The Beginning
The story of Hydro begins with Andre Walker having two childhood dreams the first one is he wanted to play college basketball and build a business. Andre Walker is a fifth-generation New Yorker who’s great grandfather Dudley migrated to NYC shortly after the Civil War. Andre didn’t come from a family of business owners, but in 5th grade Andre tried to start his first business an arcade & in 6th grade he tried to sell a video game idea to a gaming company. Unsuccessful in both attempts Andre began playing basketball with hopes of getting a scholarship. During basketball summer camp in 1995 he got his next business idea develop a sleepaway basketball camp. He went on to play college basketball in 1998. Relocating to Miami FL a week before 9/11 Andre’s dreams of being a business owner had gone away until he met his first business mentor who agreed to hire him.
Andre worked for the business investor selling sponsorships for Tuesday Night Fights on ESPN 2. In 2007 Andre was one step closer to his dream when his mentor asked to work along-side him developing a media company in the U.S. & Latin America. The company broadcasted sports events in Central & South America and the creation of a television series focused on health & preventive medicine. In 2009 with the information & education Andre learned during the time he worked with his mentor he set off to develop a health & wellness company that would help athletes recover faster and help seniors live a longer more active life based around nutritional medical exams and supplements he would work along -side Doctor’s & researchers to create.
In November 2012, Andre was invited to USA Track & Field convention in Daytona Beach, FL and within 10 min of setting up his table and giving away samples he was asked to pack up & leave because no one was allowed to sell supplements to athletes at the convention. At the next table was a lady whom he met the previous night looked exhausted so Andre offered her an all-natural energy supplement. At the end of the day she wanted to meet to learn more about his products. Before he left to go to the meeting he felt to take a bottle of his water with him. While showing products she saw the water & the conversation changed to who’s water is that and what does it do? Andre began to tell share how it helped prevent cramps and dehydration, which lead to being asked if he would go to give a presentation in Orlando to organizers of for youth sports events.
Several months later Andre was contacted by a Sports Medicine physician at Emory Healthcare in Georgia to provide Tucker Highschool football with Hydro. The previous seasons the team suffered heat exhaustion, cramping and other sports related injuries due to the heat. Andre worked with the team for the season and as a result the team experienced no cramping or dehydration problems for the season. That’s how Hydro was born…