SA son's kind gesture to help his mom before holidays goes viral on Twitter

SAN ANTONIO – What started out as a simple tweet in an attempt to help his mom overcome slow business ended with San Antonio native Moses Castellano becoming a worldwide star in a matter of just two days.

His tweet read: “Hey y'all, my mom moved salons recently and because of that she isn't getting the same amount of customers as she used to. She's a self-employed cosmetologist and has loved doing hair professionally for the last 30 years. Please rt (retweet) so she can gain some potential customers. Tysm (thank you so much)!!”

Castellano, 19, told KSAT.com that he thought of the idea after having a conversation with his mom, Liliana, about this year’s holidays and how her recent efforts to gain new customers had been failing since her relocation. 

“The day before I tweeted, we were talking about the upcoming holiday season and I was like, ‘Well, how’s work going?’” Castellano said. “She said, ‘Well, we have our dedicated clients, but it’s been a little slow right now.’”

With just a little over 500 followers made up primarily of friends, Castellano said he figured his tweet was destined to be only shared within his inner circle and never considered the thought of it going viral. 

Hours after tweeting, Castellano said he received notification after notification that surpassed well over a few hundred retweets and likes by the end of Tuesday night. 

“That night, it just kept going, and I was hanging out with some friends and they were like, ‘Why are you on your phone?’ And I was like, ‘I’m trying to keep up with all these notifications’… it was intense,” Castellano told KSAT.com.

Andrea's Hair Design owner Roger Sawyer said Moses's tweet for his mom was "awesome to see" and is excited to see the people from all over visit his family-owned business of 47 years.

Castellano said his “wow” moment came when one of San Antonio’s most well-known celebrities quote retweeted his tweet a little over 24 hours after he posted about his mom. 

“I was like, Shea (Serrano) is obviously pretty famous in San Antonio, so I was kind of completely overwhelmed,” Castellano said. “It’s amazing because he (Serrano) doesn’t even know us, so for him to support us like this, that’s crazy and we’re so grateful for it.”

At the time of writing this story, Castellano’s tweet has received over 61,000 retweets and nearly 70,000 likes on Twitter.

The tweet has been shared all across the world, from Miami to Mexico to New Jersey, and even across the ocean in the Philippines and in Spain. 

Liliana Castellano said the impact of her son’s kind gesture was quickly felt after she trimmed the hair of a girl who said she saw the viral tweet and had to pay the salon a visit the next day.

“It’s amazing! I’ve seen some of (the comments), but I’ve been overwhelmed that I can’t read everything. It’s just been amazing,” Liliana said.

With Christmas just around the corner, Liliana, 50, was asked by KSAT.com if this is the best gift her son could ever give her.

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“Yes, it’s one of them because he’s an awesome son. He’s a good son (and) he’s always looking out for us, you know, in what we do,” Liliana said. “He’s a good, good person.”

“I try to do everything I can for her that’ll support her and that’ll help her co-workers. She’s probably one of the strongest women I know, and like any other mother-and-son (relationship), we don’t always see eye-to-eye,” Moses said. 

“But I love her to death and I’ll go to the end of the Earth for her."

Moses said because many people have been scheduling appointments with his mom over Twitter, he’s had to learn how to balance life not only as a Palo Alto college student, but also currently as his mom’s secretary.

EMAIL: agarcia@ksat.com