Glenna Colaprete has two careers. She is an accomplished engineer who holds five patents for technical innovations, and she is also an innovator and entrepreneur in the field of cannabidiol (CBD) oil products.
Colaprete, a Rochester Institute of Technology graduate, is a licensed cultivator with her own hemp and cannabis growing facility. She manufactures her own line of Glenna’s CBD products and owns and operates Glenna’s Best CBD oil, a retail store and spa in Twelve Corners Plaza in Brighton.
Colaprete initially discovered CBD products in early 2015 after she experienced a health issue that was difficult to treat—a severely entrapped nerve, which felt like it was “stabbing me twenty-four hours a day.” As an engineer, she needed to find a solution for overwhelming pain that would be effective “without diminishing brain activity.” Colaprete first tried CBD products in Colorado and found that they helped significantly with the pain. Unlike tetrahydro-cannabinol (THC) products, which are psychoactive, CBD does not make a person feel “high.” Colaprete was pleased with the products she tried but knew that with her knack for innovation, she could make better ones. By the end of 2015, she had launched Glenna’s CBD.
“Our top sellers are tinctures, gummies, salves, and topicals,” she explains. Glenna’s sells products for both people and pets and offers topicals for sunburns as well as face creams and bath products. Strict regulations around hemp and cannabis prod-ucts prevent the company from putting customer testimonials on their website. However, “people literally write us letters,” she says, testifying to the fact that the products improve conditions like chronic pain, anxiety, insomnia, and inflammation. The products can be ordered on the company’s website and are shipped nationwide to states that allow CBD products. “We’ve helped thousands of people,” she says.
The experience at the spa is like a typical spa experience, with independent practitioners offering facials and massage, but with the added benefit of the CBD products included. Customers may find that aches and pains as well as anxiety respond especially well to this unique combination of wellness interventions. Glenna’s products are now used by aestheticians in many other spas as well, including the Spa at Midtown.
Colaprete has operated her own growing facility since 2018. The company also produces recreational THC products that can be purchased at marijuana dispensaries around the state, but the spa at Twelve Corners only sells CBD products.
Growing her own plants and developing her own product lines has been very rewarding. She enjoys the science of it, she says, and “ideating on the best cannabinoid synergy.” Some of Colaprete’s products combine cannabinoids with other botanicals such as arnica, lavender, poppy, and damiana. She still works in engineering, managing projects for utilities. But these days she spends much of her time in the CBD business and finds it fascinating and personally fulfilling to create top-of-the-line products aimed at improving wellness.
Colaprete comes from a family of scientists and chemists and has been gratified to see how her family embraced this business venture and these products. A notable example is that her 101-year-old grandmother found that CBD helped her play the piano better. Colaprete’s husband and three children have worked hard to help grow the business, assisting with marketing, buildouts, and more.
The Rochester area has embraced the business and the products, she explains, and she is grateful for the help she has received along the way. Many local businesses have supported this venture, and she is thankful for them as well as the Brighton Chamber of Commerce, Brighton town supervisor Bill Moehle, and radio personalities Dino Kay and John Romero, who have all been big supporters.
In the future, Colaprete is interested in growing the spa—she’d like to have a larger one—and she would like to expand the wholesale manufacturing part of the business. “I’m most interested in continuing to engineer and grow my Glenna’s brand across New York, and nationwide,” she says.
For more information, check out glennascbd.com or visit the store at 1892 Monroe Avenue.
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2025 issue of (585).
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