oh hey! i'm sarah kleist.
But most people call me
Kleist.
I'm an actor, vocalist, website designer, TikToker, rulebreaker, New Yorker, and the most Taurus-y Taurus you've probably ever met.
If it sounds like a lot, that's because it is. (No shame.) I'm obsessed with telling stories and I'm hellbent on helping you tell yours.
the full story
My ShowIt website design journey started...
unconventionally.
allow me to set the scene
Lights up on a cattle call audition for the national tour of RENT. Crammed in a barren, fluorescent, NYC rehearsal studio, there were 600+ women from ages 18-35, all dressed in different variations of leather jackets and flannel shirts.
Not me, though.
Armed with my new theatre degree and jewel-tone dress (the "standard audition outfit"), I was ready to audition just as all my old-school acting professors had taught me to. It’s better to look like a blank slate, they said. You’re a canvas, they said.
Now, let's hit pause for a sec: RENT is supposed to be my kind of show. The rock music, the east village starving artist vibes… I feel at home in that story. But it didn’t matter how perfect my audition was… NOTHING about me said “east village starving artist” that day.
Even if you have all the talent & training in the world, you need
marketing materials to stand out against a sea of fierce competitors.
authentic as f*ck
it was then that i realized —
and they need to feel like you.
And
against
(pretend this is a cute montage, ok?)
So... I shaved half my head, bought combat boots & an expensive leather jacket, got new headshots, re-did my website (a bajillion times), and produced gender-bent new works with other passionate artists I met along the way.
I didn’t always nail it, but I was being true to myself.
my acting teacher's
advice, I made my marketing materials hyper-specific to the kinds of artists I wanted to work with.
Unsurprisingly, I started getting called in for work that spoke to me. I found my people.
Empowered by the discovery that specific, authentic marketing opens more doors than "trying-to-appease-the-masses" ever could, I started helping my friends with their websites. And behind the scenes, I was doing hours and hours of online design courses (and lots of practice and experimentation).
Now I get to help all kinds of people cultivate their digital stages, and I’m still performing & auditioning, too.
Before I knew it, I was running a whole-ass online business catering to
influencers, service providers, creatives, and more.
entrepreneurs,
100+
happy design clients
1.3M
likes on tiktok
3+
seltzers consumed / day
∞
gr42 concerts (iykyk)
influences & inspo
These days, I'm drawing inspiration from...
tick, tick... boom!
vibey restaurants
editorial fashion
olivia rodrigo
pinterest (of course)
nyc neighborhoods
pop musicals
old stories told in a new way
my dream role is...
a tie, between Janis in Mean Girls & any of the Queens in SIX.
i've lived in nyc for...
9 years and some change with no end date in site.
on a friday night, you can find me...
at a downtown happy hour with a glass of prosecco.
my favorite part of business is...
meeting new people, learning new things, and using my storytelling skills.
my favorite part of performing is...
the combination of adrenaline and seratonin whenever I'm onstage :)
Let's abbbbsolutely work together.
are we vibing?
At the heart of everything, my work is all about stepping into someone else's shoes—whether it's a character in a musical or your ideal customer's dreams & desires. If you're in need of a storyteller in any capacity, I would be honored to join your team.
custom showit website design
cast me in your show
shop showit templates
book a design vip day