[music] Hi, I'm Rosey Alvero.

Today on SoCal Wanderer, we're going to meet Dani Solorio.

Dani grew up right here in the [?]

Compton area where she experienced firsthand the lack of access to health and wellness, which inspired her to open Compton Health Bar.

Here, Dani and her team use herbal remedies, offering a holistic wellness space for the community.

I'm excited to check it out.

Let's go.

[music] People think that Compton is all crime, that it's full of people that don't care about themselves, their community, but it's actually quite the opposite.

People want to thrive, people want to be healthy, they want to see their community heal because there's a lot of healing to do.

What the mission in Compton Health Bar is, is to help people find their inner healer so that then they can work on themselves, work on their families, work on the community, and it's just like this ripple effect that extends out.

You recently shared with me that you just received your green card.

-Yes.

-Big congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Tell me how that was, to start a business without even having a green card.

It's actually one of the toughest things because you don't have access to credit, you don't have access to loans, so we had to depend on the generosity and the trust of friends and family to get things going.

It was community support as well that really helped get things to take off.

Wow.

Where does the inspiration come from for health and wellness?

It's what we need here.

There's not a shortage of fast food.

What there is a shortage of is healthy foods, healthy food options, access to food, access to education about food.

I experienced that myself growing up here and continue experiencing that living here and so it's where we're needed.

It's clear that Compton is a changing community, with people like Dani at the heart of it.

After our stroll around the park, Dani took me a few blocks away to an unsuspecting mini-mall.

-Come on in.

-Thank you.

-So this is it.

-This is it.

It's like an apothecary, there are so many smells going on.

We have soaps, we have candles that are prepared, we have incense, and then over here, the products are already prepared, so when folks come in and they're like, "Hey, I want to detox.

Then we have our different detoxes over here.

These are all blends that you guys have blended yourself?

Yes, these are the ones that we make all in-house.

I feel like a kid in a candy store.

I want to touch everything and open all of them up and smell all of them.

-That's called sky fruit.

-What is sky fruit?

I'm like is it mushrooms?

It looks like mushrooms.

It grows on a tree in tropical places.

The bitterness of it is what helps stabilize blood sugar and you can if you want, open your own.

-Should I try it?

-If you dare.

-I dare.

-Do it, just a tiny-- I was going to say, try a tiny piece.

-Can we get her some water?

-Thank you.

Sky fruit, oh boy, very healthy, but man does it taste bitter.

It just goes to show how brilliant Dani's mixtures are.

She can make the most intense, raw ingredients into palatable teas, tinctures, and remedies.

What's going on here?

You have a beautiful altar.

My grandmothers, in particular my abuelita Lolita, and abeulita Trina, they're my first herbalism teachers, ever.

My first memories that I ever have of using herbs for medicinal purposes are with my abuelita Lolita, was like a second mom, and my abuelita Trina, she was like her community's healer.

Everyone used to come to her because she was the only one with the knowledge and with the plants.

This is actually a way for me to stay connected to them and also to share what they taught me.

Dani was brought up with the idea of health as a holistic journey.

It's not just about medicine, but family and community.

As part of her practice, Dani sits down with her clients to listen and learn about them in order to better aid their healing journey.

Tell me where are you along your health journey?

Last year, my husband and I decided to divorce.

I started experiencing panic attacks for the first time.

I lost a ton of weight.

I lost a patch of hair up here that's just now growing back.

I got skin rashes.

You're not having these episodes very often anymore?

-No.

-Good.

All of these physical things that happen to me, it's like there's never any answers to them.

Okay.

Well, that may be where plants can support you because sometimes they help us in physical ways.

Sometimes they help us in spiritual ways.

Sometimes they help us in mental ways.

Dani makes it clear that these aren't cures nor alternatives to medicine.

They're supplements that help us during our healing process.

While I'm already well into my healing journey, I could always use a little extra help maybe with a new skin tonic when I have the occasional off day.

Let's see what Dani has in store for me.

What do we have here?

These are some of our favorite flower essences and one of my favorite roots as well.

These are all great on skin and internally as well.

They're very soothing internally, but they're also very soothing externally and they have a lot of antioxidants.

Here, what we're going to do is we're going to have you make your own skin and hair serum.

We're going to have you take whichever flowers you like and you can balance them however you like.

Then what is it going to be used for?

You can use a couple of drops as a skin moisturizer if you want.

You can put it on your hair, if you want to moisturize your scalp.

Anywhere on the skin where you want to moisturize and soothe, you can put it on there.

There you go.

Now you're ready.

Fill it up to, not all the way to the top, but you're going to want to fill it up to about there with oil.

What the oil does is it draws out all the properties, all the minerals, all the nourishing ingredients from the plants.

We're going to let the oil steep to draw out the herbs healing properties.

Once the oil is ready, it's to time to filter it.

Dani had a pre-made batch so I can practice filtering.

I would love for you to try like our signature blend which is called [?]

greens, it's for kids.

This is one that we made kid friendly because I mentioned it's hard to get kids to eat their greens, especially if they're not used to it.

-How much should I put in here?

-Just one little spoonful.

-Like this?

-There you go.

-That good?

-That's perfect.

Yes.

Now you can pour some water on there.

Shake it up.

I don't know why I'm scared.

[chuckles] Okay.

Yes, that's not bad at all.

Very mild.

This we can get down with.

This is not sky fruit.

We're good.

We want people to learn how to do all this on their own so that they gain that autonomy and they don't have to depend on anyone except them themselves to take care of themselves, to heal themselves.

-Passing on the knowledge.

-Exactly.

Then that's something I know makes grandma's proud too.

They're like, "Yes, you're passing that on.

Keep passing that on."

I think grandma would be proud knowing Dani has passed along her knowledge and got the whole family involved.

We have like my mom, my dad, we have my little brother.

I'm feeling really happy for her because she's really smart.

I thinking we are like a family, more stronger.

It takes a village and literally we have our village here.

I'm very proud of our team, proud of what we've done and we have much more to do.

Dani felt like a soul sister.

I can see why so many people come to her to discuss their health journey and better understand how plants can play a part in it.

She took a chance to open Compton Health Bar as a way to honor both her family and her neighborhood.

She is the change she wants to see by helping her community take their health into their own hands.

SoCal Wanderer is made possible by the Whirlwind Foundation.