Grower Stories #149: Trish Naudon Thomas

Good Body Products Creates Various CBD Products for Medicinal and Other Uses

The AskGrowers team talks with Trish Naudon Thomas from Good Body Products and asks her what GBP stands for and how it was created. Trish Naudon Thomas talks about how the brand was created out of personal need and how it has grown to become an established name in the market. She also speaks about the brand’s focus on helping people, future goals in terms of new products, advice for new CBD users, and general industry trends that she hopes to see.

---

I just wanted to be a kick-ass girl drummer! I grew up in Southern California and Mexico with both parents and grandparents with green “witchy” tendencies. I’m half Mexican and my Abuelita was an amazing healer, teaching me daily how to use the garden to heal ourselves and my other grandma was a horticulturist. My mom was a college professor of anatomy and physiology and a licensed medical esthetician, and my dad was and still is a super supporter $$ of our business from the start.

I did end up playing drums and touring heavily, but I also went on to study the following:

• 1987 – Certified Cosmetologist, Citrus College, California
• 1988 – Certified Esthetician, Citrus College, California
• 1993 – BA, International Relations, George Washington University, WDC
• 1994 – MS, Cultural Anthropology, George Washington University, WDC
• 2000 – Holistic Nutrition, The New York School, NYC
• 2010 – Herbal Studies, one-on-one work with Master Herbalists in Northeast
• 2010 – Science and Art of Herbalism, Rosemary Gladstar
• 2018 – Master Herbalist & Medicine, School of Excellence, UK
• 2020 – Holistic Hormone Therapy, Dr. Afrouz Demeri

---

---

Tia (AskGrowers) : Tell us how you started Good Body Products?

Trish N. Thomas : Our company started with a sweet little baby butt needing some help. Basically, our daughter’s butt started our company because of need.

---

Tia : What was the main idea behind when you just started it?

Trish : Fix her butt and stop her crying. A “simple” thing but when we were given “organic” baby products back in 2010, they just weren’t doing the trick, so we made our own. Like many companies, we started because of a serious need - FIX THAT BUTT, and she’ll stop crying.

---

Tia : What kind of pain point have you faced launching the business?

Trish : Hmmm… honestly, I think it was being able to make enough product to meet demand. As we’ve grown, it hasn’t stopped and we’ve streamlined and kept learning how to grow them in the best organic way possible.

---

Tia : What was your initial capital for opening up the brand?

Trish : Our angel investor was dad and I cashed my 401k. It got us going and our initial capital was around $35k.

---

Tia : You have a wide range of products. When have you decided to work with such an enormous quantity of products? What was your primary focus and idea?

Trish : Ahhhh… we started with 9 products that were very focused and we’ve grown organically over the years. Now we’re at 43 products and will be announcing 8 new products very soon.

---

Tia : What’s the specifics of all your products? How do they differ from others on the market?

Trish : We make all our own oils in-house with the exception of our CBD, which is sub-critically extracted by Kria Botanicals in Northern Vermont.

---

---

Tia : Are they all non-allergic?

Trish : That is a loaded question as we are USDA Certified Organic which means we offer only organic, which means zero chemicals or synthetic, ingredients. However, some people have allergies to herbs such as Chamomile, St. John Wort, Coconut Oil, etc.

On the other hand, we do offer our line of infused oils with a single herb infused in olive oil so that people with highly sensitive skin or allergies can use it with comfort.

---

Tia : What’s the hardest thing in handling a business like yours?

Trish : Because we rely on plants, it can be tricky. One year might be a great year for Arnica and the next year may not. That goes with every plant we rely on, and that is an extensive list including CBD plants. Because the CBD plant is so important to use, we work closely with a local certified farm, High Meadow Farm, to grow for us every year. We do grow our own CBD but anything can happen and it also gives us the opportunity to test new strains.

---

Tia : In your opinion, what’s the best way to grow cannabis? Why?

Trish : We believe in a “less is more” approach with our grows. We use the least “shocking” methods possible of cultivation and processing. We always aim to preserve the core components of the plants we work with as we find this practice to yield the richest and most potent extractions and infusions.

---

Tia : Do you have any tips for someone starting to use CBD?

Trish : Start with lower doses and in a comfortable setting at home, preferably before you go to bed. Your body should be very relaxed and your limbs will feel heavy but good. You will not feel “high” - it’s a very different feeling so don’t be afraid. Also, give it a chance — if it doesn’t work immediately try it a few more times before giving up.

---

Tia : As a rule, CBD is consumed to minimize stress/relaxation. Does CBD work for everyday usage?

Trish : Absolutely! We have performers using it for stage jitters and love it, we have workaholics that have stressful jobs using it daily, athletes, and people who work with their bodies daily. It helps with cramping and overload on the body and mind.

---

Tia : Back in the old times, cannabis united diverse people. Do you preserve these old traditions? If yes, what do you do about that?

Trish : While we have studied the historic way hemp was grown, harvested, and used in our region, we are creating our own traditions by utilizing the advantages of today’s technology, especially in the tracking and management of our operations.

---

---

Tia : If you could have a chance to smoke with anyone on this planet, who’d that be and why? (dead or alive)

Trish : I did smoke with [tooltip title="William Hugh Nelson" content="American composer, country singer and cannabis activist."]Willie Nelson[/tooltip] and that was pretty awesome.

---

Tia : Is Good Body Products a sustainable company? What do you do about that?

Trish : GBP meets annually to discuss ways we can lessen our waste output and environmental impact. This includes reviewing our packaging, re-assessing our suppliers (practices and quality of goods), reviewing our farm practices, and keeping an open mind to alternative options that are better for the planet. For instance, while it has incurred a lot more work, we have moved to no-till farming.

---

Tia : What are your predictions on the cannabis industry for the next 5-10 years?

Trish : We feel that the wild-west chaos of the current cannabis industry will eventually settle leaving, hopefully, reputable operations to move forward into a less-hyped market. We look forward to when cannabis companies across various industries stop preying on each other.

We look forward to the cost of operations coming down, especially for things like business insurance and payment gateways. With any luck, small, quality operations like Good Body Products will be able to stay afloat as larger corporations begin to attempt claiming the product spaces as cannabis becomes more ubiquitously accepted.

---

You can follow Good Body Products at:

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Thank you so much, Good Body Products team, for taking the time to do the interview. To learn more about them, head on over to their website.