DAN GRACIANO

Dan Graciano was born to Puerto Rican parents in the early 1980s on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a neighborhood called Alphabet city. His mother was a teller in a credit union, and his dad worked for three different building owners as a handyman overseeing about 8-10 buildings between the Lower East Side and Chinatown. His dad would take him to work at an early age having him do various jobs such as sweeping and moping buildings, carrying tools, assisting him with plumbing jobs, painting, taking out the trash, just to name a few. A lot of the buildings had restaurants attached to them so the basements were roach and rat-infested. Dan uses to hate some of these tasks and his father would tell him “Son if you don’t like this type of work then you will have to do one or two things. You can either go to college and get a career and or become your own boss”. In the early 90s one Saturday morning, Dan use to wake up for breakfast and watch those cartoon shows they use to play from 7 am till noon. Around noon time some of the channels used to play education show. One of those shows was on in the background while Dan was playing with some toys and he heard the mention of the word “Entrepreneur”. Dan learned that the word entrepreneur meant running a company and being the boss as they described it on the show. It caught his attention and he told himself that’s the same thing his dad was telling him. About a year later in third grade, Dan’s teacher called out and they had a substitute teacher. The teacher decided to introduce herself and the best way to get to know the kids in the class was to go around the room and have the kids say their name and mention what they wanted to be when they grew up. After going through a few rows, where a bunch of kids wanted to be lawyers, doctors, policemen, and firefighters, it was Dan’s turn. After telling the substitute his name he told her he wanted to be an entrepreneur. She was so shocked that a third-grader knew that word. She asked the rest of the class if anyone else knew that word as they all looked puzzled. She asks him if he could tell everyone what it meant and he replied with “I want to be my own boss”. At that very moment, Dan really knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur. 

Dan started gravitating towards music and poetry during the late 90s. He had a mentor who started teaching him the art of recording audio and creating music using a drum machine. Around that time Dan’s parents split up; he and his mother ended up moving to East Harlem. After a while, Dan began making money by posting flyers around the projects for his mentor’s home recording studio. He and Dan began sharing the profits where Dan would take care of the recordings of the artist while using his equipment. During this time he also was a troubled teen. He eventually was on PINS (Person In Need of Supervision), and then ended up getting expelled from high school twice in one year. He started recording and creating music full time around the age of 16 years old. He stopped going to school and focused on a career in music and in his free time he enjoyed creating brands and company ideas on his home computer. He fell in love with the hustle of getting clients and networking with other people who were interested in music as well. A few years later he decided to go back to school to get his GED, ended up getting a scholarship he applied for with an essay submission. He decided to go to SAE Institute and graduated from their audio program. After graduation, he interned in various places. He ended up in a recording studio called Eastside Sound. One of the owners saw talent and potential in him and gave him a chance. Dan began managing the music production team that was in EastSide Sound. After a few years, he left and worked with other artists and musicians in the industry. During his time doing freelance work, he decided working more on one of his ideas for a food brand company. He continued working in the music business independently and later got together with some friends and associates to open a recording studio in the Brooklyn / Queens area of New York City. During a meeting with a friend, he decided to talk about his food company idea focusing on condiments. They were excited and told him how out the box of an idea that was. 

At this point, he decided to leave the industry worked various other jobs an focus more on working on his food company. 2017 Dan moved to Florida to help his disabled mother with his grandfather. Later after that move, his grandfather passed away from skin cancer. After taking some time to asset his situation he decided to start doing taste testing with one of his recipes for a sriracha hot sauce giving them to friends, family, and coworkers. They all gave really great reviews and he decided to see if people were willing to purchase his sauce; which people did. 2019 he decided to go all-in and pursue his dreams, create a brand, and push a product he loves and believes in. He looks forward to bringing something different and impacting the food industry and entrepreneurship mindset.