Maisha Bahati is Sacramento’s first black woman to own a cannabis store. According to abc10, she is the founder of Crystal Nugs, which is making history in the Sacramento cannabis industry.
“We are the first Black woman-owned cannabis dispensary in Sacramento,” Bahati told abc10. “We are also a locally owned and social equity dispensary in Sacramento through the cannabis, opportunity, reinvestment, and equity program.”
In 2019, Bahati launched Crystal Nugs as a delivery service. Her aim for her company, however, extended beyond delivery. This prompted her to open a physical store.
In April this year, she expressed her vision of opening a storefront in an interview with KCRA. “Part of my excitement and adrenaline in this industry is that there are not a lot of Black-owned businesses here in the cannabis industry,” she said.
According to Bahati, her presence in the cannabis industry allows her to disrupt the existing quo and inspire blacks to enter the industry.
“We’ve been blessed. We’ve gotten a lot of milestones in there,” she said. “We found an amazing location in the heart of midtown. It will be the largest dispensary. It will be a two-story. It’s going to have a fashion boutique in there,” she said ahead of the opening of her brick-and-mortar dispensary. Besides opening the dispensary early this month, she also launched her clothing line Boujie Stoner Boutique for people to shop from while getting their cannabis products.
In terms of her dispensary’s future, she stated that her goal is to continue to cater to Black-owned, minority women, and LGBTQ+ brands.
“I think a lot of people appreciate seeing a Black woman, a women-owned business out here striving in this industry,” she noted.