Student Researcher Becomes Senior Chemist at Cannabis Beverage Company

Kari Kramp (L to R), Senior Scientific Manager at Loyalist College’s Applied Research and Innovation Office, working with Amanda Felske, Loyalist College alumni in 2019

Amanda Felske is a 2019 graduate of Loyalist College’s Cannabis Applied Sciences program. During her time as a student, Amanda worked as a research assistant at the Centre for Natural Products & Medical Cannabis. She gained hands-on professional experience working on an applied research project with Vivo Cannabis, a Canadian licensed cannabis producer.

Amanda is now a Senior Chemist at Truss Beverages, a cannabis-infused beverage company with a bottling plant located right here in Belleville, Ontario.

Keep reading Amanda’s success story.

“After I was hired, my boss confided that seeing the Cannabis Applied Science Program and the Vivo/Loyalist experience really drew them to my resume!”

Where has your career trajectory taken you since your days at Loyalist College?
I was hired as a student research assistant while completing the Cannabis Applied Science Program to work on a project with Vivo Cannabis. After graduation, I continued with that project at Vivo until I interviewed for the Senior Chemist position at Truss Beverages in Belleville.

 

Tell us about where you work.
Truss Beverages is a cannabis-infused beverage company, born from mega parents Hexo and Molson. Truss is a small company, and truly has a family feel to it. I started when Truss was literally a blank space in a warehouse, and it has been an incredible experience to be a part of it coming to life from the very beginning!

 

Describe your role. What does a typical workday look like for you? What do you like about it?
I am the Senior Chemist, Allied Quality Assurance Publications (AQAP), and a security clearance holder. I manage the PCP (Preventive Control Plan) which, in conjunction with the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Plan (HACCP), keeps us in compliance with Heath Canada regulations and leads the company in producing a safe product. My regular day-to-day includes a lot of potency testing of beverages on the HPLC (High-performance Liquid Chromatography equipment), which is critical as production relies on results in order to package product.

I like that my days are a mix of predictable and non-predictable. Working in a live production environment often throws curve balls. So while there is a mix of routine tasks, there are often days where you didn’t see anything you worked on coming!

 

How did your experience with the Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis help prepare you for your career? How did it help you obtain employment?
Working at Loyalist gave me insight into how a licenced cannabis facility operates. In the very early days when cannabis was just legalized, any experience was seen as an asset. After I was hired, my boss confided that seeing the Cannabis Applied Science Program and the Vivo/Loyalist experience really drew them to my resume!

 

What are you most excited or passionate about your work? What are some of the goals you want to accomplish in your professional life?
I am very passionate about lab work and the quality of our products. I validated two HPLC methods and really enjoyed the process. I’d love the opportunity to do method development and validation for more beverages with complex matrices.

 

What were you like in high school? What brought you to Loyalist College? What did you appreciate most about it?
I was fairly shy in high school, and always excelled in academics. I was drawn to both science and music and applied to several colleges for a fairly broad range of programs.

My best friend also got into Loyalist, and as Belleville was away from home but not too far we decided that would be our new home and moved together. We also had mutual friends who went to Loyalist and loved it, which made it an easy decision.

 

What is the most memorable experience of your time at the Centre?
I remember the team completing their very first cannabis destruction and how exciting it was for everyone! Seems like a small event but it was really fun.

 

Did you have mentors during your time at the Centre? What is the most important thing you learned from them?
I learned a lot from Tegan Mandeville-MacKay, who was also the lab tech for the Cannabis Applied Science (CSGS) program. She was a huge help in navigating the lab and working in the space.

 

What is your proudest achievement since graduating?
Seeing the first production batch of product made at Truss. It was so monumental to witness, knowing how much work went in behind the scenes to make it happen. A close second was the first potency results we were able to release in-house after I completed the potency HPLC method validation.

 

After being in the workforce, what have you learned?
I was a mature student when I took the CSGS program and had already been in the workforce for 10 years. After changing things up and starting at Truss, I have learned a lot about adaptability and fluidity – being able to switch gears quickly and stay organized while doing it.

I also learned a lot about leadership – what good leadership looks like and how it can make you thrive as both an employee and a person.

 

What advice would you give to current student research assistants or future graduates?
This is hard to distill into a concise paragraph!

To be willing to take a chance – dedicating yourself to a start-up is not a sure thing, and it was quite a ride, but totally worth it! Be willing to try something or learn something outside your comfort zone – you never know what doors will open!