Meet Christina Violante | Chiropractor

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

Hi Christina, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I didn’t want to work for anyone anymore. I wanted to craft my own space and be able to have complete control over what I wanted my life to look like. I’ve always been a bit of an oddball and I was done being a star peg trying to fit myself into the round hole of professional (meaning white and colonial) society. I remember I had one job where I would go to work and rehearse being Vanilla Tina. Vanilla Tina makes polite conversations about weekend plans. Vanilla Tina eats sanitized meals that would not trail any odor. Vanilla Tina doesn’t talk about systemic racism in healthcare. I try to be a direct yet thoughtful communicator and that was off-putting in those spaces. There is a certain script for communication in “polite” and/or “cooperate” society that I just don’t understand and find frustrating. Genuineness and accountability are incompatible with this way of being

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The name of my business is Collective Culture Health and Chiropractic. My business is unique in the field of chiropractic because I am one of very few women of color chiropractic businesses in Michigan. I got to where I am today business wise with lots of time, energy, support, and trial and error. It was not easy and took lots of failure, wasted time, and money but in the end it’s worth it. What keeps me going is being able to serve clients who might not receive quality care elsewhere or who are uncomfortable in the spaces they receive care. I’m very vocal about racial/gender/size/religious equity in healthcare. I’m sure that’s off putting to some but it crafts a space where those who have been affected by those challenges feel safe, heard, and genuinely cared for. I learned the most important thing to succeed is to be genuine and honest about who you are and what you want. You can throw a stone and hit another chiropractic office. People are choosing to come to you because of who you are and how you make them feel. I know what it’s like to be a brown woman on medicaid. I’ve been ignored by healthcare professionals and also labeled a drug seeker. If you are someone caring for marginalized communities, it’s important to know how their experience might be vastly different from yours when interfacing with healthcare providers. I want the world to know this is somewhere you can come to get excellent care from someone who will take the time to listen and understand you. I don’t know what it’s like to live in your body. We will co-create your healing journey together.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my friend were coming to town, we would start off at Antonio’s Coney Island to get a great Honduran breakfast. Maybe we’d walk around the Matthei Botanical Gardens to burn off those fried plantains. Then we could follow that up with a treat from Yoon’s Bakery and a coffee from Hyperion. Then we could go for a canoe ride in the Huron and cap it all off with dinner at the Bellflower.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My friends, family and clients have all helped me get to where I am. I wouldnt’ be able to do the work I do without their support. Every sucess in my life has been a team effort. I’m extremely fortunate to have an amazying and knowledgeable team of people out there.

Website: https://www.collectiveculturehealth.com/