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

Mark, appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Going from idea to execution

I heard about this event about 7 years ago and couldn’t believe it til I seen it , the thought of having female dancers fight at a gentleman’s club sounded a bit wild and to good to be true..

Once I seen video footage that led me to attend my first Caliente Cage Rage that’s when I knew I wanted a piece of the action . I reached out to a promoter that I knew to get my foot in the door.
I went from backyard parties to warehouse parties , to hosted night clubs. And Now I was part of a underground female fight night .

Everything was going good until covid shut us down . Fast foward to 2022 around the time covid was over and things were getting back to normal., that’s when the call came in that Caliente Cage Rage was making a comeback and now I’d be in charge of promotion and producing the event

The idea was to bring back a one of a Kind night and make it more exclusive than ever . But the feedback and energy we received back was much greater than expected . With the event being in high demand after the first night back since prior to covid was a full house and the promo videos were starting to make there way around social media we went a head and executed a whole year strait of full houses. From downtown Los Angeles to Van Nuys every two weeks (every second Thurs and last Thurs of the month) We look foward to growing more and getting the word out that Caliente Cage Rage is the only place to be every other Thurs for the best underground fight night in the city

Mark, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

So I started Back in the flyer party days . When party crews was a thing and wearing a party crew badge around your neck was a code of honor , the scene was alot different back that but this was the beginning to get my word out that we threw one hell of a party

Fast foward to the EDM days when EDC was on the verge of growth and shuffling was on the rise is when I started fancy footwork which also was a success . We would go around the city and find a old ware house to throw events and have a good time. Ever thing was good until our crew DJ passed away at one of our parties we hosted . Things were never the same .

I stopped throwing events for a while and came back to hosted clubs around 2015 ..2 years later is when I stumbled upon Caliente Cage Rage and the journey began

Have you ever had to pivot?

Coming back to Caliente Cage Rage was a difficult decision that I almost turned my back on .

When I got the call that Caliente Cage Rage was back and they wanted my to be a big part of helping to run the show I was weeks away from my daughter being born

I had to make the decision to be out and back in the club scene all while being the best father I can be . After lots of thinking I made the decision that scared money don’t make money and I moved foward with the job .

I called back the crew got some new team members set up . Our stage host teddy Mora (from wild n out ) and giana Taylor former play boy playmate were back on the team along with the valleys Very own dj aktive . Giana Taylor soon backed out for personal reasons is when I went on the search for a new female stage host..that’d when I reached out to Sammy Jo the fox (sammyjo podcast ) I remembered back from my warehouse partying days seeing her build up some fame in the city on her own ..once I reached out she loved the idea of what we had going and is now along side with teddy Mora on stage helping us execute a Grade A FIGHT night

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Meeting cornelis ,our fight boss that helps with alot of the behind the scenes work . He always had a very strait foward attitude and was really about his business. He has now become a mentor and coach to me since we have met and he let me be a part of the team 7 years back. I got nothing but good things to say about the man and Caliente Cage Rage wouldn’t be where we are today with out him

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @droneskiez
• Twitter: CCR2023Takeover
• Other: Tik tok @Calientecagerage Social media platforms are still being worked on after the busy year in 2023 We have alot of work on our hands to execute 2024

Image Credits
N.A Shout out to our former camera guy Carlos