Christine Koth and Shridhar Swaminathan met in 2017 when Shri was having a hip problem and Christine, a physical therapist, was doing physical therapy screenings at Concord CrossFit. Shri went from a potential client, to love interest, and then husband by 2020.
Christine had just moved to Walnut Creek after turning 40 in 2016. “I love change,” says Christine. “I couldn’t get enough of the creative and innovative culture in the Bay Area.” She was born and raised in Palatine, Illinois. She had always lived in the Midwest, but fell in love with California while here for yoga training. “California smells so good and I can actually be outside year-round. The Midwest is so flat; but here, the vistas and hills are so remarkable. This is a magical place.” Within three months of deciding to move here from Wisconsin, she packed up her three kids, Hunter, Molly, and Autumn, and chose Walnut Creek all because of good schools, arts, and a blog article that described it as a “foodie city.”
Shri grew up in Tamil Nadu, India, and has lived in the U.S. since 2005. Trained as an engineer and a Chartered Financial Analyst, he worked for a hedge fund in San Francisco for 12 years. He is now the co-founder of Sidepocket, an investment app, and co-founder of Aletha with Christine. Shri and his child, Shravan, became part of this busy blended family in 2020. Christine’s mom, Melody, also relocated from the Midwest with Christine and affectionately contributes to the self-proclaimed “circus.”
In addition to her private physical therapy practice on Citrus Circle, Christine is an inventor, author, and visionary. After Christine and Shri realized the potential to heal the world by eliminating muscle tension, and therefore, pain in all humans they co-founded Aletha. Starting with Christine’s book, Tight Hip Twisted Core – The Key to Unresolved Pain, followed by the invention of the Hip Hook (designed to release hip tension), and the just-launched NUCKLE (designed to release neck tightness) now over 100,000 people worldwide have experienced pain relief. Shri, the business mastermind and Christine, the creator make a truly amazing team, all from the home office headquarters in our Northgate neighborhood.
Although the kids have been a huge part of the business’s development, from the early days of fulfilling orders from the living room to current administrative tasks, they have other interests, too.
Hunter is a junior and plays basketball at Northgate High School, and his life revolves around training for his sport at Ultimate Fieldhouse in the Shadelands.
Molly, 15, and Autumn, 11, spend most of their free time at Dance Connection Performing Arts Center in Concord, preparing for the next dance competition.
Shravan, 12, enjoys gaming and programming. You may also have heard his endless basketball bouncing from the backyard.
Ruby is the family’s Labradoodle, and two kittens, Shadow and Loki, joined the family at the beginning of the pandemic.
All the kids enjoy meeting up at Arbolado Park with friends to play Spike Ball or have a picnic. Christine and Shri enjoy the tennis courts there and also use the park as a convenient meet-up place with friends.
In addition to ski trips to Tahoe and a recent trip to Hawaii, the family looks forward to more travel as the pandemic ends.
“We love living here,” adds Christine. “So many activities for our kids to be involved with nearby, places for them to meet their friends and get some fresh air. We love that we can hop on our bikes and have a massive choice of places to go, all with the beautiful view of Mount Diablo in the background. We have a Saturday morning routine with our dog where we hike at Castle Rock Regional Park, and, depending on the time of year, it can involve misty mornings or a view of falcons flying above. On top of that, we have this sense of peace and quiet in our neighborhood with the conveniences of shopping, parks, and culture so very close by.” These are the same reasons we all love this place! Welcome to Northgate Christine, Shri, and the entire family!
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By Kara Navolio, Resident since 1991