Flying high with Boston's first Black, female-owned dispensary owner Proud To Work In Cannabis

An hour after the Heritage Club's first sale in Boston

It all started through conversations with her mom. Nike John's entrepreneurial streak was made evident when she launched her first real estate brokerage in 2015, but she entered a brand new world when she became Boston's first Black woman owner of a cannabis dispensary. And she did it after being encouraged to give it a shot by her mother. Not your typical cannabis entrepreneurial story — but nothing about Nike's journey is typical.

Her flight club-themed cannabis retail outlet, The Heritage Club in Boston, is moving away from the traditional budtender model and toward a more customer- and education-focused retail experience with clerks called "flight attendants because they help you safely get on and off your flight," Nike told Vangst CEO Karson Humiston less than an hour after her first sale.

But it hasn't exactly been a turbulence-free journey. As a social equity applicant in Massachusetts' burgeoning cannabis industry, Nike tells Karson about the 1,000 steps she had to take just to open her door, and how her three-year journey through a pandemic and supply-chain issues has shaped her perspective on the industry.

Listen to this week's Proud to Work in Cannabis podcast to hear more about how she built a workforce, lessons learned along the way, and advice for others considering opening their own businesses.




Produced by PodConx

Proud To Work In Cannabis - https://podconx.com/podcasts/proud-to-work-in-cannabis

Karson Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/karson-humiston
Vangst - https://vangst.com/
Nike John - https://podconx.com/guests/nike-john
Heritage Club - https://heritageclubthc.com
Heritage Club on Instagram: heritageclubthc12