We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristin aka Kinky Haddad aka Hotshot. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristin aka Kinky below.

Alright, Kristin aka Kinky thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Killustrate it: It’s kind of silly but then again I am kind of silly. I went to school for illustration. To put it simply my name starts with a K so i put it in front of illustrate. The it on the end represents whatever subject I’m tackling. I’ve always loved the phrase “killin’ it!” as in “whoa killer job on that hot rod! you totally Killed it!!”

Kristin aka Kinky , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Thanks to the encouragement of my lots of people in my life who care about me, I became the person I am today. My grandparents specifically have a great deal to do with it. Mimi, my grandmother, is an artist and she’s the one who sparked my interest at a very young age. Very talented canvas painter. Papa, had a construction company in Hampton, still family owned today. Donahue General Contractors. He also was a classic car enthusiast. I’ve felt at home in garage settings all my life, which is very helpful to what I do since most of what I do is done in garages. Plus my dad and uncle are very much into motorcycles, which I paint on constantly. I went to high school at NFA, Norwich Free Academy, thanks to my Mom, Geri Donahue who got a job as a teacher when I was in 8th grade. The art program there is outstanding. Mr. Davidson was my favorite teacher in high school, and wouldn’t you know it, it was Painting. Thanks to Mr. Davidson and his colleges, molding me as an artist, I got a scholarship to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. In 2007 I obtained a bachelors degree in fine arts, my major was illustration.
Since then I’ve combined what I learned there with what I learned from an older local artist and pinstriper and have created what I believe to be a very unique business. My domain is hand painted….everything murals, signs graphics on cars and bikes, gold and silver leaf… the possibilities are infinite. I love what I do. I am extraordinarily grateful to have the job that I have. It’s thought provoking, soul finding, inspiring, challenging, fullfilling and has given me a special way to connect with humanity. Especially in my community. When people tell me their ideas and I find a way to “kill it” and the result is a happy customer, sometimes dazed with joyous bewilderment. It makes me feel whole and brings me more joy then i can express in words. More so then getting paid…which is super awesome/and absolutely necessary to be a successful business owner. Money comes and goes, the joy I feel from a happy customer lasts WAY longer.

Dean continues to inspire me to be the best person that I can be in business, and as a human. He and his father own their own business as well and that has been hugely influential to me. As I’ve watched it grow and develop over the many years, we’ve been together. We both lift each other up in every way possible. Dean is extremely passionate about history which is very important for his business. It’s called Jeremiah Johnson trading and they buy and sell antique guns. We are both constantly surrounded by what we love and are truly happy and grateful for that every day.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Hands down the best way to grow your business in my opinion is people telling people. Yes social media has been hugely helpful and a website etc. But nothing compares to real people talking to other people. All it takes is one good impressive job then it snowballs from there. It doesn’t matter how small the job is. Do it well, people will notice.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I remember working a job I hated, and thinking to myself how the hell am I going to make my true passion work if I need to work 40 hours a week at a job I absolutely loath? How do you do that? I was confiding in my mom about this and she said to me, ‘You know Papa never had a regular job.” Something seriously shifted in my mind. Since I always looked up to him and he lived the dream life it was very clear what needed to happen. I quit the job that was sucking my soul and put all my love and passion into starting my own business. I am not going to lie it was really scary and hard a lot of the time especially in the very beginning. I couldn’t have done it without the moral support of my then boyfriend who is now my wonderful husband. Some family were on board too. But Oh and there were naysayers some family even. I blocked out ever shred of negativity and had confidence in my work ethic and skills and made it so. If you want something badly enough there is no other option. Not to say there weren’t colossal fails along the way…sometimes there still are but you learn and MOVE FORWARD. If you don’t learn you’ll learn the next time (hopefully). It was one of the best decisions I ever made. we work most of the time we’re alive life doesn’t last forever you should be doing things that bring you joy everyday.

Contact Info:

• Website: killustrateit.com
• Instagram: @killustrateit
• Facebook: killustrate it
• Other: Killustrateit@gmail.com

Image Credits
first picture by Rae’s Barber Shop