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

Suzanne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I was shot 4 times with AK-47 and leaped from Helicopter just before it was hit with RPG February 22, 2004 while working as a Construction Project Manager building Schools and Clinics in Afghanistan. Multiple surgeries across multiple countries and years of re-habilitation have allowed me to move forward with my life. Of course this ended my career. All my years of College, all those update classes, all those years honing my skills and finally I am earning top dollar. It all ended. What replaced it was devastating. I am not Military so did not have that support behind me. I was a NGO (non government official). PTSD is a nightmare. All Doctor’s really do is drug you. So for 3 years I bounced between the Pain Killer Quacks and trying to heal myself. 2020 Texas Farm Bill opened up the door for Hemp to be grown in Texas. I am one of the first female licensed growers. February this year I closed that part of the operation to focus on making gummies and a sugar you can use to make Hemp Infused edibles and beverages. MOON Sugar is a THCa infused sugar that when heated to 225 degrees or above converts to Delta 9. We are legal, insured, licensed and experience a lot of traction in sales. What we need is exposure.
You can read my survival story in Texas Monthly Magazine February 2005 issue article titled ‘Hazardous Pay”. Go take a look.
I am 73 years old now. I’ve done a lot so far and looking to break into this market with a whirlwind. I’ve built my own house (single mom), I’ve put myself through 4 years of College (by myself and worked full time), I became one of the first female building inspectors in the State of Texas, I am probably the only female Construction Engineer to ever work Afghanistan, and now I want to be sitting in our grocery stores with my ‘MOON SUGAR” available right next to the regular sugar. I want MOON Sugar to be a success story. Can you help me?

Suzanne, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

How did I become a Hemp Grower? Started growing CBG Ice 9 to help with anxiety attaches I had given my PTSD from getting shot 4 times in Afghanistan. I quickly realized that others were needing this product’s help but did not want to smoke. So I started the process of turning it into something I could blend with butter to make edibles. What a mess that is. You have to decarb it in your oven therefore your entire house smells like a pot factory. Then there are endless hours of blending the green mess with butter, stirring constantly, then having to squeeze the messy hot butter out of the cloth bag taking care not to squeeze too much green mess with it. What a nightmare. But the end result is a product that when used in your recipes gives the customer or client the needed amounts of the CBG or CBD product. It has a relaxing affect. Not a high. It was too time consuming and too messy. My problem solving skills came into play as I struggled to find an alternative way of being able to make these edibles without the mess and to be able to be concise with the dosages.
So I engineered a stainless steel mixer, had an old welder friend of mine work though the details and we were successful in building a machine that totally homogenizes the THCa powder into the sugar. We now have boxes of individual packages you can purchase as well as 1 pound bags. We also offer in 5 Gallon buckets. My partner is a 34 year old young man who was teaching Hemp classes across Texas before Covid closed him down. Together we have built up a budding little enterprise. Won’t you take a look at SHEESHcandy.com. We have recipe cards, have developed a name for ourselves, have a bit of a following on our art work alone, and I think you will be surprised. This sugar leaves no after taste, it of course is white as snow so you do not have to worry about your baked product looking like you scraped underneath you dad’s lawnmower and stuck that in your cookies. If you have ever had a hemp infused chocolate chip cookie you know what I am talking about.
Currently we are working on perfecting our Bar Syrups: Chocolate, Strawberry, Pineapple, Hazelnut, Black Cherry, Caramel and Pina Colada.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

We were blessed to receive a one time $100,000.00 start up loan which we did not have to start making payments on for 8 months!
The source of this money is unique because it came from the family estate’s mother of one of our competitors. Her children are in the Hemp business as well.
We pitched to her, she viewed our success, looked at our projections, and blessed us with this start-up money.
We applied that money well in advertisement and buying our start up gear. We have been filling orders since.

Now we are looking for S.A.F.E. investors (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). We are at the stage to move forward with this now.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Customer Satisfaction and Customer being able to contact us.

What a breath of fresh air to call up a company and actually get to talk to a real live person.
Even more breath taking is to make a connection with someone in management.

Well, our policy is, you can call and talk to the main cheese. Either me or my partner. And you can talk to us any time. How about that? I know that won’t be practical as we grow bigger but it will be one of our main focuses to train our people to get that customer transferred to the right contact.

We have had some of our gummy samples arrive melted (August in Texas) and we immediately send out a new package where we pay the shipping and we always include a little bonus gift. We have also had some of product broken into at the mail centers (smells good – ha ha). We take care of that customer ASAP.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sheeshcandy.com

Image Credits

I wish to recognize my partner Zachary Maxwell. Our motto has been ‘Team Work makes the Dream Work’. Without his knowledge and hard work, Sheesh Candy would still be on the drawing board.