We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Crystal Dorado. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Crystal below.

Crystal, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The biggest risk I took was inspired by my father. I was working at a spa in the south loop of Chicago when my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was in need of a liver transplant in addition to his diagnosis, and the doctor gave him months to live. We were told that he probably wouldn’t live to see his 50th birthday.

As my father’s oldest child, I took on the role of his caretaker with the support of his sisters. My parents were divorced and my father had not remarried – and as a Mexicana, his eldest and only daughter, it was expected that I care for him and support him.

When I approached my employer at the time to reduce my working hours so that I could attend to my father through his last months of life, I was denied the flexibility and the schedule that I needed. As a minority with little legal education, I did not know my rights as an employee. As I left my job that day, I was devastated with the idea that I could not be apart of my father’s journey when we only had months left together. I went directly to see my father, sobbing to him about what had happened.

Even in his moments of sickness, my father was a loving parent to me and inspired me to take the biggest risk of my life. From where he sat in his hospital bed, he told me “Work for yourself, you can create your own hours.” He gave me a speech that my siblings and I can repeat word for word from the heart even to this day.

“Baby, we live in the heart of Chicago, Pilsen neighborhood. We got three expressways that gives everyone access to us. The 90/94, 290, and the 55. On top of that, we have two train lines that run through us – the pink and the red. And multiple bus lines, and the beautiful architecture that Czechs left behind in this community. This is a prime location.

“Come rent yourself a loft in the community you were born and raised in. We minorities do not need anyone to make our communities better but ourselves.”

My father always believed in the spirit of entrepreneurship, and encouraged all of us to work for ourselves and take authority over our financial abundance and wellbeing. I did exactly this, 13 years ago when I rented a 250 square foot loft in the community that I was born in. Pilsen is predominantly Mexican, and I am proud to be the owner and founder of the neighborhood’s first latina owned holistic wellness studio, Verde.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Growing up, I was surrounded by the medicine of traditional Mexican healing arts. My grandfather was a Sobador and huesero, someone who massages and adjusts the bones. My grandmother was an hierbolera, a traditional herbalist, who grew and cultivated plants for their medicinal properties. In Mexican culture, these are our community healers. As a child, this was our medicine and way of life in our home.
I saw my grandfather attend to community members’ aches and pains, and my grandmother making ointments and salves to support my grandfather’s work. People in the neighborhood would come and ask my grandmother for herbal remedies. This was my childhood but beyond that, it was my legacy, gifted to me by my grandparents and my ancestors. I recall as a child the sense of magic when I would see their medicine at work. There would be lines of people waiting to see my grandfather on Saturday mornings.

When I became a mother of three children, I knew that I wanted a career. I wanted my children to be proud of me. Regardless of being a young mother, I was determined to accomplish my dreams. I returned to school and became a massage therapist. This path felt natural because I was familiar with bodywork and the techniques came naturally to me. Through my education, it became more and more clear that the ancient knowledge of my ancestors was held and remembered in my bones, my blood, and my body.

When I began working in the massage industry, I remembered that so much of my grandparents’ work was based in the belief that health is not only physical, but spiritual and emotional. This led me to energy healing modalities like reiki, and eventually to reclaim ancestral healing techniques and ceremonies. Now with my holistic wellness studio, that is exactly what I’m doing. I practice, teach, and hold space that is rooted in the spirit of my indigenous ancestors to serve the mind, body, and spirit -through bodywork, spiritual healing, classes, workshops, and even retreats.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The greatest lesson that I had to unlearn as a Woman of Color was the deeply rooted feelings of unworthiness. I created this platform and this success for myself, and throughout my professional journey I recall many moments when I would enter certain business spaces and feel an overwhelming sense of self doubt. The sensations, thoughts, and feelings of imposter syndrome were crushing. In networking events, when asking for loans, pitching my ideas, and even at speaking engagements, I often noticed that I was one of the few women and more often, one of the only people of color.
Early in my career, I didn’t know how to own my power or take up space. I was consumed by the irrational fear of being “found out” or considered inauthentic. The world of spiritual healing at that time was (and is still to this day) very white washed. There is a great lack of visibility of teachers and practitioners of color. Most of my teachers were white, which was devastating considering that the roots of many healing therapies are in indigenous communities or of people of color.

Unlearning this feeling of unworthiness and its limiting belief system within myself has taken years of practice, awareness, and tending to my inner needs. I stand in my power and hold space for myself, as well as for other women of color to rise. I pray that by holding my head high, I can inspire some other person or women of color to do so.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I believe that persistence is what makes you different from others – when you continue to invest in your dream. It’s easy to come up with a good idea, the hard part is investing in it through action and commitment, which takes someone who is persistent because life is filled with obstacles and adversity. I strongly believe that every problem has a solution, and persistence is the key to finding the solution.
When you have a dream and believe, you make it come true. Do not give up on it when others will. Keep moving forward, investing in it and yourself. Because you are your best investment.

Contact Info:

• Website: Verdehws.com
• Instagram: Verdehws/Verde Holistic Wellness Studio
• Facebook: Verde Holistic Wellness Studio
• Linkedin: Crystal Dorado
• Twitter: Verdehws
• Yelp: Verde Holistic Wellness Studio

Image Credits
https://karinamora.com/