Our Story — Nas & Abe | Shea Experience

17 years in the making

From first booth to a beloved South Florida institution — here's how we grew.

2009

The First Booth

Nas & Abe set up their first booth at the Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood, Florida — one of the very first original vendors at the market. Nas brought her shea butter and natural soaps. Abe brought drums and instruments from West Africa. They didn't know it then, but they were building something lasting.

2012

Growing the Wellness Line

Customer demand pushed Nas to expand her offerings. She began sourcing African black soap directly, added goats milk lotion made fresh weekly, and started offering black seed oil and castor oil. The booth at stall 31 became a weekly ritual for dozens of loyal customers.

2016

Abe Expands to Two Booths

Demand for Abe's instruments, art, and cultural items grew so much that he took over a second — then third booth (345 & 346). He began sourcing singing bowls from India, leather journals from artisan makers, wall art from Bali, and expanded the African drum collection to include djembes in multiple sizes direct from Ghana.

2020

Sea Moss & the Wellness Boom

As the natural wellness movement grew, Nas began preparing fresh sea moss gel every week — gold and purple varieties, plain and with superfoods like turmeric and beet. The sea moss quickly became one of the most popular products at the entire market. Regulars began placing standing weekly orders.

2024

Launching Online — Nationwide Shipping

After years of requests from customers who moved away or wanted to gift products to family out of state, Shea Experience launched SheaExperience.com — bringing Nas's handmade wellness products and Abe's curated instruments to customers across the country. The market booths remain the heart of the business.

Today

Still Here, Every Weekend

17 years in, Nas & Abe are still at the market every Saturday and Sunday. The faces may be more familiar, the product line broader, but the commitment is exactly the same as it was in 2009 — quality you can trust, sourced with care, sold by people who genuinely believe in what they offer.

Meet Nas & Abe

Two booths, one vision — quality, authenticity, and community.

Nas — Booth 31 Natural Wellness & Beauty

The one who makes it fresh every week

Nas is the heart of the wellness side of Shea Experience. Every week she prepares fresh sea moss gel, whips shea butter, and handcrafts soaps with real ingredients you can see and smell. She personally sources every oil and extract — testing it herself before it ever reaches the booth.

Her philosophy is simple: if she wouldn't put it on her own skin or feed it to her family, she won't sell it to yours. That commitment is what has built a loyal community of hundreds of repeat customers over 17 years.

Shop Nas's Products

Abe — Booths 345 & 346 Instruments, Art & Culture

The one who brings the music

Abe travels to source his instruments firsthand — djembe drums hand-carved in Ghana, singing bowls hammered in the Himalayan tradition, kalimbas, rain sticks, and more. Every instrument at the booth has been played, tested, and approved by Abe before going on display.

Ask Abe about any instrument and he'll play it for you, tell you its history, and if you're a beginner, he'll teach you the first rhythm right at the booth. The booth has become a gathering place — a place where people discover a new passion.

Browse Abe's Collection

Our values

The principles that have guided us since day one.

Community First

We started Shea Experience to serve our community with products that actually work — not mass-produced substitutes. Every decision we make comes back to whether it's right for the people who trust us.

Personally Inspected

Everything we sell has passed through our hands. We don't list products we haven't tested ourselves. If we wouldn't use it at home, it doesn't make it to the booth or the website.

Authentic Sourcing

Our products come from where they come from — Ghana, India, Jamaica, Haiti, Indonesia. We work with real suppliers and artisans, not middlemen selling diluted or synthetic products with exotic names.

One family.
17 years of roots.