” doesn’t work for me at all.’ So, we
as her new role involved even to be an 11-hour lifesaving open Stepping back from work to wanted to get to the bottom of
longer hours with weekly trips to heart surgery. Scott was in a coma take a long, hard look at her life how and why CBD may provide
Silicon Valley. “I felt extremely for days following the invasive was an invigorating process for these diverse health benefits and
tired all the time, but assumed procedure, and things were touch Pelin. “I had spent years devel- why it worked for some people and
it came with the territory of and go for quite some time. Given oping great software products not for others. As we looked into
balancing family with the rigors of the extent of the damage to his that drive significant productivity the medical literature, we realized
corporate life. However, this time vascular system, he ended up hav- gains for corporations big and there was simply not a lot of
was different as I could barely ing two more open heart surgeries small. And, there’s certainly a ton research from NIH [National Insti-
pull myself out of bed and was before thankfully recovering fully.” of value in that. But after going tutes for Health] or other sources
losing my signature joie de vivre. Watching the miracle of modern through a life changing experience primarily due to the Schedule 1
After numerous consultations medical technology unfold as like we did, I realized that was no status of CBD and cannabis.”
with MDs and osteopaths, I was doctors cooled her husband’s body longer enough for me. It was time Based on what they saw,
finally diagnosed with adrenal and arrested blood flow entirely to to really think about what my Pelin and Andy thought it was
fatigue, a condition where one’s replace significant portions of his next step would be and seek that time to bring in private money
adrenal glands can’t keep up with damaged thoracic aorta with syn- perfect intersection of my skills and resources for much-needed
the tremendous amount of daily thetic vessels was a transformative and my passions.” research funding and decided to
stress we experience. Adrenals are experience for Pelin. Just as trans- It’s that kind of deep co-found the Wholistic Research
designed to produce hormones formative was the realization that self-re-evaluation that drove and Education Foundation. Their
such as cortisol and adrenaline the same medical technology was Pelin’s desire to make a major mission is to explore the health
to enable us to deal with short woefully inadequate when it came shift from her illustrious career in benefits of CBD-rich therapeutics
term “fight or flight” situations. to addressing pain relief following big data and analytics to natural with clinical and scientific research
However, with long-term stress, these traumatic surgeries. medicine. People say setting in- and leverage this evidence-based
our adrenal glands burn out from The break she took from her tentions opens your eyes to things data for education and advocacy.
prolonged production of the stress tech career to focus on her family you may have otherwise missed Their approach is what some call
hormone cortisol – and adrenal during this health crisis, along – and that certainly proved to be Venture Philanthropy, which is a
fatigue sets in.” with key realizations about how the case for Pelin as well. When model that goes far beyond writing
Her primary physician of over she could make a difference in the Pelin and Scott’s long-term friend checks. They say they take a deep,
20 years told Pelin she can either world of healthcare and wellness Andy Noorda visited to check up long-term view into what it means
start antidepressants, or given her ended up serving as a launching on Scott, he also introduced them to invest in cutting-edge CBD
preference for natural medicine, point for another career for the to CBD, a non-psychoactive com- research and education to improve
consult with the Ayurvedic MDs ever entrepreneurial Pelin. “I pound found in both marijuana public health and safety.
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