About Jay and Jeremy
It took all of ten minutes for Jay and Jeremy Castro to see the vision of my visual documentary “Manaotao Sanlagu nah Chamoru Ginen Marianas.” I had them at Hafa Adai, they jokingly said.
They also invited me to a CHamoru party at their childhood Alameda home where I broke bread with their father Joe Castro and met and photographed nearly all of the extended Castro clan.
We found connections, relations, similarities and love in CHamoru culture, food, music, photography, arts, relationships, family and philanthropy. Also a strong drive and commitment to combine our God-given talent and learned skill sets to find creative ways of helping our fellow CHamoru brothers and sisters in Guam and abroad.
Jay Castro has a vision for a social enterprise called “Fina'denne'” a platform for CHamorus all over the world to connect, collaborate, and contribute to projects that support cultural preservation, social equity, and economic development.
Fina’denne’ is a place for CHamorus, both on-island and off-island, to connect, share, and travel. At the core, everyone can host, teach, and learn skills and experiences across various arts and industries. Everyone’s expected to bring learning back to their home and continue to share with the community.
Jeremy Castro is an entrepreneur and “chief catalyst” of a large-scale screen printing, an eCommerce business and a creative agency in the SF Bay Area called Brand Marinade. The name is inspired by the CHamoru finadene.
“The idea was to build a workshop that would take some real basic ingredients and put them through a refined process to create a ‘marinade of sorts’ that will help others cultivate ideas and translate them quickly and cost-effectively into products that end up on people’s backs,” Jeremy said.
Jeremy also wants to teach the skills people can bring back to the islands to open their own business or support a business that can benefit from some of the skills he’s gained. He has a desire to give back and gain stronger connections with his heritage all while growing his business.
There are synergies across all our endeavors. And Jay says it best. “We envision a future where the CHamoru people are connected through place and culture. We want to co-create a supportive environment to promote and fund one another to help every Chamorro reach their potential.”
-Manny Crisostomo