We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christine Chiu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christine below.

Alright, Christine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I’ve been an owner of Independent pharmacy for over 30 years serving the local community. Few years back, I had the opportunity to move my practice to a medical building with Doctors specializing in Neurology and Pain. The defining moment was when the Doctors came to me with their frustration in treating their patients. On the average, patients were prescribed 7-8 different medications which made marginal improvements but with that came barrage of unwanted side effects. They heard about the possible benefits of CBD and wanted me to look into it.

From that time forward, trajectory of my career took me to an uncharted, unconventional route as a Pharmacist. It took 18 months of research, combing through endless clinical journals at UCSD Medical Center Library and I decided to compound my own CBD line using solely of CBD Isolate. One thing to understand is that not all CBD’s are created equal. There are over 100 different types of CBD and there’s only one purest form of CBD and it’s CBD isolate which I use in all of my CBD products. I also test to make sure there’s no THC, heavy metals pesticides etc. in any of my products.

Neurologists and Pain Specialists were blown away at the results of their patients using my CBD oil and thus TRU Leaf Labs was born.

Christine`, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a graduate of University of California San Francisco with a Doctorate degree in Pharmacy. I did my 4th year rotation at UC San Diego and fell in love with San Diego and it’s been my home since.

I guess what sets me apart from all the other CBD “stores” is that first and foremost, I’m a clinician. When clients ask questions via the website, I ask many questions prior to giving my advise such as: the prescription medications they are on, medications tried, medical history, organ function etc. This would ensure I give them my best advice on which product can possibly help them. I also turn away those who shouldn’t be taking any CBD due to their specific conditions and or drug interactions and offer them possible alternatives.

I source my CBD Isolate from California which has the highest regulations compared with other States. My CBD line consists of Pure & Potent with different CBD isolate concentrations, CBD blends with terpenes for a targeted result, terpene sprays, topical and pet formulations. It is overwhelming for anyone to pick a product but I’m always available to guide our clients to the correct formulation for individual needs.

How you take the CBD oil is another important part of patient education here at TRU Leaf Labs. CBD is oil-soluble substance, therefore it must he compounded in oil and does not dissolve in alcohol. I see many “tinctures” and by definition, it means it’s in alcohol form? Then there is a matter of absorption: CBD oil is mainly absorbed via mucous membranes such as in your mouth, vaginal and rectal areas. Once swallowed, majority of CBD will get destroyed in your stomach acid. We educate clients in specific way to get the most of absorption directly into the blood system.

I believe education and honesty is the key to my approach as a clinician. Knowing how my products are fundamentally different from many products on the market and the amount of research that went into producing our CBD lines is what makes our products stand out. Furthermore, having my right hand, Aria who I can count on to deliver our CBD products punctually and with precision has been a blessing. I don’t know of too many employee-employer who ends the day with “I love you” everyday. I’m blessed.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I think in any field, you need to have mission and passion for what you are doing. My mission is to he honest/truthful in how I may be able to help my clients and give realistic expectations. Furthermore, I believe listening to the needs of my clients and understanding their medical background is paramount in helping them to choose the right CBD for individual needs. My passion grew out of my daughter’s passion for rescuing senior dogs. I’ve always loved dogs but after hearing my daughter telling me how it would be amazing to give them best few years of life in their senior years of life resonated with me. Now I have my own senior rescue Darla. She didn’t have a good life for her first 11-12 years and since I rescued her 2&1/2 years ago I understand my daughter’s passion. Darla comes to the pharmacy with me everyday and just happy hanging around greeting patients and snoozing. She has her own ig: @miss_darla_the_pittie.

On days that are tough, I think of all the senior dogs that I could help with my time, through donation, foster or rescue. This gives me a reason to work hard. Now that I’m approaching my retirement age, I’m looking into partnering with a Pharma company in Switzerland to help with the animal over-population using non-invasive sterilization technique which may require years of research. During volunteering, I realized that no matter how many kind hearted fosters and rescuers we have, we can never give homes to all the animals that are multiplying exponentially.

Simply put, to succeed in your field my opinion is to have a mission/passion other to help others and have compassion.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Simply: honesty, knowledge and caring. Making money although is essential for survival, one should never deceive, misrepresent, nor do business for the sake of making fast money.

Never forget who got you to where you are now. Always remember, consumers are very smart and they can sense the true intention of business owners.

When you own a small business, you stand by your products, your words, your passion and always give back however small your contributions may be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.truleaflabs.com
• Instagram: @truleaflabs
• Facebook: @truleaflabs
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/christine-chiu-pharmd-73599119a
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tru-leaf-labs-carlsbad-3?osq=tru+leaf+labs
• Other: Google review: https://www.google.com/search?q=tru+leaf+labs+google+reviews&oq=tru+leaf+labs+google+reviews&aqs=chrome..69i57.2426062j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x80dc73fe5d4d9411:0x3fd9dad6ea2cacf9,1,,,

Image Credits
JVZ Studios Jorge Avilez