BIG INTERVIEW
MELISSA WISDOM
86 ASIAN TRADER 17 OCTOBER 2025
he last time Asian Trader visited
the UK headquarters of Juul Labs
it was in a building tucked away
in Stukeley Street, just behind
Drury Lane. That must be –
shocking how time flies – over three years
ago. Not long after that, JUUL seemed to go a
bit quiet: there were problems in the USA,
although none of the controversy attached
itself to the UK operation. Nevertheless, we
didn’t hear anything from Juul Labs for a
while.
But now, Juul is back, big-time. The office
has moved, and displaying a sense of serious
ness and purpose, has relocated to the City
and into a bigger, brighter and airier space that
is a fitting backdrop for its fresh new offering
of JULL2 – a new
incarnation of which
intends to lift the pod
market above the
free-for-all vape fray and
establish a new standard
of taste and adult
sophistication.
Something has been
cooking for a while, but
with the official launch
of the redesigned and refreshed JUUL2 range,
with advanced tech and new flavours, it is
time to find out about it – also to meet Juul
Labs’ new MD, Melissa Wisdom.
Melissa arrived at Juul Labs late last year
from pub estate Stonegate Group, where she
had been CCO, and before that, the commer
cial director at Diageo, among a spread of
The MD of UK Juul Labs,
Melissa Wisdom, explains
the mission behind the
new JUUL2 range and
what the vape sector needs
to throw off the baggage
that youth vaping and
a free-for-all market has
lumbered it with
JUUL is back – big time
other places. Quite a catch for Juul Labs,
Melissa had originally wanted to be a lawyer,
but the idea palled.
“I read law at Cambridge, then decided
that that was – I won’t say boring, because we
shouldn’t use that word – but I think I
watched too much Ali McBeal or Suits,” she
laughs. “Then I went into the world of
commercial, and I’ve spent time in every
channel and lots of different categories,
which I think really helps you connect the
dots. I’ve done grocery, discount, e commerce,
wholesale, convenience.
I’ve done supplier side.
I’ve done customer side
in the on-trade at
Stonegate.”
Melissa points out
that in hindsight she has
already worked in many
regulated industries
– infant formula,
alcohol, over-the-coun
ter medicines – which have proved to be good
preparation for Juul Labs and the vape sector.
“I think I’ve always tried to get breadth,
because I think that then really helps you
think three dimensionally about problems,
helps empathize with people ... And I’ve
always had a thirst for learning. I quite like
different; I quite like multifaceted.”
This is just as well, because next gen
nicotine is hardly a quiet sector. It’s a lively
and growing market with tons of potential
and at heart a fine public health message
about quitting tobacco for something much
less harmful. But it faces headwinds from
negative lobbying and media stories,
government legislation, and a massive illegal
trade.
JUUL2 was first revealed in April 2022, but
it’s fair to say that the current version, as we
will learn, is a massive leap forward and
represents a new direction for the brand.
The Big Switch
Having a legally trained intellect is no bad
thing in the cockpit of current debate over the
tobacco and vapes, but it’s not all you need.
When I ask Melissa about her motivation to
join the sector, she replies, “I think it’s a
combination of the whole category being
fascinating, that whole regulated dynamic.
And there’s a personal kind of passion point
on the mission ... I grew up with a single
mother, and she smoked. I vividly remember
when I was four or five years old, begging her
every day, saying, ‘Mummy, when you smoke
and you get poorly or you die, I don’t have a
daddy, and I’ll be an orphan’.”
Juul Labs benefits from having been
thrown into the furnace of controversy in the
There’s a ton
of tech that’s in
the device, hence
the successful
quit rates.
By Andy Marino