Today we’d like to introduce you to Fernando Melero.
Fernando, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It was my senior year at North Garland High School. I was living with my best friend at the time. This was my second year at the school, for my freshman and sophomore years were spent at Lake Highlands High School. I’ve always had problems at home, but 9 times out of 10, it was me just being a rebel. Being fake mad at my dad for not being with us and I was taking it out on my mom. I grew up with my mom, my 2 sisters, and 4 nieces. Most of the time, we would buck heads, so I found it more comfortable for me to just move in with my friend, Sergio. This was my M.O. sophomore and senior year of high school. I moved from Lake highlands to North Garland with three months left in my sophomore year. My mother went to jail and I moved in with my middle sister, Jackie, and her husband. This became, what I thought at the time, hell on earth. Mind you, I was living with my friend, Sergio, in my sophomore year in Lake Highlands. Something told me to just go back home with my family and try it all over again. It didn’t work. But now, I was in a different city, Garland, and a different high school, North Garland. Now, it’s my junior year at this new school and I got real cool with this dude named, LeJasper a.k.a. LJ. We were like batman and robin. I had also gotten into a program called AVID. My AVID teacher’s name was Stephanie Dingle. She was a blessing, man. B-L-E-S-S-I-N-G. I lived with my sister my whole junior year of high school. But when the school year came to an end, me and my sister had both been on 10. This is code for we couldn’t even see each other at the house because it would get verbally aggressive.
Fortunately, North Garland A/C unit was being replaced the summer right before my senior year started. Mrs. Dingle got me a job walking around the school while they replaced it and I had to make sure they weren’t any fires. Safe to say it was the top 3 easiest jobs ever. But Mrs. Dingle asked me if I knew someone I would want on board since I couldn’t walk the whole school from A to Z in 5 minutes. Y’all already know who I called. My brother, my ace, LJ. On the last day of the job, me and my sister got in a crazy fight over the phone and LJ heard it all. I confessed everything that I was going through, and he extended an arm for me. He offered to live with him. It was like deja vu because this just happened at Lake highland with my other friend Sergio. LJ called his mom and it was like a 1 2 3 a b c step. I met his mom and it was love from the start. They lived in Rowlett. Quite the distance from North Garland. Moma would drop us off in the morning before she went to work and would give us both $5 for a bus pass to come back home. I don’t know where she found it in her heart to also give me $5 daily but things like that never go unnoticed. LJ and I had to take 3 buses from North Garland to 30 and bobtown. This were the seed starts to get planted. LJ had a computer and camera at home he didn’t use at all. I never grew up with these things. Best I had was a ps3.
I never rode on Dart buses growing up either, but taking 3 every day seemed like an adventure to me. You guys can have a clue of the type of stuff you get to see. Especially at downtown Garland Dart. Those Dart stations are always tricky. Something told me to just pick the camera up and record our adventures. Which I did, and I shared on facebook, which was the most popular social media at the time. Everybody at school seemed fund of them. So, I kept them coming. Then, one day, I saw a flyer in the hallway for homecoming king participants. I can’t quite remember if I was walking with Lj but I know for a fact somebody was with me, because I told them, “I’m going to win this, watch” only to their reply saying I wouldn’t be able to beat the football star of the school. I started campaigning on Facebook by creating videos and just being funny online. And guess what, people? I won. This random kid who’s only been there for only a year, has all these problems at home, struggling to adjust to this new life, beat out football stars, handsome fellas, and that one nerdy kid who’s kinda cool but nerdy still. I kept making videos for the rest of my senior year because it was truthfully fun and enjoyable. LJ made it 10 times better for me. He was and is to this day a brother to me.
Fast forward to the end of the school year, and I had been blessed with an academic scholarship. The school was University of Texas of the Permian Basin, UTPB, and they offered me a full ride. It was all because of Stephanie Dingle. She pushed me like no other teacher had ever. I guess you can say she saw potential. One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that I became a motivational speaker for AVID Garland. I would go to middle schools in the area and motivate the young bulls. My senior year of high school was like up-down, up-down, left-right, X, O, cheat code after all the downfalls and roadblocks I had the previous two years. It was truly a blessing and a highlight, But UTPB was no cheat code or highlight. it was hard for me. I was away from home in Odessa, TX. Away from my friends, LJ and mama. My mother was still in jail at the time. It was a rough time for me and I think, me not being comfortable played a part in saying, “F this I just want to go home” and failing, losing my full-ride scholarship.
Now, this is where the seed I planted my senior year grows a little bit more. I lose my scholarship and come back home to Dallas. Some of the folks I graduated high school with, we’re now doing music. One of them was Robb a.k.a. Peezy or just P. He extended the idea of shooting multiple film stuff, not just music videos, for his brand. We did hot boxes, interviews, low-key we did a podcast in 2013 before it was cool to have one. I had a blast doing it all. This lead me to today. I’m a Director/Editor with my company doing better than ever before. A staple in the city. Of course, I had to tweak stuff here and there, get a job here and there, but ultimately I knew I wanted to this for a living. Doing something you love for a living, even if the funds aren’t what you want them to be, feels like you aren’t just working to die. I’ve made tons of memories and met a lot of people from different backgrounds. Oh yeah, that something that told me what to do, was God. I just listened. Even if sometimes it didn’t make sense, I just listened.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I struggled a ton financially. I couldn’t catch a break. Every time I would get paid for a project, something would pop up and I had to use that money on it. I couldn’t upgrade my equipment for a while which led me to be more creative to try and cover up for quality. I also struggled with support. I come from a Mexican background. If you’re not busting your ass working a job day in and day out, you’re not doing it right. My family didn’t really understand what I was doing when I came back from college. But I always knew.
GalaxyM83 – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My business became a business when I started shooting music videos for peers I met in high school after we graduated high school. But now, it’s far from that. I do all film. I’ve shot baby showers, birthday parties, event recaps, engagements, currently writing my first short film. I love directing. It’s my cup of tea. Other people can agree to this but in this field, everybody shoots for that role. It’s very competitive. My specialty is quality. Which is funny because that’s one of the struggles I grew up with. But that taught me to learn everything about the camera. My brand’s name is GalaxyM83 and M stands for my last name, Melero. Galaxy came from the first name of my business, Gold Galaxy productions. People started calling me Galaxy for short. I rebranded around that and we are here today. Working with me is more than just “work”. I’ve been told its a like a “therapy session”. Everything about me revolves around God. There are real people out here in this world going through it every day. Losing hope and faith. It’s weird because even before I did anything film, I was a motivational speaker for AVID. So, the transition of talking to people in good spirits was smooth and easy. It’s not about me, it’s about us.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success to me is happiness. The world wants you to believe is money or fame. But I’ve met quite a few celebrities through my business and most of them, aren’t really happy. They’re just living in the endless loop staleness and protocol. The more people we can get out of fire, the more successful I will be.
Pricing:
- Music Videos – One location $400
- Music Videos – two location $500
- Recaps, Events, Parties, etc. – Email me GalaxyM83.info@gmail.com
Contact Info:
- Phone: 469-602-8460
- Email: GalaxyM83.info@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/galaxym83/?hl=en
Image Credit:
Josue Melendez- Instagram: josuemlnd
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