Bio of PalmEraMia co-founder: Camilo

Bio of PalmEraMia co-founder: Camilo

Camilo was born in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia on July 2, 1995. When he was just a few days old Camilo, his twin brother Santiago, and his parents moved to Medellin, Colombia where most of their family resided. He doesn’t have too much recollection from those early years, but he does emphasize the connection he felt towards Medellin and the culture for as long as he can remember.

 

Around the age of 3 some big changes began to occur around him that would begin to shape his conscious mind. The family decided to move to Chicago during a very harsh winter that he still remembers till this day. This just made the situation even tougher as they had decided to start off fresh in a different part of the world without speaking English, and it was all in search of a better future. It was not easy for them as his parents were having to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. After a while they needed a change because they couldn’t take the cold anymore, and decided to move south to Miami. This would become Camilo’s home for the next 20 years. 

 

At the age of 15 he landed his first job ever cleaning a warehouse for some family friends during the summer months. The experience provided him more than a little extra spending money, it also helped shape his skill sets at the work place, which helped him in future jobs. 

 

His second job would come at a local pharmacy where he would work long hours that included graveyard shifts. The fact that he was beginning his college career and now juggling more than he had ever done, was a big adjustment for him. He was the newest and youngest employee so he was he was assigned with helping everyone else, to the point that he learned to perform pretty much every responsibility that there was to take care of. There were many days when he did not want to be there and would question if he was on the right path to shape his ideal future. On the morning on November 27, 2014 Camilo woke up inspired and with an idea that would change his life.

 

That morning Camilo decided he wanted to start a clothing brand. It all began in a very simple manner, by taking notes on his iPhone of what he was visualizing and random names he thought could potentially work for this future brand he saw coming to life. Out of all of the names he wrote down Palm Era was the one that stood out most. However, at the moment the idea didn’t go much further. Despite not knowing what step to take next and putting the notes aside, the vision continued to linger in his mind.

 

After a couple of months going by Camilo and shared the idea with his brother Santiago and they came up with a logo. During those days of inspiration his older cousin Andres was in town and they started to talk about the potential of bringing this new brand idea to life as a team. They instantly began to add more and more pieces to the puzzle and fell in love with the project. This now became another responsibility that Camilo was adding to his plate, but unlike the job at the pharmacy and school he was throughly enjoying this process. 

 

Looking to change environments and learn a bit about the fashion retail world he started to work for Vans at the mall. Up to this point this was his favorite job, not only because of the improvement in environment, but also because he was visualizing his own store. He also had a gut feeling he wasn’t going to be working there for too long as PalmEraMia was staring to take off and he knew he would be working his own brand full time. 

 

As this was a new venture for the entire team, they each chose a path that would fit them best based on their experience and desire to learn new skills. Camilo stepped to the plate with something he peaked his interest and thought would be cool to develop. He then bought his first camera and fell in love with the art of photography. 

 

Today Camilo is one of the co-founders PalmEraMia and the head of photography and content creation 🌴

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2 comments

Beautiful message, enjoyed what I read and your story and I hope I speak for many of us. We appreciate what you do for the brand and for the people. Keep it up!

Jomar Rivera

Glad you made that leap of faith that landed you with an amazing brand.

Manuela Velez

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