We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris Pellitteri a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Chris, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I opened my martial arts school in 1995 at the age of 25. Through great support and hard work, I have been teaching continuously for over 25 years. When I started, I was working 3 full time jobs – 7 days a week to make sure the karate school would have a future. I worked in a martial arts supply store evening day and in the evening I taught classes. On the weekends, I taught music lessons (trombone and guitar). I met my wife while teaching music lessons. I am thankful that I was not married while initially growing the business. I didn’t get married or have children until the karate school was able to support us all. This was not intentional, but just worked out this way.
One of my philosophies is that you lose the right to be an instructor when you yourself stop learning. I have always tried to continue my own education in the martial arts. In 2003, I founded the North American Nunchaku Association. We offer instruction in the nunchaku in a complete system from white to black belt (beginner to expert). We have sold over 1000 DVDs and have students throughout the United States and the world. I am very proud of the system and thankful for those who have helped along the way.
It is amazing that I can share what I love to do and also make a living and support my family.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I teach a karate program called Kazoku-Ryu Karate (Family Style Martial Arts) to students ranging in age from 4 to over 70. We have a student who teaches our system in England and are honored to visit almost every year.
We have a nunchaku system – the North American Nunchaku Association that is designed as a correspondence course for those interested in the nunchaku (nunchuck)
We also have a kobudo (martial arts weapons) system – the American Kobudo Association. It is similar to the nunchaku system but teaches different martial arts weapons.
I started karate at the age of 15 in 1985 and have trained and taught continuously since then.
I was honored to be called as an expert witness in the use and teaching of the nunchaku for a federal lawsuit in the state of New York, which ended up successfully overturning the ban on nunchaku in the state.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I feel very honored that with the support of my students and their families, we have survived many economic hardships in running a martial arts program. When first starting out, I had a family that paid a year in advance so that we could pay our bills during those first very difficult years.
During the recession in 2008, we had many families that sacrificed other “luxuries” so that their children could stay in classes.
During the global pandemic, although we lost over 80 percent of our students, those that remained were very supportive and allowed us to transition to on-line classes and then back again. We even had several families that paid although they could not attend classes.
I am very thankful for the sense of family and community that our martial arts programs are a part of.
We continue to pivot and adjust our schedule and teaching to be relevant for today’s needs.
That and the support of many great families have allowed us to continue to do what we love for 27 years.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I love being able to share what I do. Especially the aspects that I created. It is amazing to see students progress using lessons that I have been able to share with them. I find it especially rewarding to visit my “grand-students” (students of one of my students) in the UK. These are students some of whom I have never met who train and learn our system from 5000 miles away. I feel honored that these students train in our system.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.uplandmacenter.com www.totalnunchaku.com www.usakobudo.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pellitteri/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTKa6yzS0SI80lYNbO6qvIg
Image Credits
Photo credits – Chris Pellitteri – Christine Pellitteri and Bill Chapman