Meet Sam and Johanna Arellano | Co-Founders ABC Brand/Design

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sam and Johanna Arellano and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sam and Johanna, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk is an essential part of life. To achieve anything worthwhile requires an element of risk. Putting yourself out there is risky. Trying something new is risky. Starting a business, very risky. For us, we try and focused on the reward. As if we were walking a tightrope in the sky, better to focus on getting to the other side than it is to look down. The other side is where we want to be, where the reward lies. For us, the reward is living full and meaningful lives with the ability to help others.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
It was November 2020, and the Biden administration was preparing for office. I was in the second year of a turnaround at a leading California cannabis brand. At the time, optimism around cannabis reform, namely legalization, was increasing rapidly. Having spent my entire career working globally, working at the State level felt limiting, I was ready for something bigger. So the following month I resigned from my role as Chief Marketing Officer and set out to consult for the larger, publicly traded firms operating nationally.

By late January 2021 my time as CMO was up. Without skipping a beat I began consulting. Three weeks later a much larger client signed on.

Johanna and I had always wanted to have a business together. We’d built our marriage and a family, so in some ways going into business together felt like a natural next step. She was leery at first. Neither of us had imagined forming an agency together. Up until this point we had only dreamed about doing “something” together. Luckily I was able to convince her, and together we took the entrepreneurial leap.

And just like that, as if it were blasted from a cannon, ABC Brand/Design was born.

For the last two years we’ve worked primarily in cannabis advising brands on revenue generating strategies, designing brands, and creating branded experiences. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have worked with the best companies in the space. A testament to our amazing team of award-winning designers and marketers, all of whom come with deep in-house experience working for globally recognized companies.

This year we hope to reach beyond the cannabis industry into natural foods, contemporary fashion, beauty and athletics – categories we are passionate about. Working across industries is one of the things we love most about what we do. Sharing new perspectives and best practices with clients in ways that help them achieve their goals is incredibly rewarding.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Any week long guests of ours would expect a pretty stacked intinerary.

We like to start our days with exercise, this means hiking or hot yoga. Where we hike ranges and is largely contingent on work schedules. We prefer seaside hikes around Malibu, Temescal Canyon, and Palos Verdes.

If we’re not working, we’re shopping on La Brea, Melrose Place, or in Silver Lake. Or perhaps thrifting in Venice, shopping for furniture on the Westside, or taking in a flea market or two around town.

If we’re on the Westside, our favorite place to dine is Dear John’s. It’s an old Sinatra joint just down the street from Sony Studios in Culver City. They serve some of the best drinks in town. If we’re in Downtown we love Neil Fraser’s Redbird. And if we’re in West Hollywood you’ll find us at Cavatina at the Sunset Marquis.

Other days we might take in a Dodger game or a trip to the Griffith Observatory. For sure The Broad, LACMA, and/or The Getty Villa in Malibu for an afternoon.

Of course no trip to LA is complete without extensive sampling of the best Mexican food outside of Mexico. It exists everywhere you go here.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Without question our families have a played a huge part in our success.

Whether at home with our boys, or with our parents and siblings, family remains our primary source of strength.

It’s not easy being around temperamental entrepreneurs. No way we make it as far as we have without their understanding and support. We are eternally grateful.

Website: abcbranddesign.com

Instagram: abcbrand_design

Linkedin: abcbranddesign

Image Credits
ABC Brand/Design