Julie Mercer-Ingram –  Founder & President

Before Proof was a bottle on a shelf, it was a search. In 2015, I was practicing cannabis law in California, helping clients—individuals, small businesses, and cultivators—navigate a regulatory landscape that was changing month to month. Over the years, I've helped hundreds of people understand what compliant, safe, and legal cannabis and hemp actually look like. That work taught me just how much confusion exists in this industry, and how rarely "clean" and "effective" show up in the same product.

That confusion became personal in 2016, when a family member was diagnosed with cancer and we went looking for a CBD product we could actually trust. We couldn't find one that met our standards—so we decided to make our own. That's the honest, unglamorous origin story of Proof: a family trying to solve a real problem, with the legal and formulation know-how to do it right.

From there, my legal work and our growing company became two sides of the same coin. From 2017 to 2019, I served as Co-Chair of the Sonoma County Cannabis Advisory Group, where I advised local regulators about cannabis policy. During the COVID pandemic, I successfully urged the county to classify cannabis as essential medicine, which allowed operators to continue to serve patients throughout the state. It's one thing to advise clients on the rules. It's another to have helped shape them.

One of the highlights of my career so far has been developing Proof's branding and aesthetic. Before my legal career, I studied design, and I'm so proud of being able to produce branding that reflects the bold, colorful experience of cannabis. Proof's iconic designs communicate a naturally brilliant, healthy quality inspired by the experience of using our products.

I don't just run this company—I use these products every single day because I need them.

I take our CBD Comfort Drops daily. I'm in my mid-forties now, navigating perimenopause, and the joint pain, inflammation, and mood swings that come with it are real. Comfort Drops are part of how I keep myself steady through all of it.

Nighttime is its own story. Perimenopause turned my sleep upside down—I went from someone who fell asleep easily and slept straight through the night to someone waking up at 3 a.m. for no reason, wired and exhausted at the same time. I tried the usual things: magnesium, lavender spray, cutting caffeine. I even went on HRT, which helped, but it wasn't the whole answer. What finally gave me my nights back was our CBD+CBN Sleepy Drops. CBN turned out to be the missing piece—the thing that helped me not just fall asleep, but actually stay asleep. I wrote more about that experience in Navigating Perimenopause Sleep Issues: Finding Rest with Plant Medicine, if you want the full story.

And then there's Vela, my dog. When she started showing her age, I wanted to give her something gentle that might support her comfort the way our drops support mine. That's the actual origin story behind our Pet CBD Drops—they started as something I made for my own dog before they ever became a product on our site.

• 2022 Marijuana Venture "Women to Watch"
• 2025 Women in Cannabis Expo nominee, Best West Coast Woman Educator
• Co-Chair, Sonoma County Cannabis Advisory Group (2017–2019)
• Speaker: Cannifest "FEMINIZED" panel, Wine & Weed Conference, CalNorml, and the Sonoma County Bar Association
• 2022 Archview WIN competition winner
• Co-host, "Proof of Wellness" podcast—launched February 2026, exploring cannabis wellness with Sarah Miletich, from personal journeys in the industry to cannabis for women's health and for pets

I live and work in Sonoma County, in Northern California, which has shaped Proof from the very beginning—our products are still made by hand, in small batches, right here, by a team of fewer than 20 people. Between the legal side of the business and being one of our own most consistent customers, most of my days are spent thinking about how to make plant medicine more accessible, more honest, and less intimidating for the people who need it.

Proof has stayed women-led and self-funded since day one—we've never taken on outside investors, which means every decision we make is about what's actually good for our customers, not what's good for a cap table. Ten years in, we're still profitable, still small, and still run the way we started: by listening to what people actually need and building for that, one product and one customer at a time. That's the work I care about, on and off the clock.

• Listen to the Proof of Wellness podcast, co-hosted with Sarah Miletich
• Read more of my writing on the Proof blog
• Learn more about our story on the About Us page