When adventuring on a new vacation, travelers often take to social media or Google in search of activity recommendations in the special destination they’re en route to.
Luckily, there are online spaces dedicated to fulfill those curiosities. “Welcome to Arizona” is one of those.
Welcome to Arizona is a multiplatform social media brand that boasts more than 2 million followers across all of its networks. The Arizona brothers who founded the brand, David and Jesus Vicente, highlight the Grand Canyon State’s unique culture, history, cuisine and attractions through photos, videos and graphic designs.
“It’s the No. 1 social media brand for the Southwest, that’s how we label ourselves,” Jesus said in an interview with The Arizona Republic.
Ten years ago, the Vicente brothers just wanted to “champion Arizona,” the state that gave them “everything they have and are.” Instead, they discovered a whole new lifestyle.
“Our life truly feels like a movie today,” David said.
How did the siblings get here? It took a life-long love of Arizona and a lot of hard work.
‘The narrative of two kids from west Phoenix’
David, 30, and Jesus, 29, are California-born but Arizona-raised. The siblings, along with their parents, arrived in Phoenix’s West Valley village of Maryvale in 2004.
David and Jesus attended Trevor G. Browne High School. They continued their higher education at Arizona State University where they graduated with bachelor’s degrees in information systems (David) and finance (Jesus).
While attending college, David said that he and his brother were “always thinking about the next big thing” they wanted to bring to life as their major aspiration was to become entrepreneurs.
“Life is so interesting. In the beginning, it was just me and my brother, always hanging out,” David said. “Our rooms were literally across the way at our parents’ house. We were going to college together, and we were always just thinking of new ideas.”
In 2015, they decided to stop thinking and start acting. Little did they know that their idea — Welcome to Arizona — would completely change their lives.
“When we were growing up in the West Valley and started traveling more once we got to college, we felt like the representation for Arizona was lacking on social media,” Jesus said. “Because, you know, we have newspapers, magazines or TV channels, but no one was really tapping into social media. And we thought, ‘If no one else is going to do it, then why not us?’”
“We felt like people thought Arizona wasn’t cool,” David added. “And we kind of wanted to change that using the narrative of two kids from west Phoenix.”
The initial Welcome to Arizona idea was an online directory of Arizona’s local businesses. Before following through on that idea, other ideas developed, such as a video production company or starting a YouTube Channel. But as two amateurs in the game, David and Jesus soon realized that building a website required skills neither one possessed.
So they turned to their plan B: an Instagram account.
The account would be a broader lens into the tourism, history, cultural, business and culinary scene of Arizona.
On Aug. 10, 2015, during a weekend family trip to Prescott for David’s 21st birthday, the siblings debuted their first Instagram post: a photo of a chessboard accompanied by a mountainous background and a cloudy sky.
“A cloudy day in Prescott,” reads the caption followed by hashtags such as “#Welcome2AZ #amateur #imtrying #helpmewritebettercaptions.”
Almost 10 years later, Welcome to Arizona has hundreds of posts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube highlighting the wonders of the state.
‘A leap of faith’
In an era where content creation has become a full-time occupation and lifestyle for many, this isn’t Jesus and David’s first rodeo. However, their journey has not been linear.
Four months before the COVID-19 pandemic broke, the younger brother “took a leap of faith” by quitting his full-time job to focus on their brand. This decision was influenced by a void he felt in his life and advice from his former boss.
“I’ll never forget what he (the boss) told me. He said, ‘Life is too short to spend doing things that don’t make you happy. So, I think you need to make a choice,’” Jesus said.
Even though Jesus was overwhelmed with fear and uncertainty, he now calls it a “blessing in disguise” — the brand really took off during the pandemic since everyone was home scrolling on social media.
After months of hesitation, David followed suit, quitting his job to pursue Welcome to Arizona full time.
“My brother and I have always been best friends,” David said. “So, whenever I jump, he jumps and whenever he jumps, I jump, too. And he was right; that was our breakout year. As soon as we got full time, everything started doubling, not only revenue, but followers, connections, everything. Everything just exploded.”
Welcome to Arizona’s Instagram wrapped up 2020 with 100,000 followers, kickstarting massive growth. By the end of 2022, they reached over 400,000. And ever since, the Vicentes’ online community has doubled annually.
The Vicente brothers credit that growth to the time and focus they both gave the project in 2020. During that time, they went through a crash course in analytics and audience engagement.
“It’s almost like when you go and start a new job and you’re going through training and like six months in, the way everything works just starts making sense,” Jesus said.
‘I see a lot of Arizona in me’
David and Jesus are first-generation Americans born to Mexican parents from Zacatecas and Michoacan. The siblings said that their Latino and Mexican identity, as well as their upbringing, plays a central role in what they do.
“I think you see it in everything that Welcome to Arizona is,” David said. “From our team to the music we use in our posts or the way we write captions. It’s ingrained in the entire company. There’s no way outside of that.”
Their identity also fueled them in the early stages of the endeavor. The siblings said being a minority can at times hijack your mind into thinking “OK, well, we’re Latinos, let us show you we’re capable of.”
“As a minority, I feel like you’re always trying to get out of that crab bucket. That’s always in the back of your mind like a survival mindset,” David said.
Adding to their Latinness, their identity as Arizonans also enters the picture. As a matter of fact, they go hand in hand, according to Jesus.
“I see a lot of Arizona in me because even as a state, I feel the same way,” Jesus said. “Arizona has to push itself twice as hard to be seen as different from, like, an LA, for example, or a New York, in terms of even just media.”
Arizona is the state that helped the Vicente brothers grow. It is a paradise they feel deeply connected to, not only due to the proximity to their native California or their parents’ home country, but also the individuals that populate it.
“People have always been No. 1 to me,” David said. “There’s a lot of very interesting, different people that have made Arizona what it is. To me it feels like home because there are different people here like me that aren’t necessarily molded to fit in a box.”
‘It’s ever evolving’
Though David and Vicente are at the top of Welcome to Arizona’s family tree, they don’t miss the opportunity to recognize and praise their whole team, which consists of 11 people.
Along with David (chief relationship officer) and Jesus (editor-in-chief), their brother-in-law Luis Gonzalez also acts as a head of the brand as co-owner and chief operating officer.
“Being a small company, you have got to be very calculated. I mean, I feel like we’re literally building the Avengers here,” Jesus said. “You have got to find other people that are just as passionate as you because you can’t do it alone.”
When looking into the future, there are no limits for David, Jesus and the Welcome to Arizona team.
“It’s ever evolving,” David said.
“To say that Welcome to Arizona encompasses everything just in Arizona, I feel like nowadays isn’t factual because we’re trying to cover the whole Southwest. For me Welcome to Arizona is that leader in the whole Southwest sphere,” he added.
This expansion is the Vicentes’ biggest aspiration. They want to build sibling brands such as “Welcome to Texas” or “Welcome to California.”
In the meantime, Welcome to Arizona is launching a new effort in July: an All-Access Pass, which will cost $20 dollars per month and grant passholders discounts on Arizona museums, shows, restaurants and much more.
“It aligns with our bigger vision of promoting the best in Arizona and we’re going to be able to give back to our audience,” David said. “It’s a win-win.”