Maya Gilliam is a serial entrepreneur as owner of Hempress Farms and Ma’ati Spa located in her native, Winston-Salem North Carolina, as well as global graphic design firm, III Eye Digital. A graduate of Howard University, she spent her early career in media focusing on sports with stints at USA Today and the NBA. In search of a way to reduce her screen time, she studied massage therapy and other wellness disciplines which led to the founding of Ma'ati Spa, LLC in 2012. Her business was hard hit by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which inspired Maya into applying her hemp cultivation skills to transforming her spa business and merging spaces with Hempress Farms, LLC. Hempress Farms is a licensed boutique, family owned, artisanal hemp grow. Her products are sustainably produced and responsibly sourced from seed to bottle. The merged space is the only hemp tasting room in downtown Winston-Salem.