From Pro Soccer Player to Fashion Founder

gravitate towards that because it's what makes us feel super awesome and powerful and

what we put on our body, what we choose for our home, all encompassing, I want to create those unique things and I want to give people those experiences. Christina Silva's tree is a fashion entrepreneur, retail boutique owner and clothing designer known for founding the collective park city and creating her brand armor and arrows built around her vision of modern style, creativity and independent street wear culture.

“How do you essentially materialize your energy in this reality every day?”

Really just going after your goals and dreams, wholeheartedly even if you don't feel like you're prepared, feeling that fear and just going after it. That's been a common theme in my whole entire life and it's gotten to me where I'm at. Now, just saying yes without having all the answers and emotional took, open and she'll come up with the lead you say.

You can live your dream. Welcome back to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast, the Women in Power Edition. Joining me today is quite the owner of own all owners. She is the owner of the collective park city, Kristen. How are you? Hi, I'm good. Thank you. I would love to be. I would attempt to pronounce your last name. Sylvestery. There you go. Sylvestery, I could have done that.

So welcome. We're obviously full of dopamine because you, you literally filmed your

episode for women in power. How do you feel? Yes, I feel amazing. I'm so excited about this whole

process about empowering women and hoping to empower other women by doing this episode. Awesome. What will we learn in your episode? Give us a peek.

“Ooh. What will you learn? Really just going after your goals and dreams?”

Wholeheartedly, even if you don't feel like you're prepared. Feeling that fear and just going after it. That's been a common theme in my whole entire life. And it's gotten to me where I'm at. Now, just saying yes without having all the answers and figuring it out along the way. Well, we're doing your off-line and you mentioned a lot of cool brands and names and projects you're working on. So I'm very eager to hop on that. But I really want to begin your journey

back on Tatooine, back on Smallville. Like, where does your journey begin? I heard fear. Oh, man. First and foremost, I was a soccer player forever. That was my first love. So you're into, to feed the metrics. Got it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no. It, that was my first journey into going after what I really wanted and not really

“knowing how to make it there. But knowing the end goal and where I wanted to be, I wanted to be a”

professional soccer player. And I did it. And I just jumped after it and put my whole soul and heart

into it. And that was an incredible experience. And then leaping into fashion. That was my other love.

And just moving to LA without a plan and no experience and no job and just figuring it out. Right. And absorbing everything I could. And, and do all of you for a second. I know folks are like, you know, there's there's checkered players and there's chest players or star wars and there's star track. You, you went after soccer. Like, you, you mentioned passion and love for it. Yes. It, uh, I want to talk there. Like, what, for folks that are listening and they don't quite

understand, like, they're all into football. They don't understand. Tell us really the artistry, the passion, the theatrics, the love, the divine energy that is soccer. Yes. Yes. Well, I was, you know, fortunate enough to be put into every sport as a child and soccer was where I really thrived. I had a natural ability to it. And maybe it was because I danced forever. But, um, you know, I had this natural ability. And it really came to fruition watching the 96

Olympics, the women play in the Olympics. And it was the era of Mia Ham and Brandy Chastain. And they win in a penalty kick shootout and she rips her shirt off. And it's just sliding across the field. And I was like, yes, that is what I want to be. That is just true passion and joy. And it resonated with me. And still clearly it resonates with me. Very cool. So your journey takes you to LA. Yes. Or you, where you follow, were you chasing after something or running away from

something? Why did you land in LA? Well, I was in San Diego saying soccer. And so LA was a

man, that's too big of a change. And so, you know, to get into fashion, let's just go up north. So, yeah, I was following my own journey. You know, I had just stopped playing soccer. So, I was like, what, what's next? Yeah, it's funny because it kind of want to make that correlation as an artist. How do you go from soccer into fashion? And to me, as I say, and I'm like, it's very easy, but folks that don't quite understand. Yeah. The romance of the two how they're quite similar

as an artist. Can you talk about that and how you make that connection? I mean, very, very different, obviously. But it's all about body. Yep. And being able to create art that works with your body.

I've always had a very athletic build. So being a size two was never in my genetic makeup.

Super muscular. And so understanding how I can fit into fashion really, really appealed to me because of the women that I surrounded myself with for years and years and years. And that was really important body image. Yep. And knowing movement and not being restricted by your clothing. I know it's a little controversial. I got to challenge you here a bit. I'm absolutely on your train. And I understand where your philosophies are, especially the way I was raised. What do you

say to folks like yourself that are walking to a target and you look up and billboard, it's like, are I cool? There's normal folks that are representing things that I would like to wear, as opposed to like what it was in the '90s. The era that I grew up, ours was like, high fashion models. And you know, as statuettes and we had this vision of like,

“what runaway look like and that's what we saw in malls. We don't see that very often at malls.”

It's become very, very progressive, which is great. But do we feel like we've lost a little bit of that like top top shelf like premium experience? I don't think so. I think it's, I think we've innovated. And we've unlearned the behavior of what normal looks like and what we're supposed to look like. Right on. Now you're seeing fashion models who are of all sizes, of all races, of all genders, gender fluidity, like everything you're seeing it. And I think we had to unlearn

the behavior of what it was supposed to look like. Right. And I think that's super important.

You know, where I have clients of all sizes and shapes and it's, you know, the first thing I tell them

is like, look in the mirror and make sure you say that you love yourself because we're going to create an awesome outfit right now. But underneath that, who are you? And you better love yourself, because no one's a size 0, too. Yeah, no, no. That's, that is not the norm. So, you know, we have to unlearn that I grew up in the 92. So, it's, you know, that anorexically skinny model,

“that doesn't really, it's not as relevant anymore. Right. I think that's the key word there.”

