Brandi Passante
Brandi Passante
Brandi Leigh Passante (born 05/16/1980) is a reality television show personality, entrepreneur and mother based out of Orange County, California. She first gained notoriety for her role on the A&E Networks television show Storage Wars. [1]
Personal Life
Brandi Passante was born in Houston, Texas but moved to Orange County, California when she was only a Teenager. She met Jarrod Schulz while the two of them were working at a carpet cleaning service in 1999 and they continued with a committed relationship for over 15 years. Brandi and Jarrod have two children together, a daughter named Payton Schulz and a son named cameron Schulz. They also have a dog named Johnnie Walker Texas Ranger.
Brandi Passante has a passion for cooking that she ascribes to her Sicilian blood. Her favorite meal to make is chicken stroganoff. She's a big fan of classic rock and loves Van Morrison. Her favorite shows are Breaking Bad and Storage Wars. Brandi is also a baseball fan and shows love for the Texas Rangers. [7]
Unlike her on-screen persona, Brandi is incredibly shy in real life: [6]
"This may come as a surprise to some people, but I'm actually a very shy person.
I even get anxiety when I have to go out to the store or to the gas station because I'm afraid of people approaching me.
I was even shy as a child"
Career
Brandi worked at a carpet cleaning service for a while until she met her boyfriend Jarrod.
Jarrod found himself without work and started going to auctions at his aunt's storage compound.
It was there he was approached about the A&E Networks reality show, Storage Wars in 2010. Though the couple didn't hear anything for 8 months, one day Jarrod got a call from a producer asking if they could shoot in their shop. The producers liked Brandi when they arrived and the rest is history. [2]
The couple later started up a secondhand shop called Now and Then, located at 810 N Tustin St .
Orange, California.
Brandi has gone on to appear on Rachael Ray and she even had her own show with Jarrod called Brandi & Jarrod: Married to the Job for one season. [4]
Brandi Passante has contributed to several charitable causes and even emceed at an Arkansas-based event for Women's Own Worth that raised over $100,000 for victims of domestic violence and survivors of violent crime.[3]
Social Media
Brandi has a massive following on several social media outlets.
She has over 167,000 followers on Instagram where she's posted selfies, glamor shots, and photos with friends and family under the handle @brandipassante. She's even taken pictures with celebrities like Adam Carolla. On Twitter, she goes by the handle @brandipassante and has more than 160,000 followers. She also has more than 180,000 followers on her Facebook. [8][9]
Storage Wars
Brandi Passante became one of the most beloved characters on A&E's Storage Wars and quickly became known for starting static with other cast members, especially Dave Hester. She shared that Barry Weiss still stays in contact with her and Jarrod and they all occasionally hang out.
When asked what the weirdest thing she's ever found in a storage locker was, she replied that it was several baggies full of dog ashes:
"So we unlock them, and there's some form of powder in Ziploc bags.
I'm thinking cocaine off the bat.
But I'm holding it, I'm looking at it, and I was like, what is this?
And I realized that there was a dog tag on one of the boxes.
I was like, 'Oh my god, they're dogs!' They're dead dogs.
They're ashes from their dogs.
First I was grossed out.
Then I felt really guilty, so we sent them up front so [the owners of the locker's contents] could come and pick up their dogs."
In 2014, Brandi and Jarrod exited Storage Wars to focus on their own spinoff, Brandi & Jarrod: Married to the Job.
Brandi & Jarrod: Married to the Job
The show was meant to be a spinoff of the popular Storage Wars, offering a look into the lives of Jarrod Schulz and Brandi Passante. The two even got married for the series, the press release states: [4]
"In the new series “Brandi and Jarrod: Married to the Job,” viewers get a glimpse of their favorite “Storage Wars” couple outside of the auction game.
When the bidding stops, Brandi and Jarrod come home to Orange County, CA where their busy lives revolve around raising two children and managing their second-hand store.
After 15 years together, Brandi and Jarrod finally decide to tie the knot, and they approach wedding planning in a way that only they could: with a little love, a lot of bickering and constant detours along the way."
Revenge Porn Lawsuit
Brandi won a $750 case against a porn website that posted a fake video of her.
Although she was demanding $2.5 million, the lawsuit did culminate in the person's arrest.
The perpetrator, Hunter Moore, was charged with several federal crimes and was even stabbed with a pen by one of his victims. [3]