Jessica NaissantWhat’s in a name? For Renaissañt NYC, it’s both a play on the last name of CEO Jessica Naissant and a nod to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, which inspired the cannabis shop’s décor.
“We are curating a vibe that is not seen in New York,” Naissant says. “We’re not trying to be like any other brand out there. We’re being change-makers and renegades in our own right. We’re not just going to be selling cannabis, but we’re going to remind people of an experience of that jazz era.”
Working in cannabis is personal for Naissant, who grew up in Brooklyn and is the first Haitian American woman to open a licensed dispensary. Without cannabis, she wouldn’t have been able to pay her way through college.
But Naissant saw her dreams of attending med school derailed because of multiple possession charges, including one for just a single gram of cannabis.
“But, ultimately, it set me on the path I am on now,” she says. “I became a serial entrepreneur, getting into real estate, opening the first CBD dispensary on Long Island by a woman and flipping that to now, being the backbone of Renaissañt NYC. So it’s definitely been a journey.”
Opening her CBD shop, Wake & Bake Café, in 2019 gave her the experience of running a business and a head start in cannabis retail that proved invaluable when she received her license for Renaissant NYC, which opened its doors in Queens in early 2025. She’s already planning her second location, also in Queens, with an ambitious goal of opening before Labor Day and continuing to make her mark with one of the very few cannabis businesses that is truly woman-owned.
“When I say woman-owned, I don’t say it facetiously with just a woman on the board or a woman on the team,” says Naissant. “I say it truly because I’m the owner. I’m there every single day, and this license is truly mine.”