Name: Francisco Badillo
Title: Co-Owner of Vida Lounge
How did you get started in promotions?
I was very involved in the party scene during college and I was a regular at the downtown nightclub, Spy. The guys that worked there told me that if I could get people to come out to the club that I could get paid for it. I started promoting for Spy and I have been involved with the Houston nightlife scene ever since.
What made you transition from promotions to graphics?
I’ve been doing graffiti, art and sculptures all of my life! I was involved in the University of Houston high school program where I received a scholarship. When I enrolled at U of H, I realized that I loved computers and being a starving artist didn’t give me much stability. I figured since I loved computers and I loved art, I should combine the two and that lead me to become a graphic artist.
How did you become involved with Vida Lounge?
Once I started building my brand as a promoter, a friend of mine linked me up with a club owner named Zeeshan and he asked me to come work for him at I-lounge. The first six months were very hard because we thought that the Latin community would respond to our club but it didn’t work out with the promoters. Eventually, we decided to remodel after our New Year’s Eve party and we held the grand reopening of the newly named Vida Lounge on All-Star weekend with Bishop Don Magic Juan hosting his famous Players Ball.
What’s next for Vida Lounge?
Our Wednesday night “industry night” has become one of our most popular nights for local personalities, athletes and music artists. Recently, our Wednesday promoters got together with our Thursday night promoters to create the largest Saturday party in Houston. My parents are semiprofessional dancers, so the dance and hip-hop community have played a major part in my life. Working with the urban community has always been something that I’ve wanted to do and we would love for Vida to continue to be a major force in the urban community.
For more information, please visit: www.facebook.com/ visualvandals www.facebook.com/vidalounge