It's not relevant anymore. It's very, it's interesting how that was kind of like attached to that part of the culture, what music sound like, what slampour just sounded like. I can name you all sort of bands. And it's just like, oh, and it ricks you. Great. We've moved on. Like, I'm glad I can be kicked now and that feel guilty about it. Well, come to your 40s. Yeah, life is too short and not enjoy it all. Right on, cheers to that. So, what is your, your north star today? I saw boutique. I heard

armor like what's going on? What are these cool brands that I hear? So, armor and arrows is a brand I started in 2014. And still kind of going, really working to revamp it. I've showed out New York Fashion Week twice and I want to get back to that stage. I love that. And really just keeping the curation of this unique style in the boutique as well. I want to open more locations. I think it's really important that we're getting such strong feedback all the time. We've had consistent growth

since we've opened. And I think that's just going to keep steam rolling. Both of us. So, talk about your boutique philosophy. What is a boutique according to you? Well, this is, this is a

“unique idea that three of us had. And now it's just myself, but it's lifestyle. It is life is art.”

And there's a bill cutting him quote that I always resonate and go back to. And it's fashion is

the armor to survive the realities of everyday life. And I just always gravitate towards that because it's what makes us feel super awesome and powerful. And what we put on our body, what we choose for our home, all encompassing, I want to create those unique things. And I want to give people those experiences. And we're coming out from a very mountain chic street style avenue. And I want to keep that going. Yeah, I think of fashion and I think of superheroes and that I think of villains.

And I think of Batman and Joker. It's not just because they've got cool suits and they're like, it's because everywhere they go, the reality changes around them. Like, you can tell all that's definitely Bruce Wayne's mansion because it's Bruce F. and Wayne. Like, because it's not because it's an aura. It's an energy. It's like, can you can make that correlation to like, how do you essentially

fashion is very personal as well. Just like art is very personal. What we select is something that

engages within us and choosing style is the same thing. It's like, one, I'm very loud. I love metallic. I wear bright colors all the time. Great shoes. Thank you. But it's not for everybody. You know, and I'm going to select things and help someone decide what resonates with them.

“Absolutely. And I think that's most important. It's not just about selling clothing. It's about”

finding pieces that inspire you and make you feel great. Like, hell yeah, I want to put that on. Absolutely. Here's me. Here's my style. So as an artist, how do you put a price tag to a piece of clothing? Is it the material, the designer, the day it was made? For any piece of fashion, the fashion. Like, I kind of want to give you the, why does, you know, why does this one brand cost so much versus this? Like, give us the, the devil wears product monologue. Yeah, oh my god.

Um, I would say it's quality. It's what's unique about it. I think one thing I always focus on is,

I don't want to look like everybody else. I want uniqueness and everything that I'm doing. And I want people to understand that as well when they walk into the collective. When I'm creating a piece, it's, I do a lot of reworked stuff. So army jackets and deconstructing a men's jacket and making it into a cool women's jacket is something I've done before, but how do you put a price on it? Because it's a piece you're going to have forever.

So the qualities there, the fabrics there, the story is there. I love the collective. Talk about what inspired that name. So I did not come up with that name, actually. There are two other women who are also founders and they had this idea of a collective of just not clothing. But it's home goods and barware, art, local products, gifts, a little bit of everything.

“A collective of everything. Gotcha. So what's your day to day like today?”

What's getting out of bed and how are you attaching your energy to your mission every day? Ooh, I get to do what I love every day. Right on. And some key meals. It's true, though. Even on the worst of days, I'm still like, hell yeah, I got to do what I love. I get to dress people and make them feel awesome. I get to help them decide what goes in their house in their home by the best gift for somebody. And I mean, it's testament in the numbers.

You know, we have repeat clients left and right and people always curate their vacation

around coming to our store. And I think that's really special. That's awesome. Do you just have one store? Is it just a personal intimate gathering? Are you franchise? Like, what's the vision here? Well, we're still in, this is your five. So we're not. Super exciting. We're just one boutique store so far and more to come hopefully. So this will be playing at your boutique on loop over and over again.

Loop by this thing over here. It sounds special. Yeah, I used to do these for PlayStation a game stop. I love it. So what happens next after you walk out that door? What happens next? I go back and work. Eels. Yeah, getting ready to do all the new work buying for next season. So that's really exciting. And then yeah, just getting back to the grind and designing and cool. You know, I got it. I got to ask, like you've got your brick and

motor got your shop. Are you like in the back designing? Is that like your gallery? Or how what is your process like? So the store itself is just primary the store. I do have a studio a design studio. So I work out of that a lot. So I'm kind of chipping away at some new product and bringing it in for fall and winter, which is exciting. But I kind of keep the two separate so that I can keep them in an enjoyable time in each place. Yeah, because this is great

extra education, like creating your different dimensions or per set. You essentially can unlock and re-lock parts of your brain. I have to be this person to function in this reality to do this exactly. Exactly. So that's good for you that you recognize that. That's just a

“superpower that most entrepreneurs don't know they can do. Yeah, well, I think it's super important”

especially owning any sort of business at all. You have to be able to balance yourself personally within the business and outside of the business. You know, it's a recipe for disaster when you don't separate that and you're all encompassing. It's burned down. You're going to burn down. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. How can people find you? How can people discover and follow your journey?

ever in Park City, you've got to come back at it. Right on well, welcome to Miami. I hope you're

“enjoyed the rest of your stay. Thank you. I hope you had a wonderful time here at Insight's Access.”

Thank you, I have. And I had a fantastic conversation with you. Thank you so much, Kristen. Yes,

thank you so much. Even though that's one of my ex's names.

“Don't, don't, don't. I'm cooler. Way cooler. Much much cooler. And with that, that concludes the”

other episode of the Legacy Living Your Legacy episode of podcast episode. For Insight's

Access, I am Rageuteers.