About Me
Hi there, I’m Kylie! I am a Filipinx American creator, writer, dreamer, and best friend enthusiast. Most of the time you’ll find me sitting outside to catch a bit of sunlight on my face in the summer or catch snow flurries in my hair during the winter. I’m almost always watching Gilmore girls or the Mindy Project on repeat while drinking black iced coffee. If I had to guess, everyone loves how often I say something annoying about being a technology nonconformist (#TeamAndroid). I spend my days working actively to be an advocate for others and my nights reading about Asian American feminism or dramatic romance novels under my twinkling lights. I truly believe I can smell snow before it’s coming and that Hello Kitty belongs on everything.
Above all, I am a lover of meaningful connection (as predicted by my Myers Briggs preferences, INFP). My humans are my world and I live a life of gratitude as best as I can.
I’m so glad you found your way here.
Better by the Letter originally started as a small platform in the form of an Etsy shop in 2014 for my individual crafting, my creative outlet. I spent three or four years creating custom wooden letters for friends, family, and eventually strangers. In between the logistics, especially with strangers, I would learn more about the stories behind their orders – nearly always gifts. I would learn about a daughter who was graduating, a family of six excited to decorate their Christmas tree, or a surprise engagement celebration being planned months in advance. The name was as it sounded – giving the gifts of individual, personalized letters to spread better joy to the humans in our lives.
my inspiration
Over the last two years, I spent time away from my own project to spend more time with my best friend Abi, who was diagnosed in February 2017 with Stage IV Neuroendocrine cancer. We spent much of our energy being as intentional as possible, knowing we were limited on time. In her final month of life, Abi created a day just for me. You can read about it on the blog she and her father created together titled Two Flounders. She titled it ‘Kylie Day’, and I woke on November 7, 2018 to a letter titled “Dear Kylie“. Following that day, my personal reflection, “Milestones on our Own Timeline” inspired the relaunch and expansion of my creative platform, Better by the Letter.
We lost Abi on December 4, 2018. Most of that time felt like a heart-wrenching blur. I had the most incredible honor and most challenging task of my life thus far attempting to write a Eulogy that would capture her spirit, holistically. There aren’t enough words in the world to describe my girl, but to know me, you have to know her.
STARTING OUR PROJECT
Abi and I had a lot of things in common, including the joy of writing letters, hand making gifts, and taking the little things in life and making them as big as possible. We dreamed of becoming business partners one day to do something remarkable. We never landed on the exact ‘something’. However, as I navigate my own grieving process and how to heal, I have also been spending a lot of time contemplating how I can best honor what we may have ventured to do together one day.
I decided that started as my small Etsy shop of wooden letters can grow to be a platform for storytelling, creative projects, and taking a deeper look at relationships in real life and in media through my lens. These were some of the most meaningful commonalities between us, and I knew I always wanted to start something great with my best friend.
Join me in this new adventure to spread the joy of intentional relationships made better with love.
After all, I learned from the best.
betterbytheletter.org 