Written in Partnership with Kimberly Haddad
Some of the biggest decisions of our lives will begin with the same question: Can I really do this? And our immediate response is to simply wait for validation from others to confirm what we already know to be true. But instead of allowing the opinions of others to dictate our personal journeys, the key to success is to have full trust in ourselves and unfaltering confidence that we possess the capabilities to prosper. Combining this mentality with a passion for driving innovation across the internet playing field, business luminary and social media guru Andy Treys, is on a mission to make his mark on the world.
An entrepreneur of American-Armenian descent, Treys grew up in beautiful southern California, amongst the ascending palm trees and habitual sunshine. Beginning his career at a young age by cultivating and growing niche social media networks via Ning, the largest online community building platform in the world, Treys always knew he had a special flair for creating inner circles and expanding the global influence of others. Leaning further into his potential, Treys continued to zero in on his craft and discovered a diversity of ways to build upon his strengths in the social media space. By the time he entered high school, he was juggling his basketball career with an array of impressive moments, including a full court buzzer beater that was featured on ESPN SportsCenter. And he hadn’t even began to scratch the surface.
“I didn’t come from a wealthy family, but they always supported me,” says Treys. “My dad always made sure I had everything I needed to be a better player and instilled a hard work ethic in me that carried over from basketball to other areas of my life. I would get trained five, six days a week in the backyard and I then I would go inside, open up my computer, and start working on whatever I was building at the time, whether it was a new website or app.” From standout projects like originating Android apps on the Google Play store and partnering with YouTube and ESPN to launch KobeCamp2009 after attending Kobe Basketball Academy, Treys was accelerating faster than his footwork across the squeaking court.
A mover and shaker in every sense of the word, he strived to pursue his dream of playing college basketball, but following high school and two universities later, Treys faced the difficult decision to pull out and commit fully to his career. “The decision to drop out of college was not easy,” says Treys. “Everyone told me that it would be the biggest mistake of my life and that I would be considered a failure. But I noticed how limited my time was because of school and I needed to decide if I want to be a student athlete or get a head start on creating a social media empire. It was either attend meetings in New York or show up for Calculus.”
The decision to withdraw from college served Treys in a favorable way, and in 2016, he grew his social media empire to a combined 300 million followers across various platforms. Eventually, he launched Getmefamous, a social media agency with a powerful network of influencers, athletes, and celebrities, including substantial partnerships with Alissa Violet and Bella Thorne in 2019.
In search of a new undertaking, only a year had passed before Muscle Lab was conceived. The brainchild of both Treys and his dear friend Vatche Ourishian, Muscle Lab is a recovery and wellness lounge headquartered in Pasadena, CA. A business effort that combined Treys’ marketing expertise and Ourishian’s knowledge within the health community, Muscle Lab was quickly transformed into a celebrity hotspot, attracting a diversity of Hollywood darlings, platinum artists, and professional athletes, such as Zedd, ASAP Ferg, DJ Mustard, Carnage, Ben Simmons, Harry Jowsey, Jake Paul, and Oscar De La Hoya. Muscle Lab has recently acquired IVtherapy.com as well as Revived.com and has forthcoming plans to expand, with new locations in West Hollywood, Las Vegas, Miami, and New York.
While advancing both Getmefamous and Muscle Lab, Treys invested his earnings into the AirBnb and exotic car rental market, purchasing a variety of lavish homes and rare vehicles within the Los Angeles area, including a Lamborghini Urus and Mercedes G-63. Following the trail of progressing achievement, Treys developed Accommodations, a luxury home and exotic car rental company. The start-up is currently in beta and aims to not only offer vacation rentals, but to provide exclusive concierge services.
In 2021, the prevalence of NFTs took the crypto world by storm and according to data from Nonfungible.com, the total of all NFT transactions worldwide skyrocketed to more than $17 billion. From beloved projects featured on OpenSea, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Azuki, Cool Cats, and Invisible Friends, artists and collectors alike are embracing this movement as a new means of monetization while pushing the envelope of creativity.
Continuing his diversification into the fierce business world, Treys, as well as his friend Sako Waves and their team of masterminds dove headfirst into the NFT arena and spoke about a much-anticipated Kobe Bryant NFT project, KB24. Promising to donate 100 percent of the revenue generated to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, KB24 NFT is positioned to sell out within seconds of launch, and already has overcommitted presale reservation requests. “Kobe Bryant meant the world to me,” says Treys. “Anyone who knows me can tell you that. There’s so much room for the NFT community to give back to charities and make this world a better place. We’re not doing this for fame or fortune, we’re doing this because we want to extend Kobe’s legacy to the digital realm forever.”
While the Kobe-inspired NFT is still in its early development phases, Treys is on his way to becoming a significant member of the Web3 realm with a rapidly growing project, Cereal Club. Made up of 10,000 unique NFTs featuring charming cereal bowls, their own flavors, and unique characteristics like groovy sunglasses and sweet smirks, the project began minting on February 15, 2022 and sold out its whitelist just 24 hours after selling out the public auction. Cereal Club’s rarest NFT recently sold for over $16,000 and the brand recently announced via their Twitter page that they acquired Cereal.com to facilitate the sales of its direct-to-consumer line of cereals coming later in the year. “We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to execute on our vision for Cereal Club and deliver on every step in our roadmap,” says Treys.
Cereal Club doesn’t only have the cutest NFTs around, but they are actively moving to become a leader in the space, building on their fame with elite partnerships and events, including their first athlete Aaron Donald and a metadata game that gives members a chance to attend a private Coachella event hosted by Bella Thorne. In addition, there’s rumors amongst the club that Kim Kardashian just might be getting a bowl of her own. While not confirmed by Cereal Club or the Kardashian herself, she teased the group earlier this year, tweeting, “Nothing like ending the night with cereal.” The tweet was accompanied by a photo of herself in bed wearing a neon onesie with a bowl of cereal at her side. “We really want to be the NFT for everyone,” says Treys. “We want to provide the tools and education for everyone, to become the bridge between Web2 and Web3, and welcome more people into such a pivotal space.”
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