Meet Kristian Espiritu | Storyteller | Macramé Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristian Espiritu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristian, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It was sort of an accident. In the summer of 2020, the #womensupportingwomen campaign was gaining popularity on social media as it strayed from its original intention. I was fired up. I wanted to see action from the folks who were tagging me in their black and white selfies claiming to support me. So I challenged my circles to commit to shopping BIPOC small businesses for everything to further their support. That’s when I stepped forward and shared some of my macramé as a launching point. I had no idea I was going to start a full business. My goal then was to get the people in my life to create meaningful connections, not just follow the trends and make a post. And that is still the foundation of my business now. Know who you shop from, what their stories are, and get curious about whether or not someone’s values align with yours.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a natural storyteller. Being an actor and singer, I’m always looking for a personal connection to all things. So when I create my pieces, their designs are inspired by my own experiences, and their names are inspired by my heritage or the feeling of the piece. To honor our Earth Ancestor, everything is made with recycled cotton, as well as foraged wood and other repurposed materials. A portion of each sale is donated to Liyang Network, in solidarity with Lumad (indigenous) communities in Mindanao, Philippines. I share openly about my process, joys and struggles, my values, in hopes of inspiring curiosity and compassion. It doesn’t matter if it’s a show I’m performing in, or if I’m tying string to a wooden dowel. It’s important to me that I connect to it, and can practice being vulnerable with it.

There are so many lifelong lessons the universe is trying to get me to learn in both my performing career and my small business! My inner critic is very hard on me in everything I do. I’m finding that with my small business, a lot of the anxiety I have over what others will think of me has been normalized because of the way I am constantly being looked at and essentially judged in the practice of auditioning for gigs. It affects how I share my work, how I price my pieces, even gets to me while I’m trying to decide the products I offer. I’m working on acknowledging this inner critic, and with the help of my current business coach, asking myself what would happen if I tell myself the complete opposite of what that voice is saying. It’s not a destination. I continuously need to work on really rooting for myself and believing in myself, but when I do, things feel totally aligned.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My go-to’s for visitors are my own favorite things to do and see in the city! I love walking the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan and back and then getting ice cream on the Brooklyn side right after. I would recommend dim sum or hot pot in Chinatown, Filipino food at Ihawan in Woodside, catching ANY show at Rockwood Music Hall, and shopping local makers at Artists & Fleas or other makers’ markets. I also have a handful of neighborhood gems here in Kensington, Brooklyn that don’t attract tourists but are some of the best around! We have great bagels, an incredible farm to table Thai restaurant that also does wonderful community work, and the delivery pizza in my part of town is the best I’ve had outside of my childhood pizzeria in Staten Island. My partner and I also love cooking big meals all day long and sharing food. Eating together creates a bond, so we love being able to feed our loved ones.

I think a good itinerary involves a little sightseeing, but my style is definitely getting out of the main tourist areas to witness the culture of a place. If I can support a small business off the beaten path, that’s definitely worth making the trip.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are SO many people that lifted me up to where I am right now: my ates – Liza, for introducing me to all the basics of macramé, and Danielle for cheering me on while I built this from the ground up. Sandy Taylor, friend and business coach, generously offered me guidance and a space for unraveling all of my ideas week after week, while pushing me to grow and fly past the limitations I was creating for myself. And the online Filipinx community, theater community, and small business owners/makers I’ve created relationships with online: I truly have been held up by their faith in me and their desire to create change in this world, even if we’ve never met in real life!

Website: www.howboutknot.com

Instagram: @howboutknot and @kriscendo (personal)