Life & Work with Kiana Venturini of Brooklyn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiana Venturini.

Hi Kiana, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’m the founder of Chronic & Iconic Collective, a women-centered wellness and community platform rooted in connection, intentional experiences, and creating spaces where women, especially women of color navigating chronic illness, mental health struggles, or difficult life transitions, can feel seen, supported, and understood.

The idea for Chronic & Iconic was born from my own experiences navigating chronic illness, mental health struggles, loneliness, and some really difficult transitions in my personal life. There were so many moments where I felt isolated or disconnected from myself, and I realized how many other women were quietly carrying similar feelings while still trying to show up for work, relationships, family, and everyday life.

A huge part of my mission is changing the way people perceive chronic and invisible illness. I wanted to create something that reminded women that living with chronic illness does not make you any less beautiful, social, creative, confident, stylish, ambitious, or deserving of joy and community. So often, conversations around illness focus only on survival, and while those conversations are important, I also wanted to make space for softness, self-expression, connection, and feeling good.

During that time, I started craving softer and more intentional spaces, spaces where women could connect beyond surface-level conversations, feel safe being themselves, and experience joy, creativity, wellness, and community without pressure. What began as a personal vision slowly turned into real-life gatherings centered around meaningful connection, wellness, creativity, and community care.

Since launching Chronic & Iconic Collective, I’ve hosted events ranging from journaling nights and wellness experiences to sober-curious happy hours, all designed to help women feel less alone while still embracing the iconic parts of themselves. I want people to walk into these spaces feeling empowered to take up space, make new connections, express themselves freely, and remember that healing and self-expression can coexist.

I’m still growing and learning every day, but building something rooted in both vulnerability and empowerment has been incredibly meaningful to me. Seeing women come to events alone and leave feeling genuinely seen, supported, and connected has been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey so far. My hope is that Chronic & Iconic Collective continues growing into a space that reminds women they are allowed to heal, evolve, feel beautiful, build community, and still feel iconic while doing it.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

It definitely has not been a smooth road, and I think that’s a huge part of why this work means so much to me.

Building Chronic & Iconic Collective while navigating my own chronic illness, mental health and personal struggles, has been incredibly challenging at times. There were moments where I was learning how to balance pouring into my community while also figuring out how to take care of myself physically and emotionally. Living with invisible illness can already feel isolating, and entrepreneurship can add another layer of pressure and uncertainty on top of that.

A huge challenge for me has been vulnerability and learning how to publicly share my story and experiences. Chronic & Iconic is deeply personal to me, so putting myself out there online and through my events has required me to work through a lot of self-doubt and imposter syndrome. There were definitely moments where I questioned if people would understand the vision, especially because it’s rooted in conversations and experiences that are often overlooked.

I’ve also had to learn how to be gentler with myself throughout the process. This is my first time building something of this scale, and I’m learning as I go. Not everything has turned out exactly the way I imagined, and there have been moments where things didn’t go as planned, but those experiences have honestly taught me the most. They’ve helped me grow not only as a founder, but as a person. I’ve learned that building something meaningful takes patience.

Another challenge has been reminding myself to stay patient while building a community centered around experiences that aren’t always widely talked about. I knew from the beginning that this wouldn’t necessarily be something everyone immediately understood, but that’s also exactly why I created it. I wanted to build the kind of community I had been searching for myself and create spaces where other women could feel less alone in their experiences while forming real connections with people who genuinely relate to them.

Even through the difficult moments, seeing the impact these spaces have had on people continues to remind me why I started and why I want to keep growing Chronic & Iconic Collective.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
A lot of my work lives at the intersection of community building, creative direction, storytelling, and event curation. I create experiences that are designed to feel both meaningful and elevated, where women can feel seen, creatively inspired, emotionally supported, and free to show up as their full selves.

I think what makes Chronic & Iconic Collective different is the way we blend conversations around chronic illness, mental health, wellness, beauty, confidence, creativity, and lifestyle together in a way that feels modern and relatable. I wanted to move away from the idea that healing has to look dull, clinical, or disconnected from joy and self-expression. A huge part of my vision has always been showing women that they can navigate difficult experiences while still embracing the parts of themselves that feel expressive, social, stylish, ambitious, and iconic.

I’m most proud of the atmosphere and emotional impact these spaces have created. One of my favorite things is seeing women come to events alone and leave having made connections, exchanged numbers, or simply feeling more understood than they did walking in. Creating spaces where people feel safe enough to open up while also feeling inspired, empowered, and creatively energized has been incredibly meaningful to me.

As a creative, I’m constantly inspired by the idea that community itself can be healing. Everything I create is rooted in intentionality, emotional honesty, and creating experiences that people can genuinely feel when they walk into the room.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I would describe myself as both shy and extremely expressive at the same time. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York and spent most of my life attending performing arts schools. We had to audition to get into both my middle school and high school, and my focus was vocal performance. Outside of school, I also explored acting, modeling, and grew up taking multiple dance classes, so a lot of my childhood and teenage years were centered around creativity, performance, and self-expression.

Thankfully, my parents always encouraged me to fully be myself creatively. I was very goofy, imaginative, expressive, and emotional growing up, and I think that freedom to explore creativity shaped so much of who I am today. I also always loved bringing people together. Whether it was birthday parties, Halloween parties, sleepovers, movie nights, or little gatherings with my friends, I genuinely loved creating experiences and memories for the people around me. Looking back now, I can definitely see how those parts of my personality connect to the work I do today through community building and event curation.

Outside of that, I was really into reading, fashion, dressing up, music, and spending time outdoors. I also think being an older sister shaped me a lot growing up. It made me naturally nurturing, protective, and emotionally aware from a young age.

I’ve also always been a very sensitive person who cared deeply about others and felt things intensely. I was often the person standing up for people or wanting everyone around me to feel included and supported. I think a lot of those qualities followed me into adulthood and eventually became the foundation for the kind of spaces and community I create now.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ChronicandIconicCollective and @Kiana.Sierra
• Other: TikTok: @ChronicandIconicCollective and @Kiana.Sierra