Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexander Orozco. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alexander, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t even looking for Thehoodfoodie, he found me (Alexander Orozco) and I believe that it all stems from loosing both my parents right after graduating high school, I had barely graduated, feeling like a lost soul between the age of my 20’s & 30’s, a time that I feel I needed guidance, but had to survive with the little that I had. At the age of 36 years old, I had finally gotten fed up of the life style that I was leading, I was all over the place, I had become an alcoholic and alcohol played a huge role in my household, it actually took out my dad at around the age of 53 years old, so I knew that I had to break the Familia cycle. because if I didn’t, I am pretty sure that I would have not made it this far. I then took it as an opportunity to actually start working on myself, since I could remember, I knew that there was many things off about me, so I sought for a psychiatrist, who then diagnose me with bipolar depression, took medication for the first time, only for all of the side effects that were stated on the box hit me, suicidal, ended up on a 5152 psychiatric hold, depression, feeling like I had finally hit my rock bottom, but could never imagined what happened next.

At around the time all this happening, social media was hitting hard, Instagram was barely popping, people were posting about food, fashion, live style, etc… unconsciously I believe that I was just trying to forget what I had just experienced, so I then decided to start taking pictures of the mom & pop shops that I grew up eating at, like Lenchita’s in Pacoima, Carrillo’s in San Fernando, only to quickly get kicked out to L.A., the mecca of the foodie world, meaning that restaurants in L.A. started reaching out to me in order to support them, after that it was all history, I then started to certify restaurants, creating dishes with the people I was helping support, radio/podcast interviews, McDonald’s reached out to me with an internship with potential sponsorship at around 3K followings, you are talking about the biggest food brand in the world believe in me at a small following, I have now been sponsored by McDonald’s for the past 3 years, I’ve been on a Gordon Ramsey show, hung-out with Aaron Sanchez, Andrew Zimmern knew who I was when I ran into him when I was working at Netflix, I’ve been to people homes in the HOOD where the grandma is over the cazo cooking the freshly made carnitas, to mansion parties with some of the best chef’s in the world and I don’t even know how I got into the foodie game, when growing up I was such a picky eater and I don’t know how to cook, unless it is something simple like huevitos con winnies.

My mission statement is all over my social media “Showing love to the world, keeping it 100%, God’s Plan” and what I would like for people to take from my story, is that at 36 years old I thought I was done, I couldn’t hold a job, I had no direction, couldn’t find a career, to Diosito giving me a second chance after hitting my rock bottom and now with this second chance I am putting my part, not only that, in 2022 I am hoping to launch Thehoodfoodie world tour, so if I can come as far as I have come with all of the obstacles that life has thrown at me, then that only means that you can also do it, you just have to want it and believe.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello, My name is Alexander Orozco, cuando como no conozco, also known on social media as Thehoodfoodie and to tell you the truth Thehoodfoodie started right after I had hit my rock bottom. I then started taking pictures of mom & pop shops in my HOOD of the 818 (San Fernando Valley), quickly to get kicked out to l.A., the mecca of the foodie world, where for the past 6 years I have been supporting small businesses all over the U.S. and beyond, to now in 2022 I have finally become a small business owner myself (Thehoodfoodie, Inc.), becoming a personality on social media utilizing it as a marketing tool and now as a business, we provide video promos, special appearances, host, sing at your quinceñera, whatever services that I am capable of doing, we will provide.

What sets me apart from many, is that from a small following I knew that it wasn’t a following, this was more of a movement, for example, I have come across so many small businesses that I have help support that tell me “We have reached out to over 20 other influencers and you were the only one to respond to us and now they all want to stop by after you did”, what do you say to that Fam? And something that I am most proud of, is by creating all these relationships since day one, the one thing that nobody can take away form me is the love, respect and even the protection from the people, because let me tell something, they don’t just give that to anybody, you have to gain it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Yes! Off course, I struggle with bipolar depression and I do not have 7 months of my life every time that I try a new medication to see if it is the right fit for me, I have understood that by me supporting small business, it is medication in itself, but my bipolar depression will never end, I still go through my bad episodes and those are the days that I want to quit, the negativity trying to overcome me, but staying positive throughout the process always helps me comeback stronger than ever and like I tell my Familia “Can’t stop, won’t stop, Familia 4 Life”, meaning that regardless of how bad my bipolar depression comes at me, I promise you that I will never give up on us.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Simple! I have never tried, just be yourself and everything else will fall into place.

Contact Info:

• Website: Thehoodfoodie.com
• Instagram: Thehoodfoodie
• Facebook: Thehoodfoodie
• Twitter: Thehoodfoodie
• Youtube: Thehoodfoodie
• Yelp: Thehoodfoodie
• Other: TikTok: Thehoodfoodie Email: [email protected]