Nicko Grant, owner of Nicko’s Products speaks to the meaning of Black Business and the amazing year in business he has had in offering his services as a Botanist and Esthetician.
By LaMar Anderson | January 7, 2021 | 6:00am
Please tell us your name and the name of your business.
My name is Nicko Grant, and my business is Nicko’s Products.
Why Leimert Park? What about it makes you want to be apart of the community of businesses?
Great question, Leimert Park has a lot of Black business that’s hiding through capitalism. You have a lot of people who go downtown and buy from Pakastani’s, Italians, Japanese; all the people that own businesses and sell wholesale downtown and bring them back to Leimert Park, and sell it to our people for three times the wholesale rate. So, I don’t consider that Black business.
I’ve been a botanist for 15 years, an esthetician going on five years. My products are amazing. Everything is locally foraged as far as all the ingredients that I use for any type of herb or flower. Actually, it is a Black business made with products and ingredients that are from our neighborhood. That’s why I chose Leimert Park because Leimert Park, initially is supposed to be about Black business, and I thought that I would be the perfect candidate on top of being a shopper and consumer here for over 20 years.
What inspired you to start Nicko’s Products? Was this area of interest something you grew up with as part of your personal journey or from family history?
Well, thank you for asking; it was honestly a personal thing. When I was exposed to the fact that you can make your own skincare, I was also exposed to what certain skincare is made of. That’s what made me find out what’s good and bad and everything that comes with that, which led me to mix my botany education with being an esthetician. Botany means the study of plants. Esthetician means the study of skin.
How long have you been in business as well as vending in Leimert Park?
I have been in business for a year and vending in Leimert this entire year [2020], and it has been a major success.
Can you tell us a little bit about your successes during the challenging year of 2020?
Well, I don’t look at any year as challenging because I am a grown man, and any challenges, adversity, or strife that comes towards me, I just choose to deal with it because it’s either that or suicide. But Leimert Park has been an extreme blessing to me. I was actually awarded a grant through the Los Angeles Vendors Fund for being out here legally and having a license, you know. It’s given me a huge clientele. It made me a lot more familiar with the people I actually live around in my own community when I am not out here vending, and it’s been great.
What would you tell folks not familiar with Leimert Park is the draw or why it is so loved?
I wouldn’t say Leimert is loved. I wouldn’t say any place is loved, but Leimert Park is an innate powerful culture just like you have millions of those all over the place. You have actual founding mothers and fathers who founded Sundays in Leimert Park. A woman by the name of Zaundra who owns the LLC for the drum circle, the vendors, and the Leimert Park Vendors Association. So it actually is an entity and a power in Los Angeles that was created by the locals.
I would say to people coming from outside to get familiar with the city politics, not the local politics, to understand what you’re going to do and how you’re going to conduct yourself when here.
What can we expect from Nicko Grant and Nicko’s Products in 2021?
I would like my service as a botanist and esthetician to be known to millions and billions of people. I want my community to know that if they need holistic healing, something made from plants, skincare that is vegan, or what ever that Nicko Grant can make it within two business days.
What products are you offering currently?
I’ve been on hiatus for about a month and decided to come today because the weather has been juxtaposed, and doesn’t know if it wants to be hot or cold, so I know people’s skin can be kind of dry right now. So I hooked up an entire inventory of sandalwood, oat milk, coconut milk, and aloe vera products that I know will get people’s skin right, moisturized and exfoliated, and everything else they want.
How can we connect with Nicko Grant and support Nicko’s Products?
My Instagram is @BlackAndNotMild, which is the only social media handle I have, and I run my entire business off of there and on Sunday’s I vend in Leimert.
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