We had the good fortune of connecting with Sarina Daniels and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarina, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Well, I lost my mother to illness and natural alternatives were not convenient or affordable. So my mission was to create what I felt the community needed.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The Holistic Market is the first alternative wellness shop based out of Dallas. We started as a vendor market, Holistic Community Market. Our mission has always been to connect small businesses that provide natural alternative wellness products and services with the community and about 6 months after we started, COVID came. In our efforts to pivot we formed an alternative wellness shop. This was our way of keeping our vendors safe and off of the frontline. In May of 2020 we reopened with products from local brands so that community could still have tangible access to the products they love. The journey has definitely not been easy, but I’ve grown to learn that I really enjoy challenges and the fact that it’s not easy gives me an opportunity to be creative and let my brain flow. We have overcome all of our challenges (especially COVID) by “shooting first and aiming later” you never know what will work and what won’t until you actually get out there and do it. Many people were telling me that reopening during COVID would be a waste of time and that people wouldn’t come out. But reopening 2 months after the onset of COVID actually encouraged a lot of other businesses to start reopening. Lessons that I’ve learned? In the words of Tabitha Brown “I do what I want because it’s my business”. I stopped listening to what people think or thought would work and just started doing what was coming in my dreams and ironing out the kinks along the way. If there’s anything I want the world to know about me is that I don’t have a lot of education. I dropped out of high school my junior year and got a GED because I wanted to work. As I got older I put myself in environments that I desired to learn from and people that I admired that were on paths that I wanted to be on. I also self evaluated a lot, I knew I had a lot of weaknesses, one being the inability to comprehend what I was reading, so I went to my local community college and started paying out of pocket for remedial classes so I could apply for hire paying jobs. I never went to college because I seen my older siblings in debt from it and although I didn’t know much about finances I knew I didn’t want to be in debt. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life for a long time, I just knew I wanted to help people so I kept living until I found a way to help. Before my mother passed she told me “YOU MUST teach the world and show the world that there are other ways to heal the body so that they don’t end up living through what I have been. The body is supposed to heal itself like a cut heals into a wound.” I’ve lived by that since that day and I vowed to be a vessel between THE WORLD and natural wellness alternatives.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If the bestie was in town for a week, since I want her to move back from New York anyway, I would be SURE to make the experience something she would crave to come back for. My friends are pretty frugal, like myself, so I’m sure she would fly here on a weekday. Good food is something we live for so as soon as she touched down I would take her to Bam’s Vegan, which is the closest and dopest vegan spot to DFW International Airport. He also carries some of the dopest PlantBased treats like fROOT Kaves phBalanced lemonade and Crave by Joy, a PlantBased dessert brand that’s really fire. We eat once a day so I’d make sure we got full and maybe take a couple of his grab and go options in case we get hungry later. Seeing that we eat once a day we would also be sure to go to Nuno’s Tacos and VegMex in North Dallas, OG Vegan in Oak Cliff, Sankofa Kitchen in Dallas, The Recipe Oak Cliff, Da Munchies in West Dallas, Chopping Roots in Carrollton, and Fineapple Vegan in Garland on a Friday. I have a few more favorites in the community that don’t have brick and mortars just yet that I would like to introduce her to like Mineral Eats, Dopeboy to Hopeboy, Oohwee! I just love food and I’m almost positive I’m missing somebody but I’m hoping I can fit all of that into a week long trip. I also like going to these community pop-ups and art exhibits so I would definitely have to connect her with the Wright Art Twins, put her onto something that Jay-Z put me onto… investing in art.. I would also make sure to schedule time for a facial and massage with Touch-N-Skin and by the end of the week we may possibly be exhausted so I would take a night to introduce her to one of my favorite Prime Video series Washed, a Dallas based and filmed really dope series with Dallas’ own Jarric Tucker, Judah, and Britney Bluitt so she can have a piece of Dallas in her home when she goes back to New York and of course some time for rest and relaxation.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I first have to give a shout-out to my mom. If I had not gone through her downward spiral of having lupus none of this would have ever been a thought. Second I have to thank my partner and best friend Marquise McBride, we used to sit up all night and he would listen to my dreams. One morning I decided to woke up late for work and he was like you’re already late, let me take you. So I did and he drove to the Municipal Court and made me file for ownership of the name I kept speaking about. That was the start of it all. He has always pushed me past my limits and never let me settle for excuses. Next I have to give a shout-out to James McGee owner of Peace, Love & Eatz smoothie bar and The Real OG Vegan food truck. He is a close family friend and we used to always sit in circles after a business day and bounce business ideas off of each other. I made mention about starting the market and he was like coordinate it and I’ll provide the location. 2 weeks later I had my first vendor market and it’s been up from there. He gave me my first opportunity! I have to shout-out Robert Kiyosaki, I don’t know him personally but I read his book The Cashflow Quadrant back in 2013 and that book changed my mindset and lead me on the path of stepping out of the role of an employee. I also have to thank the MANY jobs I’ve had, regardless the environment and how long I chose to stay there, they taught me A LOT of skills that I use today in business. They also grew my knowledge on structure and operations that work that I am able to use myself and share with other small businesses that I come across on this journey.

Website: www.HolisticCommunityMarket.com

Instagram: @The_Holistic_Market

Linkedin: The Holistic Market

Facebook: Holistic Community Market

Youtube: The Holistic Market

Image Credits
Pictures are of live markets, artists, vendors, patrons, supporters, and family.

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