Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Castellanos.
Hi Andrea, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ll go all the way back to the beginning. I grew up performing magic shows with my dad at birthday parties. Performing was something I genuinely loved, and it’s where I first learned the power that storytelling and visuals have to captivate an audience.
That love for storytelling and visuals manifested itself in different ways over the years. I loved creating little home videos: commercials, music videos, movie trailers, you name it. Video production and editing became something I taught myself in my free time, and I would spend hours after school learning and experimenting.
In high school, I took a lot of film and design electives, which continued to grow my interest in visual storytelling. Then one day, I decided to dabble in photography, and that somehow stuck too. Editorial photography, specifically, was exciting to me because of how much thought and intention can go into creating a single image. A photo is just a snapshot in time, but it can still tell an entire story.
I always say I feel like I accidentally found photography, and to this day, I don’t necessarily consider myself a photographer or a video producer. But when I look back at all of the things I’ve gravitated toward, they all have one thing in common: visuals and storytelling.
That eventually led me to graphic design and, ultimately, advertising. I went to school for advertising because I wanted a career that felt dynamic, fun, creative, and constantly evolving. Advertising seemed to bring all of those interests together in one place. It’s been a bit of a never-ending love/hate relationship with advertising, but that’s a story for another day.
Ultimately, I think I’ve always just been drawn to finding creative ways to make people feel something, and advertising has given me a place to do that.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, I don’t think anything worth pursuing is ever paved on a completely smooth road.
To this day, I still deal with imposter syndrome, and I don’t think that ever goes away entirely. It tends to creep in, especially when I find myself being pushed outside of my comfort zone. Learning to work through that has been one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced throughout my journey.
Finding a career that creatively fulfilled me was something I really valued. In high school, when I decided I wanted to pursue advertising, I applied to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and was fortunate enough to receive an acceptance letter. Life had other plans, and for a lot of personal reasons, I had to turn down that opportunity and attend community college for two years while I figured out my next move.
I eventually transferred to UT Austin, where I spent the next two and a half years finishing my degree. When I first moved to Austin, I didn’t really know anyone, and for a while I felt very alone. I was also challenged by school and learning how to balance my social life, academics, and everything else that came with being on my own. At the same time, I felt incredibly encouraged by the environment I found myself in. Being surrounded by ambitious and creative people pushed me to challenge myself and try my hardest.
That eventually led me to Texas Creative, UT’s portfolio program, where I spent a year and a half as an art director building a professional portfolio and preparing myself for the real world after graduating in December 2025. Getting into the program was a huge milestone for me because it gave me the opportunity to take something I had always loved doing creatively and really push myself to see what I was capable of.
Since graduating, the job market has not been the easiest for people trying to break into advertising. I have been rejected from many jobs, and for plenty of them, I never heard back at all. Being a creative and putting your work out there can feel incredibly vulnerable, so it can be especially discouraging to open your inbox and see another rejection.
But I’ve learned that rejection is not necessarily a reflection of your talent or your potential. There are so many factors that go into hiring, and I’ve had to learn not to take it personally. If anything, the struggles along the way have made me more resilient and have reminded me why I wanted to pursue this career in the first place. I still have a lot to learn, but I think that is part of what makes the journey exciting.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Like I mentioned previously, it feels like a lot of the things I’ve ended up loving creatively, I’ve kind of found accidentally. Right now, my work is primarily focused on art direction and graphic design, but I’ve always had a love for photography and videography as well. I think having experience across different visual mediums has shaped the way I approach art direction because I’m always thinking about the bigger visual story rather than just one individual piece.
A lot of my work starts with an idea or a story and then figuring out the most interesting visual way to bring it to life. I really enjoy concepting, building visual worlds, and finding those little details that can make an idea feel memorable. I also love work that has a sense of personality and doesn’t take itself too seriously. I think some of my favorite projects are the ones where I can find a clever visual or unexpected way to communicate an idea.
One of the things I’m most proud of is getting into Texas Creative at UT Austin and having the opportunity to spend a year and a half developing my portfolio as an art director. It pushed me creatively and taught me how to take an idea from a thought in my head to something that could actually exist in the real world.
This past summer, I also had the opportunity to intern at Preacher as a design intern, which was especially meaningful to me because it had been a dream agency of mine for a long time. Getting to work in a professional creative environment and contribute to real projects gave me a much better understanding of the kind of creative I want to become.
If there is one thing I think sets me apart, it’s probably the fact that I’ve never really been interested in staying inside one creative box. I’ve always bounced between design, photography, video, and storytelling, and I think that curiosity has become one of my biggest strengths. I’m someone who genuinely enjoys learning new things and figuring out how different creative disciplines can work together. I’m still early in my career and have a lot to learn, but I think that curiosity is something I’ll always carry with me.
What are your plans for the future?
Right now, my biggest goal is to continue growing creatively and find work that genuinely fulfills me. I’m excited to keep learning, challenge myself, and surround myself with people who inspire me creatively. I’m still figuring out exactly where I want my career to take me, but I know I want to keep creating, keep growing, and ultimately do work that I’m really proud of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.andrea-castellanos.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studioxandrea
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-castellanos04
