FULL CIRCLE GIVING: From Nasher to Donor

Dr. Anna Di (she/her)

Dr. Anna Di is a chiropractor and owner of UNITY Chiropractic Wellness in New York City.  She is also a corrective exercise specialist with the National Academy of Sports Medicine.  She is a regular health and wellness media contributor, featured on many magazines such as Forbes, Architectural Digest, and MSN. 

I did two summers at Sadie Nash Leadership Project, after my sophomore year and junior year of high school in 2008 and 2009. I joined because my sister had also participated in the program, and she recommended it as something to do during the summer instead of just not doing anything at all. It was a very, very positive experience, and I got to meet so many people. It was something that helped me to do more than spending my summer playing video games. 

There were never any boring days, every single workshop, every single class was engaging. I never found my mind wandering off. The program allowed me to be creative in the creative classes, and imaginative in other classes. I became emotional listening to different experiences, and I also had the time to ponder my future.

There were so many emotions to be felt on any given day which made the summer really memorable. I think some people have summers where they can’t remember what they did or what happened but that was not the case with a Sadie Nash summer. I think sometimes school doesn’t let you discover that you can make “grown up” decisions now. You can choose to step outside the lines and not follow the path that everybody takes, but you’re still going to do amazing. That’s what Sadie Nash did for me.

I was in an environment where everyone is giving to each other, there’s no power hierarchy, you just have the people who help facilitate the productive courses and the productive discussions. The facilitation doesn’t feel like an authoritarian type of teaching. At Sadie Nash there was a lot more space for people to express whatever comes to their mind. 

Prior to starting my business I hadn’t donated to any organization in my life simply because I financially needed every dollar to myself. But then, three to four months into starting UNITY Chiropractic Wellness, there was an uptick in hate crimes against Asians, and I just happened to be making more money because business was better than I anticipated. It felt good to be able to give back to an organization like Sadie Nash. I felt in some ways like I was very lucky that my business was good enough to me that I could give money back to someone else that might not be as lucky. And it felt unfair if I didn’t distribute this because I didn’t even expect this. I felt like this money is not something I need and I could choose to sit here or I can use it for good and give it to an organization like Sadie Nash-- which I know is going to support more young people like it supported me.