A HISTORIC OPENING
Founded in 2018, Holistic Solutions has positioned itself as a trusted name in New Jersey’s cannabis industry. After an extensive journey, they officially opened their doors this past February in Waterford Township, where they are proudly serving quality and affordable plant-based options to New Jersey’s medicinal cannabis community. With their opening, Holistic Solutions made history by becoming the very first women and minority-owned cannabis dispensary to operate in the state.
DEEP-ROOTED ORIGINS
Though Holistic Solutions is relatively new to New Jersey’s cannabis industry, its founder, Suzan Nickelson, is no novice to this popular herbal remedy.
Although Nickelson can trace her family’s origins back generations to Ghana in West Africa, her ancestors eventually ended up on the beautiful island of Jamaica. There, they made a daring escape from captivity and became Maroons – escaping into the hills of Jamaica and building their own communities and economic systems.
The women in Nickelson’s family come from a long lineage of herbalists – healers and spiritual women who used plant-based medicine to care for and protect their community. When the family came to the United States in 1975, Suzan’s mother, Elaine, quietly began her own home grow in the family’s backyard – unbeknownst to Suzan’s father, who was not particularly happy once he found out.
Elaine took a lengthy hiatus from her cannabis passion until 1996 when she was diagnosed with cancer and given just one year to live. Suzan maintains that if her mother had access to cannabis and the strains familiar to her, the treatment could have extended her life.
A VISION AND A DREAM
When Suzan’s youngest brother settled in Colorado, she was able to witness a legally operating cannabis industry up close. She sought to create an homage to her mother and her family’s holistic lineage – hence the name Holistic Solutions.
With only a vision and a dream to succeed as a single mother of three children, Nickelson connected with Marisa Edmund, chairwoman of Edmund Optics, who funded Holistic Solutions’ initial seed money to start the company. Nickelson would later partner with Patrik Jonsson of Eastbound Collective, who provided the needed investment dollars for Holistic Solutions to become operational.
TODAY
Holistic Solutions is looking to diversify New Jersey’s cannabis space and mentor other entrepreneurs who share their passion. Nickelson’s goal is for Holistic Solutions to leave a lasting, positive impact on the Waterford community. With a desire to mentor others, and a mission to ensure quality and affordable cannabis is available to the medicinal community, Holistic Solutions is well on its way to achieving the goals Nickelson envisioned, and much more!
To learn more about Holistic Solutions, you can visit their website: myholisticsolutions.com