I’m thrilled to be starting the new year by introducing Franny Slote as the latest practitioner to join our team here at Olo Acupuncture. As you’ll see in our conversation below, Franny is a long-time member of the Olo community, and I couldn’t be happier to be working together as colleagues.

Starting this week, Franny is taking over the Friday afternoon community acupuncture shift from 2 to 7 PM.

Below is an edited conversation we recently had which has been edited for length and clarity. You can also learn more about Franny on her bio page.

Hi, Franny, I’m really excited to have this conversation with you. You’ve been part of the Olo community for a long time, as a patient, a student, and now a practitioner, and I’d love to start at the beginning. What first brought you to acupuncture?

I actually found acupuncture through a family friend. As a dancer in my teens, I was dealing with injuries and pain, and acupuncture became this unexpected source of support, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally too. Those early sessions really stayed with me, and I worked with this acupuncturist into my early adulthood. It quickly became an important part of my life.

Later, after studying and living abroad in Berlin and dealing with chronic illness, I found my way back to this medicine. It felt like reconnecting with an old friend, something that helped me return to my body when I really needed it.

Your background is so interdisciplinary; you studied History, Politics, and Cultural Studies, alongside years of dance. How do those experiences shape how you practice today?

For a long time, I felt split between the cerebral and the embodied parts of myself. Academic life trained me to live in my head, while dance rooted me deeply in physical experience. Acupuncture was the place where those two selves finally met.

Studying Traditional Chinese Medicine was actually the most rigorous academic experience I’ve had—but also the most inspiring—because it refuses to separate body and mind. That integrative worldview feels deeply aligned with how I understand health, healing, and being human.

You’ve chosen to work in community acupuncture settings throughout your training and career. What draws you to this model?

Community acupuncture directly addresses the inequities built into our healthcare system. Access to care, especially holistic care, is often shaped by structural inequality, and community models help lower those barriers.

It also honors the roots of Chinese medicine as a medicine for everyone. I’m really passionate about preserving that tradition. There’s something powerful about healing in a shared space where your individual experience is respected, but you’re also held within a collective environment.‍

When you think about the people you most enjoy working with, who comes to mind?

I really enjoy working with people who are curious about their bodies, their minds, and their health—regardless of what initially brings them in. Clinically, I’ve spent a lot of time working with digestive issues, sleep concerns, and menstrual imbalances, as well as more complex presentations like fertility support, autoimmune conditions, and chronic pain.

What matters most to me is that sense of collaboration and exploration.

What moments in treatment tend to feel most meaningful for you?

There’s this recurring moment where someone reconnects with their body in a new way, maybe through sensation, emotional release, deep rest, or even imagery during a treatment. Those moments feel almost sacred.

Watching people discover their own relationship to acupuncture, and to themselves, never gets old. It’s incredibly humbling.

How would you describe your style as a practitioner? What does it feel like to receive treatment from you?

I see healthcare as a collaborative journey that’s built on safety and trust. I try to create a space that feels like refuge—a place where the nervous system can soften and the body can remember its own capacity to heal.

Treatments with me tend to be conversational but grounded, and deeply attuned to what feels supportive in the moment.

Your relationship with Olo feels especially full-circle. Can you share what Olo has meant to you over the years?

Olo changed my life, honestly. After finishing my master’s program in Berlin, I moved back to New York feeling pretty lost—and dealing with a new chronic illness. I found Olo through my old dance community, and immediately felt that sense of kinship.

Weekly treatments in the community room helped transform my health, but they also helped me find my path forward. Olo didn’t just support me as a patient—it inspired me to study acupuncture in the first place. Being here now as a practitioner feels incredibly meaningful.

That’s so beautiful, we’re honored to be a part of that story, and grateful to have you here with us now! For someone who’s never tried acupuncture before, what would you want them to know?

I really prioritize informed and empowered consent. You’re always welcome to share how things feel in real time, and we can adjust as needed. There’s no pressure to “do it right.”

My goal is for people to feel safe, supported, and listened to, especially if this is their first experience with acupuncture.

And finally, outside the clinic, what brings you joy these days?

I love reading dark fantasy novels, doing puzzles, pole dancing, and taking long, dreamy walks through Greenwood Cemetery. Those quiet, imaginative spaces feel like an extension of how I recharge and stay connected to myself.

Thank you, Franny, and welcome to Olo! We’re so looking forward to working with you.