OUR STORY
On February 10th, 1997, Kenneth J. Castro was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Raised in the Caribbean, the island lifestyle was all he knew. Although at first wishing he was born in a different place, coupled with the fact that he didn’t have much growing up, he learned to appreciate the little things in life and learned to love where he came from. From a very young age, art became his creative outlet. Painting, photography and digital art developed into his passions. In college, he studied Tourism and Graphic Design, graduating with high honors in January 2018.
In December of 2020, Kenneth created some stickers and decided to sell them to his friends and associates. An incredible reaction ensued, resulting in the stickers selling out! Not long after, people started to ask him when he would be doing shirts. Even though that was not part of the plan, he thought it was a good idea. He continued making and selling more stickers while starting to design some shirts. On April 31st, 2021, he was ready to launch the official brand with a website, two t-shirt designs, stickers, pins, and original art.
OUR NAME
In the summer of 2018, Kenneth decide to create a YouTube channel dedicated to local travel vlogs, where he would share his adventures and discoveries around Puerto Rico. For this channel, he came up with the name "Lost in Paradise.” To him, it perfectly described what the videos were all about.
The designs for his first sticker launch were the logos used in his YouTube channel. He considered different names for the brand, but the one he kept going back to was "Lost in Paradise.” No other phrase described the essence of the brand as much as this.
It wasn’t until the summer of 2024 when an idea for a new name came about. Even though the name“Lost in Paradise” captured the brand’s essence, it was a very commonly used phrase and arguably cliché. We wanted to create something much more original. It took us 3 years to finally come up with a new name, one that would still retain the essence of being in paradise.
That is when "Puro Paradise" came to be. This new name encompasses everything the brand is, and more. With this new name, we hope to keep growing and expanding. The future of Puro Paradise is bigger than ever.
OUR MISSION
Puerto Rico is a Beautiful island. Not just only for vacationing but also for living. It is truly like living in paradise. And we want everyone to know this, not only people around the world but the people who live right here on the island. We choose to focus on the positive and only the good. Puerto Rico has so much to offer, from destinations, culture, experiences, adventures, and history. Lost in Paradise invites you to explore all of these things.
With putting positivity first we take on a big challenge. We want to help our community and create opportunities for our people by exposing local artists and offering employment. We want to give the youth in the island another option. An option that shows them they can stay in Puerto Rico and grow alongside the island.