Meet the founder

I’m Kyra, the founder of 12 Saints. I grew up Greek Orthodox in Brooklyn, with roots in Chios, Greece.

For me, church has always been a place of connection. As secretary of the GOYA board at Holy Cross in Brooklyn, I found a community that stretched across New York. I met my best friend through church events, and I believe our shared Greek heritage and involvement in the Church are a large part of why that friendship feels lifelong.

My curiosity about the faith grew through its beauty. In Chios, one of my favorite things to do has always been visiting churches: small, tucked-away chapels, larger churches, and monasteries. I became increasingly interested in their architecture and iconography. The more closely I looked, the more I wanted to understand what I was seeing.

Although I grew up in the Church and attended Greek school for ten years, there was still so much I couldn’t explain. I wished I had attended Sunday school and that religious learning had been a bigger part of my education. Traditions could feel familiar without their meaning being clear to me, so I began researching and asking questions on my own.

The idea for 12 Saints came to me in Greece while I was making a more intentional effort to read and annotate my Bible. I kept pausing to look things up, take notes, and understand the context. I started thinking about other people my age, and older, who might have those same questions. I wanted to share what I was learning and make it easier for someone else to begin.

I also wanted to create something physical. So much of our lives happens on a screen, and I love the care and beauty of handmade things: textured paper, a letter you can return to, a small keepsake you choose to hold onto. Those details are part of how I hope to make learning feel personal and worth making time for.

12 Saints brings these ideas together: one saint each month, explored through seven printed keepsakes. My hope is that you open each box with curiosity, spend time with the pieces, and find connections to your own life. That something you read stays with you long enough to become a question, a conversation, or a change in how you act.

There is still so much I want to learn about our faith. With 12 Saints, I hope to share what I discover and give you something meaningful to return to each month.