Meet Kris San | Creative Entrepreneur & Storyteller

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

Hi Kris, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
As a creative entrepreneur risk is absolutely necessary for growth. Now, there’s calculated risk and ignorant risk. I definitely took the ignorant risk route and it was incredibly painful. I quit my job thinking that I would be a famous entrepreneur in a year and how wrong was I.

It has taken me 7 years to get to where I am today. To the point that I have so much clarity about who I am, what I am doing, and where I am going.

Building a business that is profitable is an uphill battle and knowing what I know now – I would have never done it the way I did it. It is risky enough to build a business with resources imagine having nothing and no knowledge about it either… lol.. absolutely do not recommend the jump-in blindly approach.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I consider myself having three lives lived so far.

First Life 0 – 18 -> Grew up on a tiny island called Puerto Rico. I started my basketball career at two years old, and by the time I was 13, I had won my first MVP award against 17-year-olds. I had a natural gift for the game and could have gone pro. I had a full scholarship in college, and that is when I decided to abandon that Life. It felt predictable, and it was all I ever knew and all I’ve ever been. I needed to know what else I could be if I could ever be great at anything else.

Second Life – 18 – 30 -> This was my out-of-control party, girls, and rock and roll days. This is when I found out I was gay and rebelled significantly. I partied constantly, had 0 direction, and had 0 respect for anyone. I was lost, confused, and directionless. I had no one in my life that I felt could understand or help me figure it out. I call this the lost years.

Third and current Life – 30 – 36 -> This part I call purpose-driven. Something unusual happened while working in my cubicle for a major tech company. I saw a talk from Simon Sinek called Start with Why, and it triggered a purpose that didn’t exist before. Within a few months, I quit the job and started pursuing entrepreneurship. I had no idea what I was doing but was able to get a little funding and max out my 401k. I put everything I had into a clothing brand called KSSO. It was a lifestyle brand that revolved around five core values: Family, Respect, Equality, Self-expression, and above all, love. All of this was born out of nowhere. I honestly think God just called me to serve. The business failed after two years, and that is when I started pursuing filmmaking with the hopes to return to the brand. This was when I became an artist. I had never thought of myself as an artist, actually quite the opposite, but here I was learning the art business from scratch and becoming one too. It was the most frustrating and the most rewarding thing I had ever experienced. I sucked terribly, and no one would tell me, but I kept going.

I had many more evolutions and iterations until I became a Creative Entrepreneur. I was merging business and art. I became passionate about social impact and personal branding for creatives. I realized that I couldn’t just solve a superficial problem with a superficial solution. It had to be deeper. Businesses fail all of the time, but the one thing that remains is the person behind the business. When you build that as the foundational layer, the person then you position yourself to be whatever you want to be because it is all attached to you. I help creatives redefine their characters that align with the type of leaders they aspire to be.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Whoa, this is an intense question.

We would definitely go hiking, walking trails, bike riding, paddle boarding, outdoor concerts, and rooftop venue for dinner.

For food, we would do taco trucks, tapas restaurants, and sushi.

We do a mural tour and check out some creative collectives.

That would be a good week for sure.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This shoutout definitely goes out to my mom. We had a rocky relationship growing up but she has always been there for me, especially in the last few years, she’s made it known that she supports my journey even when she can’t understand it. That kind of unwavering support has provided me the strength to keep reaching for the stars and never stop. So, thanks mom for believing in me in the best way you could and seeing what’s possible.

Website: https://createwithkris.net/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kris_san13/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krissan/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KrisSan13

Image Credits
Featured Photo – Azulox Photo kneeling in the field – Azulox Photos at the warehouse (with brown shirt) – Leta Harrison Photos Speaking – Mindi Westhoff