Charleston Women Winter 2021-22

www. Char l es tonWomenPodcas t . com | www. ReadCW. com | www. I ns tagram. com /Char l es tonWomen CW K aty Knowlin has been chasing her ideal American dream for over three decades, and this past spring, she finally saw it come true. She’d passed through other major pillars to support it — an education, a family, a house, a good job — and completed the last leg by becoming a self-employed business owner. With her rags-to-riches story finally full circle, Knowlin’s boutique, Katya’s Kloset, brings the favorite parts of her El Salvadoran and Los Angeles heritage to life here in Charleston. Knowlin was very young when her parents left her in her grandmother’s care in El Salvador. In that era of the 1980s, her father would have been forced either to be a gangster with the guerillas or to join the military — neither was a suitable option for him, so they escaped to the United States to eke out a better life, saving every penny to bring their children with them. “We were extremely poor. We lived in a tin house and didn’t have milk, so my grandmother would put sugar in my water,” she remembered. “El Salvador is plentiful in coffee fields, and because we were so poor, we used coffee sacks as clothing and underwear. That’s why my parents needed something better.” Knowlin’s mother found a job as a housekeeper in Beverly Hills, and her father worked in construction.“My mother found a coyote — a smuggler — to pretend that we were his kids, and we had to trust that he would take my sister and me across the border safely. She picked a good person – we crossed the San Diego border in a car in November 1988, and that’s where my story starts,” she said. Knowlin’s parents worked seven days a week, and her mother refused to get help from the government, which Knowlin remains proud of. Daycare wasn’t an option, so Knowlin accompanied her mother to clean houses in Beverly Hills. “It was like a dream. You see all these big houses and kids with giant dollhouses — and we lived in a shack,” she explained. “I remember knowing even then that I didn’t want to be in this predicament. You get stereotyped immediately. The Beverly Hills kids often didn’t have siblings, so they would use me to dress up while my mom was working at their houses. It was kind of cool, but I was talked down to and treated as a plaything.” BY ANNE TOOLE Chasing the American Dream Meet Katy Knowlin Kat ya’s K l oset i s named a f ter Knowl i n’s daughter. Photos prov i ded by Southe rn S tud i os LLC .