We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniel Chavez . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniel below.
Daniel , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
The story behind our mission is basically the story of my life and how I turned a self destructive lifestyle into a self constructive lifestyle. I was born and raised in the inner city just like so many others. Exposed to poverty, crime, gangs and many other low vibrational elements that come with that environment. I was UNHEALTHY not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. I was just a GANGSTER and living up to the expectations of what it took to be one. In most cases the end results of this lifestyle are never good. People end up dead, in jail, or forever remain in a low frequency and end up destroying themselves from within. As Fate would have it, I was fortunate enough to be one of the selected few to break out of that matrix. It wasn’t easy by any means but I did the internal work to become self constructive (HEALTHY) in the mind, body, and soul. And now our mission is to change the narrative of what it is to be a gangster. To be a gangster is to go against the rules. To be rebellious. To be outlaws. So it’s only right we rebel against the toxicity of what has now become the new norm in society. We’re leading as many people back to the water in hopes that they drink it and become Healthy Gangsters.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Daniel Chavez, but most people know me as Danlock. I guess I would consider myself a man of many titles. Entrepreneur, writer, author, business owner, life coach, healer, teacher, guide, and the best one yet Healthy Gangster. I really don’t like limiting myself to only one title. But Healthy Gangster was something I came up with when Covid took off. Since everything was pretty much shut down I spent a lot of time alone and that’s when the idea came to me. I felt that I was in a pretty great point in my life not only physically, but mentally and spiritually. I had put in so much work for about a decade or so into those three things that I felt like I needed to share my story with not only my family or my community, but with the entire world in hopes that it sparks others to do the same for themselves. So I decided to write a book and self published it on Amazon. Healthy Gangster came to me fairly easily. It only made perfect sense to name it that since it embodied everything I was and everything I now am. The design for the logo took me about 5 minutes to come up with soon after deciding on the name. And it’s been a hit every since. So after I published the book I decided to make a few Healthy Gangster shirts and other pieces of clothing with the brand on it. And sure enough, people started asking about them and started to place orders. So you can say it pivoted into a clothing brand as well. Although, when the name came to me I knew it was perfect, because it was universal. I would be able to incorporate it into anything. I’ve made candles, water bottles, duffle bags, coffee mugs, dog shirts, planters, phone cases, baby onesies. I’m always open to new ideas. But that’s the beauty of it. It’s not about me. It’s way bigger than that. It’s a movement. It’s about the people who are taking back their power and becoming Healthy Gangsters themselves. I love how it’s grown organically and how it doesn’t just appeal to a certain demographic. People of all colors, and all age groups seem to gravitate towards it. So I’m excited to see what the future holds for us.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
When I got the idea to write a book I thought it would be nearly impossible to get it out to the world. I didn’t know anything about publishing a book. I figured you had to get a publishing deal or something. But I took the time to look into it. Like I said in the book. We literally have the entire world in our hands. Everything is on the internet and our phones have internet so what’s stopping us from figuring out a solution to any problem but ourselves. So when I looked into it. I was able to find that Amazon let’s you self publish on their platform and the rest is history.
When I pivoted to clothing I asked my good friend who made custom shirts to make them for me. I knew nothing about making shirts, and the last time I checked it was expensive to make shirts on your own. But that was long before all the technological advancements on DIY printers. Now it’s easier than ever. She eventually just showed me how to do everything on my own since she was super busy running her business. So I would go and make orders on her equipment until I was able to get my own equipment and do it all from home. I’m forever grateful she did that for me. So since then I’ve been manufacturing orders on my own. Learning constantly from trial and error. I was able to get hooked up with a whole sale clothing manufacturer through another close friend of mine which helped me out tremendously. I’m blessed to have people like that in my life and never take them for granted. And although it’s time consuming and may get frustrating at times. The fact that someone is going to walk out of their house happily representing the brand makes it all worth it.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I believe the authenticity of the brand is helping to build the reputation. Healthy Gangster is not a gimmick or a fad. It’s 100 percent real. It’s by the people and for the people. One of the reasons I picked the ski mask as the logo is because it can literally be ANYONE under that ski mask. In hopes that anyone who lays eyes on it can see themselves as a Healthy Gangster. Like I said before. I wanted it to be something universal. Something for everyone and anyone trying to better themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: HealthyGangster.com
- Instagram: @healthygangsterbrand
- Facebook: Healthy Gangster