Meet Kiley Burke | Owner

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

Hi Kiley, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Oh man, my balance has been all over the place! When I first started Thunder & Twine I would work every waking hour, but since it very rarely felt like work I wouldn’t’ even notice when I was putting in 16 hour days. After having this company for almost three years, my time management has changed dramatically! I’m reminding myself to only work a certain amount of time in the day and then actually live my life a little.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
First off, being able to say that this is my career still blows my mind every day! I’ve got to say, one of the things I’m so so excited about is the direction Thunder & Twine is going. When I first started, I was specifically making decorative dreamcatchers and that’s where it ended. Now, what makes up T&T’s inventory has expanded sooo far past that; everything from huge macrame pieces, suspended live-edge wood shelves, bridal backdrops, you name it! It was hard to branch out at first, because you never know how people will react to new ideas/products, but the response has been amazing and has me so happy! As far as what I’d love to share with the community, it’s this: If you’re wanting to pursue a small business, don’t give up!! Professionally it was definitely a struggle at first to get to where I am now; a lot of Google black holes were gone down trying to figure out just how to make this thing work. Do I do art shows? Do I start an Etsy? Do I just make a Facebook page and hope my friends share it? I had about 946 questions and no clue where to go to for answers. Luckily for me, I’ve got some amazing small business owner friends who could hold my hand and help navigate me through different parts of the process, and I should probably send them a gift basket for saving a lot of my sanity.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I happen to be a great tour guide, so having friends visit is always a blast for me! Stop 1 is always RiNo, because my life revolves around food, beer, & artwork! I feel like that’s one of the spots that really captures the vibe of the whole city, and also introduces people to a ton of places they can’t find outside of Denver. Next is always South Broadway for a rooftop drink at Historians and then Players Pub for one of their kick-butt infusions and every Bears game! In the summer volleyball games hangs are a must at Wash Park, and in the winter Pearl St is the most festive, fun little area.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I mean, as cliché as it is I really do need to shoutout my best friends and family. They’ve kept me sane (and ok, insane when I needed it) and reminded me that I’m following my dreams and that kicks butt. I probably would have given up 100x over if it wasn’t for them!

Website: www.etsy.com/shop/thunderandtwine
Instagram: @thunder.and.twine
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thunderandtwine