About Holly

Holly Hager is co-founder and COO of House of Puff, a cannabis brand reimagining consumption through high-design accessories and effects-based products. A former college professor with a background in fine art, she uses cannabis daily to manage an autoimmune condition after moving off heavy pharmaceuticals. She leads marketing, content, and product strategy at a company built to make cannabis feel like a beautiful, intentional, adult choice—especially for women and parents who don't fit the stoner stereotype.

What we talked about

Building House of Puff — Holly described accessories like joint holders and hand-blown pipes alongside effects-based consumables, including Spritz oral spray and pre-rolls chosen by how you want to feel rather than strain expertise.

Marketing in a regulated industry — With severe ad restrictions on Google, Meta, and social platforms, House of Puff leans on content marketing, SEO, age-gated education, and compliant creative workarounds that avoid appealing to minors.

Surviving Google's AI shift — After April's AI overviews cratered organic reach, Holly pivoted toward technical SEO, rich schema, NIH-backed content, edible calculators, and material LLMs can't easily summarize.

DTC to wholesale pivot — Facing hemp law uncertainty and discovery challenges, the company is shifting focus to consumables with guaranteed distribution in state-regulated markets like New Jersey.

Knowing the customer — Holly engages through social comments, IRL events, guest budtending, and intern feedback to reach adults who want low-dose, discreet wellness use—not heavy highs.

Sharpest moments

On why controllable dosing matters for everyday users:

if you can control dosing and you know what the effect is going to be, that's everything.

On Google using their content without credit:

They do not. I have actually fed them, like they have like word for word use my content or our company's content in their answers.

On adapting to AI-driven search:

those of us who figure out how to use the AI as a tool effectively and how to make ourselves attractive to the LLMs and the search engines, that's the only way to survive in an organic search kind of environment.

On partner risk in cannabis:

I love cannabis, but I don't want to go to prison.

On destigmatizing through women-focused marketing:

If we can destigmatize moms using cannabis, then everybody will, know, then the product will be completely destigmatized.

Key takeaways

• House of Puff differentiates with design-forward accessories and discreet, low-dose, effects-based consumables for wellness-minded adults.
• Organic search (~70% of traffic) and content marketing are core channels; Google's AI overviews have sharply reduced reach despite cannabis topics often lacking AI summaries.
• Strategy is shifting from DTC hemp products toward consumables in state-regulated wholesale markets with royalty-based partnerships and guaranteed distribution.
• Platform rules vary sharply—education channels are more permissive while Google blocks most product ads; competitors copy designs but innovation and customer fit win.
• Holly's personal medical story and intentional marketing to women drive the mission to destigmatize cannabis as medicine and a gentler social lubricant than alcohol.