name: Elizabeth Kiester
occupation: Shop owner of Wanderlust, a teacher and student of Cambodia
hometown: New York City
homebase: Siem Reap, Cambodia
what was your new year's resolution(s) for '09?
To learn patience (and sometimes I fail at this, but I am really, really trying), to practice gratitude and to look and see the world around me - like really see it!
describe the moment/your inner discovery when you decided to move from Manhattan to Cambodia to open up your storefront, Wanderlust: I recognized in Siem Reap a kindred spirit everywhere. I felt something click inside of me, almost like a light switch had been turned on. Everywhere I looked were people - Khmer and westerners alike, working hard, harnessing an entrepreneurial spirit, being unafraid to "bootstrap" to make things happen. Here, everything is new - it's like putting together a puzzle, solving a mystery, fixing problems, teaching and learning and growing every step of the way in every single thing you do. You can take nothing for granted, there's no resting on your laurels, no room for divas and no place for attitude here. And this is what keeps me young (feeling), fresh, inspired, jazzed and moved and I needed that charge, an electric current to flow through me again. I found it here in Siem Reap.
how does it feel to be where you are now, philosophically and geographically speaking?
It feels new, foreign, strange, challenging, comfortable, happy and like home. I love the heat, the steamy, sexy weather, the sunshine, palm trees, rice paddies, the people of Cambodia - they are the most beautiful people I've ever seen. I love the expats, the fellow entrepreneurs, the drive and spirit of every person that is here. Us foreigners are here for a reason, to really impart a new sense of the future to a people who have suffered greatly over the last few decades and we end up seeing a really nice future for ourselves in the meantime.
describe the differences or value of garment production there compared to the U.S.:
I am lucky in that I work directly with a small coterie of young women who make all the clothes for Wanderlust. It was very important to me to employ young women who could work from home so that they could be near their children, their parents, families and pay them a fair wage. I am not into factories per se - I love the hand-to-hand connection we have, "my girls" and I. It's human and real and we laugh, have fun, we hug and celebrate our small victories together. Their work is impeccable and they take great pride in every single stitch they do.
give us the vibe right now in siem reap: Well, it's rainy season right now, so we're slogging through some puddles and hearing the frogs sing their loud songs every night! Overall, always our general vibe here in Siem Reap is one of constant movement, continual quests for creativity, newness, growth, teaching and learning is a part of every single day.
if there was one thing from manhattan that you can have shipped there to you, what would it be? My friends! Oh, my Daniel, my Lisa, my Amy, My Danny and my Martin and my whole posse. Thankfully, we've got the internet, so we chat all the time. I miss some food - bagels, pizza by the slice (Two Boots especially!), cheese selections, salad bars - particularly the restaurant Chop't on 17th and Broadway. I wish the guys that own Chop't would open an outpost here! (Hellooooooo guys please!) The great thing, though is my business partner is based in the U.S. and when he comes here, brings me chocolate pop tarts, my favorite nut mix from Target, smoked almonds and other random things I covet and forgot how "important" they were until I lived without them.
if you had to choose only one to keep forever - creativity or comfortability? Creativity for sure! I am not sure what it means to be comfortable anyhow. I thrive in the cacophony of the creative process. Being creative is the kind of challenge and experience I love. Learning always. I love this.
what did you have for breakfast this morning? Usually, it's shamefully a Diet Coke and a cigarette, but funny you should ask. Today I ate toast and watermelon. There's a new french bakery in town, a Khmer guy runs and owns it, he was trained in Paris on the art of bread baking and clearly he was a star student. I can't resist his croissants and baguettes!
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