Today we’d like to introduce you to Gibrán Huerta.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Gibrán. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I went online for the first time in 1996 and it changed my life. I got my first job when I was 16 y/o working as a Bussboy + Cartboy at the Bonita Golf Course. This was my first taste of the hospitality industry and I loved it. I wouldn’t be working with some of the world’s best restaurants and iconic brands like Tacos El Gordo if it wasn’t for the work ethic instilled by my parents growing up. I moved to Paris for University after High School, school was mad expensive for my parents and I decided to come back to SD. A few months later I landed what at the time was my dream gig of working at the W Hotel in San Diego. I started as Front Desk and moved to Concierge a year later; this is where the networking and doors started opening up. I had the chance of meeting Thom Yorke, hanging out with the WuTang Clan behind the Concierge Desk and even hosting Obama during the 2008 campaign trail. I left the W Hotel world in 2010 to accept a gig with a British Concierge start-up in San Francisco, our main clients were banks and their uber rich clients. Here I had the chance of working on requests for Cristiano Ronaldo, the Swarovski family, and some dude that wanted to meet Richard Branson (I actually arranged the meeting.) It was a weird time because it was just when Social Media was taking off, Instagram was just launching when I moved up; we shared our office building with Twitter before they moved to Market St (SF). San Francisco felt magical during those years but I felt left out because I was a hospitality/service person not a tech person. In 2011 I helped our Company secure two big accounts in Latin America that would require I move to either Miami or Mexico City, I chose the latter.
From 2011 to 2013 I spent one week a month in Miami and the rest between Mexico City, Paris, London and almost every Spanish speaking Latin American capital. It was a crazy time where I learned so much about how business gets done in LaAm but also within the financial world. I also felt that media was changing and most of our bank clients just weren’t “getting it.” I pitched ideas of influencer campaigns (before these were a thing) and the creation of social media profiles to story tell about the product but banks don’t move fast. I resigned in January 2013, moved back to San Diego in March 2013, Upon moving back I encountered businesses that were open to the idea of Social Media and I decided to stick to what I knew best: Hospitality + Food + Beverage. Without knowing what exactly we were creating, we started BIEN in December of 2013. Little did we know that we were creating a digital media agency. I love what I do now way more than any other time in my career, I miss the human-2-human offline interactions which is why I’m working on BIEN being more than just an agency. This year we introduced some merch colabs, a breakfast burrito club and have hinted at our new project “Longplay.”
Has it been a smooth road?
The road is never smooth. Not coming from a rich background, the only way to get ahead is by putting in the work and that is the biggest struggle. Not giving up on the work. BIEN is 100% private, we’ve never taken on any outside investment which makes things difficult but also gives us loads of freedom.
Please tell us more about your business.
BIEN is what I call a Culture Studio. We’re a space for brand culture, we help story tell and find that sweet spot between the online and the offline. We’re known for kick ass Social Media management for restaurants, hotels and beverage brands. We can do everything from managing all your social profiles with a hospitality touch to producing a podcast, IGTV series or design a beach capsule for a summer campaign.
BIEN is mostly behind the scenes but we’re also our own independent brand with a very distinct brand culture. We hate to be classified as a marketing agency because neither myself or my co-founder are marketing people. We’re a little mysterious but no matter what we stay true to the quality no matter if it’s a t-shirt of a DJ set.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love that our city is bi-national, this is by far my favorite part about San Diego and why I have such high hopes for us to share this culture with the world. I really do hate the fact that our airport only has 1 runway, I wish we had more runways and a direct flight to Paris.
Contact Info:
- Address: 600 B Street
Suite 300 - Phone: 6199215046
- Email: gh@bien.media
- Instagram: instagram.com/narbig
- Twitter: twitter.com/narbig
Image Credit:
BIEN Media
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