Meet Owen Galicia | Media Creative, Producer, Brand Owner, Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Owen Galicia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Owen, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When starting O.G._Vintage & Cultura it really was an idea built from multiple past experiences. Growing up my mom used to take me to swapmeets, thrift stores, and second hand vintage stores. She would always be up for a good deal and that mentality stuck with me, it later led to me going on my own and sourcing my own clothes and memoribilla to collect. When I got let go at Paramount due to the writers strike in Hollywood, I was in a tough place mentally, my daily work routine I was used to over there was gone, I felt like my producitive side left, and I was in a state of rebuilding, rebranding, and figuring out what I was going to do with my life. So months passed by, and finally it occured to me that I needed to start working for myself and move forward. So I was suggested a book called “The War on Art”. Great read by the way, highly recommend. It was a memoir on how to move past creative blocks, in life or with anything, it gave me teachings of self reflection that led me in the right direction of valuing myself and how to endure hardship.

WIth O.G._Vintage I brought back the passion I had in my youth of thrifting and sourcing and turned that into a buisness. Now I go to weekly pop ups, art shows, flea markets and sell vintage clothing and collectibles. It was self funded and self managed and I was able to work for myself and become my own boss. I sourced my own products and now sell the highest quality vintage wear and products to the public for them to get a taste of nostalgia. Its grown to be a great side husle and has potential to grow even further. My business partner and good friend Alex Silva has his own company as well CalStateOptical which we now collaborate on accessorizing glasses, shades, and eyewear to the public which pairs well with my vintage brand and buisiness.

Cultura is a new clothing brand buisness that I started with my co-founder and friend Natalia Solis. Its a culture influenced brand which helps promote and display the arts of the Latino culture. We are an eco-friendly brand that focuses on upcycling vintage or used clothes and turning them into canvases for people to wear and display art on. We source our own clothing from seocnd hand stores and use them as blanks to work and design on. We will be releasing our custom one of a kind pieces soon as well as drop brand hoodies, shirts, and much more. Our goal is to create a community of culture and for artists and creatives to proudly wear our clothes with pride.

Starting your own business is a process but one that will ultimately benefit you in the long run. It has opened up so many new doors and presented lots of new opportunities in my life. Its put me in situations to network and connect with new people as well as test me to become more of an independent critical thinker. Creatively its given me my total control and freedom to create something unique and original for the world to appreciate.

What should our readers know about your business?
Cultura is a unique brand because of its combination of culture and rooted art of hispanic and latino culture and our eco-friendly mindset of reusing and upcycling old clothes. It helps us stand out as a buisness because of the one of a kind custom pieces we are creating for people to display like a painting on a canvas. As a start up brand and buisness there is a lot still left to do before we launch to the public but we take pride in making sure everything is at high standards. Natalia Solis my buisness partner, co-founder, and head of marketing and manufacutring helped me see the buisness sides of fashion and the steps necessary to move forwards with designs, costs of product, material, and sourcing our clothes. This taught me a different side of the buisness that I had no idea about before. As more of the creative head of social media, art, and brand imagery I was able to adapt that buisness side and create what is now our cultura brand series.

With my photography background I was able to network with lots of amazing models and creatives on collaborating on shoots and media collabs for my vintage style which I adapt into all of my work. This niche I created now helps give my work meaning, culture, and deeper meaning. Separate from O.G._Vintage this brand also helped me with business teachings that I was able to pass on to my vintage reselling business. It was a full cycle experience that helped build my brands and made me a smarter buisnessman.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
LA is a very big place, filled with lots of culture, all types of food, and art. Growing up in the San Fernando Valley and 818 area I would definately put them onto the spots ou there. This would be the ideal week long itinerary.

-Breakfast at Mexcocina cafe in Burbank, best horchata iced coffee, chilaquiles, and french toast in town.
-Brunch at Portos bakery, can’t forget about the best cuban inspired bakery in LA. Get a cubano sandwhich, some potatoe balls and platos de cubano over there.
-Visit some of my favorite bars, Limericks tavern & The Chicken Coop in Alhambra. Skinny’s lounge in North Hollywood, The Sixth Chow House in Studio City.
-Hike through hollywood, griffith, and the valley.
-Lunch at Maria’s Italian Diner, Little Tokyo for Sushi/Ramen/Beer, Taco stand runs through DTLA and Mid City.
-Check out the Murals through boyle heights and throughout east and central LA.
-Thrifting at the swapmeets, flea markets, rosebowl. Showing you around the best sourcing spots in LA.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have a couple of shoutouts that I would like to put out there. There has been so many key people in my life that has added so much success over the years. So I would like to shoutout the following and thank them for everything they have done for me.

Thank you:
-Mom & Dad (Your guidence, love, and support)
-Alex Silva (CalStateOptical, your buisness collaboration and friendship)
-Natalia Solis (Cultura, working on this project with you, your high energy, charisma, and friendship)
-Film2Future (Rachel, Wendy, Ellis, the whole organization who gave me my start in the film industry)
-Rockin Vintage (Best Vintage Store in LA, Naomi, Issac, and the store staff)
-Tio Jason Galicia (Pushed me to embrace my culture more, like a second father, your advice and guidance)
-Britton Rizzo (Head of Curate, CEO, thank you for your guidence and mentoring, gave me creative freedom)
-Paul Medford & Nickelodeon Team (Helped me make my mark as a creative, pushed me to work hard in a professional studio space enviornment, lots of great projects I worked on).

“The War on Art” – Book by Steven Pressfield

Website: https://beacons.ai/owengalicia

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/owen._.galicia/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-galicia-2390181b5

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg2FHX6CNzwbeaToyT5g0KQ?app=desktop

Other: https://voyagela.com/interview/life-work-with-owen-galicia-of-north-hollywood-california/

Image Credits
Photos by: Galician Photography Models: Giselle, Caroline, Natalia