green business
Native Waves—
Cherry Ocampo’s vision for wellness through indigenous wisdom by Colleen Leonardi Where land meets the sea is where Cherry Ocampo wants to be. A North Carolina native, Ocampo has unearthed the benefits of mixing rare regional clays and halophyte plants together for enhanced beauty and well-being. Founded
nearly a year ago by Ocampo here in Wilmington, Native Waves Carolina Blue Clay offers locally sourced seaweedinfused clays, salt waters, yaupon tea, and more. From face masks to topical treatments for inflammation, Ocampo uses her products daily. And once you meet her at
the Tidal Creek farmers market, it’s evident she has a healing touch.*
Origins Born into a family of herbalists with a mother whose lineage dates back to Bogotá, Colombia and a line of the Ch’orti’ Mayan and Miskito Indians, Ocampo is on a mission to share Native American medicinal traditions from her past for future generations. Her knowledge of plant life and indigenous medicine runs deep. “When I was a kid, we used to cover each other in clay and pretend to operate on each other. I learned about native wild plants, too, growing up but it was not celebrated, so I would keep the knowledge to myself and hide my books,” she says, as we talk about her life growing up in Chapel Hill. As an adult, when faced with a health crisis that allopathic medicine could not cure, she sought advice from a Native American healer. He guided her back to her intuitive center and onto her life’s path. Then she had the dream.
A Vision “I was gathering clay like when I was a kid and I was putting it on my body,” Ocampo says. “And then I was in the Yucatan peninsula and I was walking along in the forest.” When she woke from the dream she asked: “What am I supposed to learn from this? Is there medicine in blue clay?” Ocampo started researching Native American blue clays online. She searched for sources of it in southeast North Carolina and discovered veins of Georgia blue clay here in Wilmington. Then she saw the science on blue clay for gastrointestinal and skin disorders, “…for what I needed,” she says. “And then I found the Mayan connection with it. And then it clicked. I thought, “Is this some weird way of ances(continued on page 9) photo by courtesy of Native Waves
Cherry Ocampo walks to find wild native plants in the field, such as this native yucca, which she uses to make soap.
8
www.goinggreenpublications.com
* Ocampo offered her products at the market until the pandemic, and for now sells online.