Brown Sugar Botanicals, Oakland’s Black, Queer-Owned Herbal CBD Brand

Herbs. CBD. And the desire to build an economy for queer folx, by queer folx. Mix these ingredients together and you’ve got Brown Sugar Botanicals, Oakland’s black, queer-owned herbal CBD brand founded by KaliMa (they/them) and Chris Wakefield (he/him and she/her).

The pair began with the desire to create a social enterprise space within the larger CBD industry. “You don’t see a lot of folx trying to do that in the CBD arena,” said Chris. “These spaces have incredible power to grow in the next few years, and we wanted to make sure some of these resources were diverted to the marginalized communities who need them most.”

With a tagline of “diasporic healing for modern lifestyles,” Brown Sugar Botanicals’ product offerings lead with authenticity. Chris and KaliMa combined their deep knowledge of herbal recipes to create a thoughtful offering of handmade salves, tinctures, pre-rolls and loose leaf blends – all infused with CBD. “We create two types of products,” explained Kai. “Full spectrum, which means CBD infused from the CBD flower, and CBD infused from a THC-free powder called CBD isolate.” 

But it’s not just their offerings that are unique. Brown Sugar Botanicals takes a different direction in sourcing methods as well. “Unlike a lot of similar brands, we intentionally source plants from people who we are in community with – black brown queer and trans folx,” said Chris. “We try to find people who are aligned with our mission and with the world we want to build. In turn, we want to elevate them as a key part of our brand.“

As black, queer and non-binary identifying entrepreneurs in the CBD space, their gender identities are deeply woven into everything Chris and KaliMa do. “I use both pronouns intentionally because spiritually I embody whatever a man is and whatever a woman is equally,” shares Chris. “I do not see myself as needing to exist in a dichotomy that exists in one form or another.”

KaliMa echoed similar thoughts. “Although I have a womxn-identified body, this is just a body,” said KaliMai. “I connect more spiritually towards who I am energetically. Yea. That’s how I feel. That’s why I identify as genderqueer and non-binary.”

Chris and KaliMa look forward to the day when Brown Sugar Botanical expands its reach to serve as a platform, resource and network for Oakland’s community. “We ask questions like, how do we tie in private sector responsibility into a growing need to build an economy that’s for and by the people, not one that just dips into poorer communities to extract our money and labor,” reflects Chris. “We want to give back,” said KaliMa. “It’s like a modernized version of generalizational love.”

Shop Brown Sugar Botanicals at Scorpio Virtual Queer Arts Fest on Oct 25 or on their website.  

Follow Brown Sugar Botanicals on Instagram.