El Rorro, an influencer of God, a devotee of the Virgin Mary, a Catholic even by his eyes, with millions of followers on all his social networks
For many the perfect boy, with the perfect voice, the ideal boy who falls in love with more than one, but for God, Rorro is a simple, humble and wounded being, sometimes with a broken heart and with a mission to fulfill.
A boy full of hope who is breaking it on social networks with his innovative content and with a pinch of Catholic flavor. El Rorro opened the doors of his house and his heart to us, to get to know him a little more and taught us how to overcome vanity and pride in social networks that obsess everyone.
–Rorro, tell us your full name and where you are from.
My name is Rodrigo Chávez Navarro, but my friends call me Rorro. And I’m from a city in the north of Mexico called Torreón, Coahuila: it’s a desert area, small and has around a million inhabitants and, for that reason, the people are very fraternal, family-oriented and give everything. I really like the family.
–It has already become your personal brand, but where did “El Rorro” come from?
That’s how it is. Many people know me and think that the name of Rorro is my artist name, but in reality it was born when I was little, I played soccer in primary school, and a friend’s mother yelled at me: “Come on Rorro!” And so, all the people, including my family, started calling me Rorro. And when I came to study in Monterrey and started making videos, I decided to keep the name to keep in mind where I come from.
Is it part of your identity?
Totally. When I was writing my first book I asked my friends: “How do I publish it? Like Rodrigo Chávez or like Rorro Chávez? And a friend told me: “El Rorro is very informal.” But I didn’t want to be formal, I wanted to be Rorro and I feel I have my style, that I can be formal and professional, but also relaxed and youthful.
Did you imagine that you could have this impact?
Never. I never imagined that I would be reaching so many people. I did have the thorn or the seed when I was little, when social networks did not yet exist, that I could do great things, but I did not imagine this impact.
Tell me a little about your family background.
I come from a large family. We are five brothers and I am the youngest, the pilón as we say in Mexico, almost a child by mistake.
My brothers are several years apart from me and this greatly influenced my way of being because, being the youngest, I learned a lot from my older brothers and everyone protected me, took care of me and treated me well.
My parents were already grown up and that’s why I think they were very experienced with me, I feel like they educated me with a lot of freedom. And I also believe that all this: the love, the education they gave me, the values and the advice of my brothers and brothers-in-law, shaped me as I am.
How do you define yourself? What are the talents that God has given you?
I struggle to define myself. When I go to a conference I tell them that I am a content creator, speaker, author, entrepreneur and, lately, I say that I am an athlete. But I think the one that stands out the most is that I consider myself a son, a son of a family, a son of God.
Speaking of the talents, what I do feel that God shared with me or that he gave me to be able to use it, is the way of synthesizing the information. I am good at learning and understanding information and then sharing it.
I am also good at communicating, it is a talent that I have been developing better and better. Another talent that I also consider to be very Godly are social skills.
I was always very good at making friends, I got along with everyone and that, years later, pays off because now I turn around and all the friends I have made along the way say that I have always been at my best. I believe that all charisms come from God and what we have to do is keep improving them to give them to the world.
Do you think your physique is part of the impact you’ve had?
They once told me that my videos worked because I had blue eyes and I answered them with a video in which I say: “You see my videos because I have blue eyes, so we’re going to take your face off.”
I covered my face, narrated a story and the video reached millions of views. What I’m going for is that I don’t feel more than others, it’s just that for the beauty stereotypes of Mexican and Latin American culture, I might stand out.
I don’t feel anymore, but if that helps people listen to the message I bring, great, to use it in the best possible way.
Yes, there are many temptations and it is something that, since the videos hit me, I am afraid of being like a famous boxer who wins a few fights and starts spending all his money on vices; That is why I take great refuge in our religion. I go to retreats because I recognize myself as weak and I know that I can fall, in addition, that I can strengthen my convictions, my beliefs, my values and I feel strong and firm. I take care to be responsible with the message and with the life I want to lead.
How do you deal with fame and women?
The closer I am to God, the stronger I feel. I receive all kinds of messages and not all of them are tempting, but when they are, I ask myself: what do I gain? I want that for my life? Do I want to go that way or the chastity way? The flesh is weak, but with prayer, discernment, and my support group, I come back to reality.
Do you dream of the woman you would like to marry?
I have always been lovesick. I went out with many girls but, right now, what I am looking for with chastity is to work on self-control, fidelity towards that person, control of my impulses and focus on what I want. It has been quite a struggle and I have been sharing it on my social networks.
Right now I feel very convinced that the more I work on myself, on being better and on my holiness, I will be more prepared to receive it. I used to say that I didn’t want her to be so Catholic, but I went out with several girls who weren’t and I understood that I had to be.
It makes sense to me that the future mother of my children has my same beliefs and encourages me to reach God.
What has been the darkest moment of your life?
The subject that cost me the most, perhaps due to a chemical imbalance, is that of the conferences. The fact of first being with a hundred, two hundred, a thousand people, and everyone coming to ask you for a photo and suddenly coming to your room and being alone… that loneliness felt very ugly.
I know it happens to many speakers, that’s why I say the chemical imbalance, because we come from receiving a lot of oxytocin and then we are alone. Those moments were difficult. Later I attended a retreat of the Holy Spirit and my wounds were discovered. I realized that I had a rejection wound and I cried a lot because I understood that, perhaps, I have done many things to belong. The beautiful thing is that, when you know you have it, you can work on it.
Which character do you recognize yourself with?
With the cirineo, because he is someone who is passing by; he is a good guy who is suddenly put to carry the Cross of a stranger (Jesus) and can share the suffering with Him and then love him. I recognize myself a lot with him because I am a fan of Holy Week, and this past Holy Week I felt that God asked me to internalize and I went to some spiritual exercises in a silent retreat, a retreat that I had never done and from which I left very excited. . So, I am the Cyrenian who was distracted in other matters and suddenly God called him.
How do you overcome pride, vanity in social networks?
It’s crazy. To date I have 509 thousand followers on Instagram, 1 million on Facebook, 53 thousand on YouTube, 112 thousand on Twitter and 315 thousand on TikTok. I know the figures because I am constantly checking.
I struggle with comparison, but I try to see my own path and silence what I compare myself to. Vanity on the other hand, like it or not, you know its limits when you cross them.
I recently shared a photo where I went shirtless and it had a lot of likes, but my spiritual director spoke to me and said: “Hey kid, you missed the photo.” That helps me correct my mistakes. But what I confess to most often is arrogance, because many times I think that no one else can teach me and I have to be open to learning from anyone, of any age. The thing about all this is to ask: how can I be a better instrument?
El Rorro teaches us how to overcome pride and vanity in social networks