Passion for Wellness Fuels CBD Business

Lawyer Turned Wellness Business Owner Driven by Late Father's Legacy

By Abby Meaux Conques

When you walk into the Green Time Wellness shop off Pinhook in Broussard, La, you’ll find what most wellness shops carry: CBD oils, tinctures, infused salves, soaps, lip balms, etc. What you may not find in other CBD stores is a female former lawyer turned wellness shop owner with the knowledge, fire and vigor to help others with deficient bodies and endocannabinoid systems.

Enter Tara Elwell, owner of the newly opened Green Time Wellness at 3711 W Pinhook Road. Tara and her fiance, Jeff Guidry, are the managing duo of the wellness business that was built out of what Elwell saw as sheer necessity. “I had my career established; I owned my own law firm specializing in Succession & Probate, Wills & Trusts, and Estate Planning. But after my father got sick, everything changed,” Elwell said.

Elwell’s father, Robert Elwell, was diagnosed with a very aggressive and advanced cancer in November of 2018. His diagnosis would create wavesthat would carry Elwell in a very different direction than she ever dreamed of. “I became his primary caregiver. He was my best friend. We knew the ultimate outcome of his diagnosis and I was going to do whatever it took to make him as comfortable as possible during his transition,” she explained.

Elwell is a long-time advocate of natural, holistic and alternative health options. When it came to research and documentation, Elwell’s tenacity was a by-product of her twelve year law career. “I began to research CBD and its effects - I wanted to get him to agree to try it daily,” Elwell explained.

The timing was right because the Federal Farm Bill of 2018 was passed that December, which took hemp and hemp-derived CBD off of the Federal controlled substance list. Luckily, her father also agreed to add it to his treatment plan and they began a daily CBD regimen to aid the massive discomfort of his disease and the aggressive medical care that came along with it.

She started her father on a daily schedule of CBD capsules and infused salve. Elwell began to take stock of her own ailments that could benefit from a daily CBD regimen. She began taking CBD for the anxiety that came with her emotional situation and sleeplessness due to the enormous stress she was encountering.

CBD gel capsules available at Greentime Wellness in Broussard

“I was still working a bit, but dwindling my workload to be there for him as much as I possibly could,” she explained. “The stress became too much, and I knew with his passing, it would be very difficult for me to work with others who are grieving and needed wills, successions and such - something like the loss of parent makes you see the world with different lenses and I wanted to do something else that I could manage with passion and be able to help others,” she continued. After many discussions with her father, Elwell decided to close her law firm.

CBD became such a big part of her life, helping her father to be more comfortable and in aiding her own symptoms. She began further research onCBD and the laws surrounding it. “Although Louisiana law had not yet caught up with the Federal law at the time, I started getting involved in advocating with a great hemp group who were encouraging our legislators for hemp and hemp-derived CBD to become legal here in Louisiana,” Elwell said.

“My father was an extremely intelligent man and I completely trusted his business advice. When we started talking about me opening a wellness store carrying CBD products, he was fully supportive and encouraged me to do it with full force and passion,” she explained. Elwell began her new business venture and never looked back.

The only time she was away from her father was when she would make trips to Colorado to seek out the best CBD manufacturer she could find. “If I was going to do this, I was going to do it with the best quality products from extremely trusted sources so I could be the best service to people here who needed CBD for themselves or their loved ones,” she said.

IF I WAS GOING TO DO THIS, I WAS GOING TO DO IT WITH THE BEST QUALITY PRODUCTS FROM EXTREMELY TRUSTED SOURCES

There were a lot of hoops to jump through and professional relationships to nurture, but with Elwell’s background and attention to meticulous detail, she eventually secured a connection with one of the largest and most accredited manufacturers and extractors of CBD in the world. She decided to become one of their distributors, and the Green Time Wellness brand was born.

Shortly after, in April 2019, Elwell’s father passed away. “My CBD business is dedicated to my late father and is his legacy,” she said. Even though the pain from losing a parent was still raw, she used her emotions as fuel to ramp up operations and get quality CBD into the hands of people who needed it. Green Time Wellness opened its doors on November 5, 2019 and has an online store for ordering and shipping all over the country.

Elwell’s advice on beginning a CBD regimen is comprised of 2 parts: find quality CBD and take the time to find the right dosage for your body. “It does take research to find a trusted, quality CBD brand since this industry is brand new and strict regulations aren’t in place yet,” Elwell said.

Tara Elwell and Jeff Guidry in their CBD shop, Greentime Wellness

A quality CBD product starts with the seedlings and the growth process. You’ll want to find a reputable company that gets their product from growers who don’t use harsh pesticides and don’t add any fillers post-extraction. You want a product that has the least amount of steps between the seed to seal process. Credible companies have their lab results available so the consumer can double check product quality. Green Time Wellness has the lab results of all of their product categories listed directly on their website.

Elwell immerses herself in all of the details of the changing regulations and being in compliance with law. She also serves as a board member of the Louisiana Cannabis Retailers Association. “A lot of times, the first question people ask when they walk in is ‘Will your product cause me to fail a drug test?’” she explained. “People worry and rightfully so. There are people who could lose their jobs or their pain management plan, and there are CBD products out there that don’t comply and could get people fired.”

In Elwell and Guidry’s experience since the shop opened, when customers receive the information that Elwell has a law background, they feel like they’re in good hands since they have an understanding of her attention to detail and knowledge of law.

When asked if she had any other CBD tips or advice for consumers, she said to give CBD a few weeks to a few months to do its work. “Finding the right dosage for you is key, and that can take some time,” she said. Elwell also mentioned that a multiple-form strategy of CBD use yields the best results. “Take people with arthritis for instance, they could benefit better from a salve for the physical, external pain, and couple that with a CBD ingestion of a tincture to work internally where the ailment originates from and hit the pain from the inside and the outside,” she explained.

Green Time Wellness currently offers CBD tinctures mixed with MCT oil or hemp oil, CBD gel capsules, salves, pet treats, and face care. There are multiple strengths of the tinctures and capsules to suit anyone’s needs from mild anxiety or pains to chronic ailments. You can stop in at the store Mondays-Fridays between 10am and 6pm and on Saturdays between 10am-2pm. All Green Time Wellness products can be purchased online and shipped at www.greentimewellness.com.