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Ngiste Abebe
Vice President of Public Policy at Columbia Care
Ngiste Abebe: A Leader in Cannabis Policy and Community Engagement
Ngiste Abebe is a dynamic public policy expert and advocate with a rich history in equitable cannabis policy reform and community engagement. With a passion for creating positive change in the cannabis industry, Ngiste dedicates each day to exploring and promoting effective policies that benefit communities across the nation. Beyond her advocacy, she is a voracious reader, always on the lookout for intelligent book recommendations that inspire new ideas and innovative solutions in her field.
Professional Background
Currently, Ngiste holds the prestigious position of Vice President of Public Policy at Columbia Care, a leading provider of cannabis products and services. In this influential role, she is responsible for shaping and advancing the company's public policy initiatives, demonstrating her commitment to responsible cannabis use and community health. Her extensive knowledge and experience in public policy have positioned her as a vital player in shaping the future landscape of the cannabis industry.
Prior to her current role, Ngiste served as the Vice Chair on the Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This role allowed her to leverage her expertise in public health considerations within cannabis policy, ensuring that health impacts are thoughtfully integrated into legislative proposals. Her leadership in this position underscored her commitment to developing cannabis policies that prioritize community health and safety.
With a wealth of experience in the industry, Ngiste previously held the position of President at the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association, where she played a crucial role in advocating for patients' access to medical cannabis. As Director of Public Policy at Columbia Care, she worked tirelessly to develop and implement strategies that promote responsible cannabis use while also addressing the needs of various stakeholders, including law enforcement, health professionals, and community advocates.
Before her endeavours in the cannabis industry, Ngiste demonstrated her leadership capabilities at a variety of organizations, including the Virginia United PAC, where she held the position of Director, and Friends for Jennifer McClellan. She also served as the Regional Political Director for Northam for Governor and as the Regional Organizing Director at the Democratic Party of Virginia, where she honed her skills in grassroots organizing and political mobilization.
Additionally, Ngiste's early career experiences provided her with a solid foundation in research and project management, particularly during her tenure as a Program Specialist at the USAID Office of Transition Initiatives and as a Communications Specialist in the Office of the Chief Operating Officer at USAID. These roles allowed her to cultivate her analytical skills and understanding of policy impacts on international development and governance.
Educational Journey
Ngiste's academic achievements follow a trajectory of ambitious and impactful studies, beginning with her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago. At one of the nation's premier institutions, she gained valuable insights into social sciences, laying the groundwork for her later work in public policy. Following her undergraduate education, she furthered her knowledge by obtaining a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management (MSPPM) from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy and Management. This program not only equipped her with advanced analytical and management skills but also positioned her as a leader and innovator in addressing complex public policy challenges, particularly in the cannabis sector.
Achievements
Throughout her career, Ngiste has achieved numerous milestones that underscore her leadership and advocacy within the realm of cannabis policy and community engagement. Notably, her service on the Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council highlighted her commitment to ensuring public health considerations are at the forefront of cannabis legislation. She has been instrumental in advocating for policies that promote equity and access within the cannabis industry, ensuring that marginalized communities are not left behind as legal frameworks evolve.
Her role as President of the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association allowed her to directly influence the state's approach to medical cannabis, emphasizing patient rights and access to safe medical treatments. Her passion for promoting responsible cannabis use has also made her a sought-after speaker in various forums related to cannabis policy and public health.
Aside from her policy work, Ngiste's involvement in political organizing and advocacy has shown her dedication to empowering communities through engagement and representation in the political process. Her leadership with various groups has helped set the stage for a more equitable approach to cannabis legislation across multiple states.
Ngiste Abebe's combination of education, extensive professional experience, and a genuine commitment to community welfare make her a formidable advocate in the ever-evolving cannabis policy landscape. She continues to be a catalyst for change, leveraging her expertise to create equitable cannabis policies that reflect the needs and values of the communities she serves.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.