Meet Brandon Valencia

By: Brenna O'Donnell

Brandon Valencia; a twenty-two year-old student studying journalism and fashion merchandising at Texas State University. Some know not of Brandon, but those that do, know he’s an ordinary man full of many extra-ordinary talents, passions and aspiring dreams. 

Although he was born and raised just outside of Houston, Texas in a small town called Missouri City, his parents were not. Both his mother and father are native to the beautiful city of Guadalajara, Mexico. His father, a man of dual citizenship, found his own personal roots through success in Houston, leading his mother to move with her husband as well, and surely enough starting the life the Valencia family best knows now.

In high school, Brandon was the ultimate teenager and a true self-motivator. He played for both his high school men’s team as well as the Houston Dynamo Academy team in the Houston area. Let it be known, it is not an easy thing to make these nationally ranked boys academy soccer teams, let alone competing and succeeding just as Brandon did. Through his love for the game and of course, intense work ethic, he received handfuls of scholarships to schools as big as the University of Notre Dame. Devastatingly enough, after years of training, sweating and achy muscles, a severe injury brought Brandon’s dream soccer career to an end. This is where the extra-ordinarily ordinary young man that is Brandon Valencia truly stepped up in his life.

Not only was he the Soccer team’s all-star but he also created, ran and advertised his own personal clothing line. In high school. The clothing line he created was called “New Movement”, where he sold exclusively to an in-crowd around his hometown and high school. Although it was a great accomplishment of his, Brandon definitely realized how heavy the stress of running his own company brought him, while trying to juggle academics and being a soccer jock all at the same time. The clothing line was brought to a halt shortly before his senior year but his motivation to get back into the business of merchandise and business did not.

With the competitive bone still in his body, he really loves playing flag football, soccer and pretty much anything that is athletic and competitive. As they say, you can take the player out of the game but you cannot take the game out of the player. A passionate journalism major and music lover, Brandon is now in his final year of studies at Texas State and plans to be graduating come May of 2016. He plans on working his way up within rap magazine companies writing and interviewing artists and producers. Most preferably in California, Brandon plans on moving out of Texas to gain experience in the field he loves most. After all, he knows what he wants to do and knows how to get there, so it is only in time that you can find this soon-to-be Texas State alumni working with some of the world’s greatest artists.