Independent Marketing Advisor & Fractional Leader
25+ years of telling stories for artists and brands, the last eight building them in California cannabis, most recently as VP of Marketing at Glass House Brands.
Josh Karchmer · Los Angeles, and remote
Selected work · 2018–2026
Five California brands. What I did on each, and what happened.
2023–2026 · VP Marketing, Glass House Brands
More than a rebrand: we put a human face on Glass House Farms, bringing the people, the cultivation and the stories behind the flower into packaging, content and communication. Its flower also won Best of California, the Golden Bear, at the 2024 California State Fair.
2023–2026 · VP Marketing, Glass House Brands
The data said customers trusted PLUS for sleep.
I helped build the sleep lineup from three products to five, including Deep Sleep 1, and a pouch people could actually open.
2023–2026 · VP Marketing, Glass House Brands
We gave Allswell a facelift, a new attitude and a new approach. In 2025 it became California’s #1 selling flower brand by units (Headset).
2018–2020 · Marketing consultant, MOXIE
Content, creative and launch materials for an extracts brand that grew across California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona: the DART launch, product storytelling, and Team MOXIE, an early budtender education platform.
2021–2023 · Head of Marketing, High Season
One premium indoor farm, two brands, and 60+ retail accounts in the first 60 days. I named and created Gratitude to take more of every harvest to market.
From the Level4 years: SKLZ, Kia with Boyz II Men and the Jabbawockeez, Microsoft Bing, Hurley and Van Morrison at the Hollywood Bowl.
About
I started on the business side of music: college rep at Mercury Records, product manager at Artemis Records, then manager for bands including The Juliana Theory.
For a decade I made branded content, much of it through Level4, the production company I co-founded, for Hurley, Toyota, Microsoft Bing, Kia, Jeep and SKLZ.
In 2018 I moved into California cannabis: MOXIE, then High Season, then three years as VP of Marketing at Glass House Brands, connecting marketing to sales, retail and supply chain across a house of brands.
The through-line: business judgment connected to creative work. Knowing what a brand should say, what should get made, and how to get a lean, talented team to make it.
Brand building
Storytelling
Strategic judgment
Creative leadership
Lean, effective teams
Ways to work together
01
For a company with an ongoing leadership need and no one to fill it yet. I run marketing as your head of marketing would, for a defined period, and build the team and systems that outlast me.
02
For a team that already exists. I work with the founder or marketing lead on positioning, portfolio and the plan, and I stay close enough to help the work land.
03
For a defined challenge: a launch, a rebrand or refresh, a brand story, a quarterly or annual shoot, or a production that needs a partner. Scoped, staffed with people I trust, and delivered.
And for the right company, a full-time executive role. Ask.
Contact
You don’t need a finished brief. Start with the brand, what’s getting in the way, and what kind of help you think you need.
