Carl Padilla, the CEO of Celeb Gap, chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about Celeb Gap.
It is a unique platform that bridges the gap between you and your favorite celebrities, which will allow you to send an amazing gift or experience a unique moment with the celebrity of your choice – ranging from actors and musicians to reality stars and authors.
Padilla opened up about the day he received a signed headshot of Thomas Rhett, Padilla’s favorite artist, with the words “I hope you always remember your first dance.”
“I was getting married and my wedding song was ‘Die a Happy Man’ by Thomas Rhett. My friend Sean knew that and wanted to get me a special wedding gift. He was a golf pro and just so happened to play golf with the guy who owned a record label that worked with and knew Thomas. One day as they were playing golf, he mentioned that I was dancing to Thomas’ song at my wedding and asked if he could get something personalized from him and he agreed. I will never forget the day Sean came over and
handed me that envelope. I opened it and chills ran down my spine, tears came to my eyes, and I was speaking and overcome with emotion. It was the coolest, most personal gift I received for my wedding,” he said.
And in 2016, Padilla came up with the idea of Celeb Gap, as a way to share that same emotion he experienced with others, by having a platform where you could request an autograph, video chat, or even game with your favorite celebrity, C-Suite executives, medical professionals, politicians, motivational speakers, fashion designers, barbers/hairstylists, authors, and many more.
“While there are apps that allow users to request video messages from celebrities, there were no avenues where you could request a specific item or experience from that celebrity. And that’s what I wanted to provide to others, giving them the same feeling I felt.”
Set to launch in December, Celeb Gap has been able to build relationships with over 130 agencies and organizations that truly bring to light the user experience, where fans and celebrities can connect in more intimate ways that haven’t existed before.
“Celeb Gap has everything that some of the competitors have on a better looking, more user-friendly platform, with more options to purchase from, including video game sessions, as well as being able to follow the profiles for when celebrities go active online – all while taking less out of your pocket.”
As a CEO, Padilla shared that while coming up with the idea for Celeb Gap was exciting in many capacities, rationalizing it into a business was something else entirely.
“When I found out the platform itself would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build, and an additional two years to perfect with thousands of hours of coding, I was almost crushed and scared at the time.”
“But, that didn’t stop me because I had a vision. Properly budgeting for it was tough and I had to make a lot of sacrifices, but you know what? Knowing that my wife and child were depending on me to succeed, and knowing how much they had already sacrificed to see this platform come to life – I couldn’t quit. To be a part of the top one percent, you must be willing to do and sacrifice what the rest of the 99 percent are not willing to.”
He concluded our conversation by recognizing one of his college professors, Cyndi Gundy, who he considered to be one of his biggest mentors throughout the process, as well as his father and wife who were able to take his daily calls and pick up the slack when he was attending countless business meetings, conference calls, Zoom meetings, and agent admin portal demos.
Padilla revealed that he used his own platform to propose to his now wife. “I asked the talent to tell her to ‘turn around’ on the video shout-out, with me down on one knee.”
“What they say is true – that behind every successful man with a dream is an incredible woman with a vision and that would be my wife.”
The platform is set to go live to the general public in December of this year.
