Lisa Nguyen first reached out to us back in 2020 when she was in the planning stages of setting up her medical cannabis dispensary, Astrid. Lisa and I went back even earlier as friends so this blast from the past was warmly welcomed. True Tribe ran the first media campaign which positioned Astrid as Australia's first female-led cannabis dispensary which at the time was lobbying many of the new policies we all have to thank for today. Looking back now, Lisa and her team's success is a true feat of passion and perseverance. Lisa reflects on what went down and what's going up in our latest journal.

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YOU WORKED IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY FOR QUITE SOME TIME BEFORE DECIDING TO SET UP YOUR OWN SHOP. WHAT WERE YOUR BIGGEST DRIVERS?

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I’d spent years in pharmacy and kept seeing patients who could benefit from the potential of cannabis as medicine, but it was almost impossible to access here in Australia. When I saw how advanced the Canadian market was, I realised how much potential Australia had if we could get the education right. Astrid really started from that idea: to create a safe space where people could ask questions, feel supported, and truly understand all their options. In the pharmacy world, it’s really rare to have a patient-led, service-led experience, and that’s exactly what I wanted to build.

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ASTRID DISPENSARY LAUNCHED IN 2020 DURING A PARTICULARLY CHALLENGING TIME IN THE HEALTHCARE AND RETAIL SPACE. WHAT WERE THOSE EARLY MONTHS LIKE?

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I had spent months building the dispensary from scratch - from the sign on the door, to the shade of green paint on the walls, to every curve design of the space. I had a very, very specific vision. I did everything on my own, bootstrapped the entire business because no banks or investors believed in my dream at the time. Which is fair enough, because it was 2020, peak pandemic and people were more concerned about social distancing.

And here’s me, a girl with a dream to build a cannabis dispensary - no experience, no capital, no blueprint. People, including family and friends, were shocked by what I was doing during that time. They called me brave. But I was too obsessed with my vision and dream to care what others thought. I was so hyperfixed on launching that I did whatever it took to make it happen. Sold my apartment. Sold everything I had to start this dream. 

And when I opened my doors for the first time, after months of building, navigating regulatory pathways to gain permits, I cried. Not happy tears because I had finally launched - but sad tears. Because on the first day we opened, when the dispensary was sparkling green, shelves filled with curated plant-based products, I had no customers all day.

We closed the dispensary on day one of trade with zero sales. And I went home and cried. And I cried every day that week. One day 6, we had our first sale. I still have the receipt pinned to a pinboard. I cried from happiness.

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YOU’VE BEEN A PIONEER IN RAISING AWARENESS AND MAKING MEDICAL CANNABIS MORE ACCESSIBLE THROUGH POLICY CHANGE. WHAT’S BEEN YOUR PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENT?

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So many moments feel surreal. Being featured in Forbes Australia was amazing, not just for me, but for the industry. Hosting Astrid Assembly was another big one; bringing together politicians, advocates, and patients to talk openly about cannabis and even share a CBD meditation. Expanding into Byron Bay, opening Astrid Clinic, launching Astrid Alchemy, each has been its own milestone.

But the moment that really hit me was the Senate’s invitation to have me present a case for legalisation at Parliament in Canberra. Standing there in front of politicians, people who had the power to change the future of cannabis in Australia, representing our patients and our team, I realised how far we’ve come.

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AS THE FOUNDER OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST FEMALE-FOUNDED DISPENSARY, DO YOU HAVE ANY WORDS OF WISDOM FOR ANY OTHER WOMEN WANTING TO LAUNCH THEIR OWN BRANDS?

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It’s never easy. You need grit, but you also need heart. Things will get hard and messy, and you’ve got to keep going anyway because you love it. Be brave enough to start, and stay soft enough to care while you’re doing it. Have a vision that’s bigger than business and make sure the work means something to the people it touches. And underneath all of it, just stay human. Empathy goes a long way in business, more than most people realise.

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NOW A BIG CONGRATULATIONS IS DUE TO YOU AFTER IT WAS ANNOUNCED RECENTLY THAT YOU SOLD ASTRID TO CHEMIST WAREHOUSE. I’M SURE IT’S JUST SINKING IN, BUT WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS?

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Thank you, it still feels surreal! It’s a big step for Astrid, but it doesn’t change who we are. This partnership gives us the resources to do what we’ve always wanted to do; educate more people, break more stigmas, and normalise cannabis as a medicine at scale. I’m still here, still driving the same mission, just now with a bigger platform to make it real.

My mission at Astrid has always been to make medicinal cannabis mainstream. And there’s nothing more mainstream than Chemist Warehouse. The work continues, and is only going to get bigger - that’s what makes it so exciting. There are so many exciting plans for Astrid. My dream is to be able to walk into an Astrid in every capital city in Australia, but also in London, Vienna, Prague… you name it. 

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Website: astrid.health

Instagram: @astrid.dispensary

Photos by True Tribe