I love your guts.

I’m obsessed with stories that make us think and feel.

If you’re a smarty-pants, sensitive soul or love idiot like me, I think we’re going to get along…

★★★★
“a hugely talented writer and  performer”

— The Skinny 

Pickle
Pioneers

California natives Petra Frenkel and Gordon Byun are passionate about pickles. Gordon was raised on a steady diet of kimchi in a traditional Korean family. Helping his mom make the spice mixture and prepare the vegetables, he learned from the best. Petra blames her pickle obsession on her parents who migrated to SoCal from New York. Dissatisfied with the L.A. pickle ecosystem, her parents made kosher pickles at home. Petra became a bit of a pickle-snob, but thinks that everyone should eat delicious things, so it’s really more of an egalitarian snobbery.

Evidently, I thrive on variety.

Want to know more about my story? Read on to learn about my journey so far…

KW

I was born in Kitchener-Waterloo – a mid-sized university town in Canada. At the age of 3 I asked my parents to get me a journal and though I couldn’t read, each night I’d dictate a sentence about the day, which they’d write out and I’d copy into the red spiral-bound Hilary notebook I’d picked out.

I journaled obsessively through my childhood, turning to the act of writing to try to understand my feelings. I also read loads. My early artistic influences are Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, Mrs. Doubtfire and Ace Ventures 1 & 2 (or perhaps the comedic stylings of Jim Carrey and Robin Williams) and Road to Avonlea.

I danced and sang, went to an arts high school and did community theatre. 

Toronto

At 17 I moved to Toronto to study acting and got a BFA in Theatre Performance – Acting from Ryerson University. There I re-affirmed my love of writing.

Then began my life as a gigging actor. At first I did summerstalk theatre and non-paid work in Toronto and a ton of joe-jobs to keep the wolf from the door. I waitressed and bartended and marked essays and TA-ed; I handed out free product samples to people on street corners and temped in an office. I found commercial auditions demoralising. And quickly decided to try to create a solo show for myself – for two reasons: 1. I could be totally self-sufficient. 2. I wanted to figure out how to write a really strong story about one character.

That show was my entre into the world of playwriting and established me as a writer and actor in the Canadian theatre scene. I went on to work with loads of different companies across the country as an actor and writer.

And I started touring my solo shows internationally. While on a residency in London in 2014, I started wishing I could live in the city… when I mentioned this, someone said to me “You can. You can get a Visa and move.” It had never occurred to me that I was allowed to live in another country.

London

In 2016 at 30 I arrived in London and even had an acting job. Financially and socially, it was a difficult transition, but I’m glad I stuck it out. Since moving I’ve created two new solo shows including The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale which I adapted into my first book. I became a voiceover artist. I re-discovered improv comedy and worked with the BBC, National Theatre Studio and many fringe theatres as an actor and writer. I started teaching artists how to create their own solo shows and how to self-produce their own projects. And I launched my podcast. And I moved houses 9 times in the first 3 years.

It’s been A LOT. Too much at times. I burnt out, got an autoimmune disease which has forced me to slow down, pulled myself out of credit card debt and figured out my financial literacy. I got a hobby: doing pottery. And I committed to not working on the weekends (which I only achieve 50% of the time, but still).  

 I’m a huge advocate of therapy. I go in for “woo woo”, self-help and I’ll always opt for big talk (over small).   

Throughout all of this there have been a few constants. I love reading, pancakes with real maple syrup and being outdoors.

I love your guts. By that I mean, I love your courage to go for what you want and speak your mind, and the knotted, murky parts of you too.

You are very welcome here. I hope you feel at home with me.