Today we’d like to introduce you to Andres Castro.
Andres, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story probably starts when I was in High School and got this boost of confidence from performing with my school’s drill team. I was always so shy and insecure about people calling me “gay” or “queer” or focusing on what other people had to say. One day I just kind of woke up and I told myself that today was the day I was going to just do whatever I felt like doing and I didn’t need anyone’s approval but my mom’s and my mom was Team Andres. She’s definitely been my rock my whole life. Anyway, I guess dancing gave me a boost of confidence to walk differently, talk differently, and think differently. I became an image of who I looked up to and stopped fangirling over people, just fangirling over myself. I dabbled into music as well with my good friend Sean Hayden and we were not the best, but for the resources we had, we were definitely killing it. I definitely received so much comments and I didn’t care. I didn’t lose sleep over people who weren’t team Andres.
Eventually, I slowed down on music and started college in 2012 as well as doing TV work as a host for a Spanish show that aired on Mundo Fox and working in the nightclub industry while being a full-time college student.
In 2019, I decided to make a life change and went Vegan to have a better state of mind because I hate ignoring problems and every time I ate meat, I’d feel guilty. There’s so many other things to eat besides tortured animals, like now that I’m vegan I look back and think, “how does that even sound appealing?”. My mindset definitely changed. I became so much more focused on not only bettering myself but the world. Finally graduated in May of 2019 with my bachelor’s degree. My last year of college I worked 40+ hours a week and did 12 classes all online as well as launched my food truck, Peace Vegan Eats, with my mom, Elena, on May 5, 2019. This was a passion project that I wanted to do without knowing how much work goes into food trucks. However, I love my truck and it opened many doors for me.
In June of 2019, I launched VEGANCHILL Fest which took place on August 24, 2019. This is my first festival, it’s an 18+ festival full of music, food, drinks, yoga, and great vibes. We had over 1,200 people art our first event. Our next VEGANCHILL Fest is in Austin, TX on February 23, 2020. I came up with the idea for the festival because I wanted to throw a party where everything would be cruelty-free with all the food being vegan. VEGANCHILL has music festival feels. We had 4 of the best DJs in Houston playing all genres. We decided to make it an adult festival because kids are cool but this is a party where we will be drinking, dancing, and not holding back like we would if there were kids in the building.
I then decided to launch my second festival, Vegan State Fair, which takes place every other month and is kid-friendly. Our first event took place October 20th, 2019 as a Pumpkin Patch Fall Festival and we had 3,200 people in attendance. Our second event was on December 8th, 2019 and we brought out Santa, snow machines, Casamigos specialty drinks, and had our Vegan Nutcracker Market. I really love Vegan State Fair because it gives me the opportunity to throw festive holiday-themed events for the community. Our next events for Vegan State Fair are What A Vegan – Burger Festival February 9th, 2020 & Vegan Rodeo Weekend March 28th-29th, 2020.
With my events, I hope to entertain the community in a cruelty-free zone. Hopefully, people are inspired to pursue a Vegan lifestyle with changing their diets, mindset, and views on certain touchy topics. We also give back to non-profits. We’ve helped non-profits such as the Butterfly Project to shine light on woman trafficking and Urge voting registration. We also donate to causes that are important to me and my team.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has been full of surprises. I feel like everyday I learn something new or perfect my craft. I constantly find better ways to do the things I’m doing. Struggles along the way would have to be staying focused and breathing. Sometimes I forget to just relax and finish one objective before handling the next objective. I cannot sit still. I’m a perfectionist and feel like I must do everything so sometimes delegating tasks can be hard. However, I have amazing help with my family and friends and my business partner, Sonia! I definitely don’t like to complain about how hard things are but how easy we make it look. If you complain about how hard something is you’re only going to make it harder.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Peace Vegan Eats, Veganchill Fest & Vegan State Fair – what should we know?
My companies I currently have are Peace Vegan Eats – which is my vegan food truck. VEGANCHILL Fest – which is my adult vegan party festival. Vegan State Fair – which is my family vegan festival. I also do freelance brand consulting and marketing for a couple of companies in Houston. I’m a social media influencer constantly working on content with multiple brands. I specialize in entertainment and visually appealing events and marketing content. What sets me apart would have to be that I never stop learning from others and myself. I think what I’m the most proud of my company is that we give back to the community and are real people who have real problems and we can relate to others.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My mom, Elena, has definitely been there for me every step of the way in my life. She keeps me grounded and will give me reality checks when necessary. I have a pretty sweet boyfriend who balances me out as well and pushes me to make the most out of my days. I have to give a lot of credit to my business partner Sonia who is the best at chaos control. She’s like my bumpers that are up in bowling making sure I hit the target and not let the ball fall out of the lane and fail. Definitely have some great friends who always help me at my events and support the cause. All love to everyone who supports.
Contact Info:
- Website: veganchill.com
- Email: info@veganchill.com – info@veganstatefair.com
- Instagram: @veganchillfets @veganstatefairtx @peaceveganeats @andresqcastro
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