“My success as an entrepreneur has been rooted in first identifying a problem and then finding innovative ways to solve it. This is true in my personal life as well.”
– Julianna Carella, Entrepreneur and CEO, Auntie Dolores
Julianna Carella is a born fighter, a true embodiment of entrepreneurial spirit, refusing to buckle down against the mightiest of odds. She risked everything and founded two hugely successful companies. Her intelligence, innovativeness, and business acumen coupled with her indefatigable spirit has made her a truly successful, self-made woman.
Julianna grew up with three brothers. This taught her to hold her own from a young age. Always game for a healthy competition, she loved accepting and acing challenges. At the prestigious School of the Arts in San Francisco, she flourished as a dancer.
Life Takes a Different Turn
Julianna relocated from San Francisco to New York to pursue her dance career. She soon became pregnant with her daughter, derailing her career in dance. It was then that she decided to move back to California. Being a single mother certainly changed her life forever and helped to inspire her new career path.
Julianna took a job as a bookkeeper. She excelled at her job, but for someone who wished to make a difference in the world, it was hardly challenging. Witnessing friends and family suffer from cancer and other debilitating diseases, Julianna started making edibles for her loved ones to help with pain. The entrepreneur in her beckoned, and she soon decided to leverage her skills to launch her business venture. Although fraught with risks, Julianna knew, if successful, the business could provide for her daughter.
The Uphill Battle
Her venture presented immense challenges. There were times when she and her daughter lived in the warehouse loft of the company’s commercial kitchen. Undeterred, she carried on.
Julianna’s uniqueness lies in finding innovative solutions to problems. When she started with gourmet edibles bakery, Auntie Dolores, she developed a number of delicious options to take medical cannabis such as pretzels, sweet popcorn, and pecans and spicy peanut options in addition to the traditional infused chocolate. Further, she quantified the milligram count of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in each product for people to easily manage their doses. She also provided vegan, gluten-free, Paleo, and sugar-free options to suit everyone’s needs.
Expanding Her Business
Julianna observed that people were also giving medical cannabis to their pets and addressed this growing market with Treatibles. Consequently, she did intensive research to assure product safety. It is the first company to create phytocannabinoid rich hemp oil for pets. The company’s product line also includes other phytocannabinoids and terpenes that provide the “entourage effect” as a benefit to pets.
Today, Treatibles is a multi-million dollar company, with products available throughout the US.
Julianna’s perseverance and innovativeness embodies the true spirit of an entrepreneur. Striving against the challenges, she created highly successful businesses and serves as a great inspiration for budding entrepreneurs.
