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“The quarry? It was literally a dump, with gnawed refrigerators, burned cars and old mattresses… and to be honest, when I saw it I said ‘this is not going to be viable’. But my husband, who is a telecom engineer and with spectacular spatial vision, encouraged me, ‘I think so.’ And we did it.”

The businesswoman Sandra García-Sanjuán, co-founder and owner of the Starlite Group describes a truly surprising moment: visualizing in that garbage dump a divo like Elton John or a genius like Paco de Lucía surrounded by crowds.

“We took two hundred trucks of garbage out of that quarry to which, since it was in the middle of the mountain, we had to add electricity and light. When we saw the quarry clean and illuminated, with the plants… it was incredible!”

“We created an oasis from a landfill”Sandra García-Sanjuán explains to MagasIN, describing the mythical natural setting of Malaga to which, for more than a decade, artists from all over the world have come every summer.

Sometimes the economic aspect of show-business Spanish is overlooked: but the Starlite festival will generate more than 227 million euros in this 2022 edition and more than a thousand direct jobs.

This festival would be the most important in Spain in economic impact, according to data from the APM (Association of Music Promoters), 46% above the next. An event that sells tickets in 80 countries and has grown to a production company, a retail company with brands created by different celebrities and a Foundation, the group’s social project.

‘Woman Leader 2021’ Award

García-Sanjuán, who received the Chamber of Commerce ‘Woman Leader 2021’ award for placing Andalusia, and specifically Malaga, as a focal point for international tourism – even when tour operators choose this destination to create their tourist packages.

She remembers how “from a young age I knew that I wanted to be a businesswoman, because my grandfather had been a great businessman, promoter of tourism in the Canary Islands. They called him ‘the crazy man of the Americas’ because he had dared to set up a hotel on the beach of the Americas, in the middle of nowhere and managed to boost tourism in that entire area.”

The idea

For García-Sanjuán, “the new generations, one after another, continue the legacy left by the previous ones, that happens very often. My father was also a great businessman and he taught me the importance of taking care of the people around you.”

Why Marbella?

First, because I have spent my summers there since I was little, all my memories in Marbella are wonderful. My mother is from Madrid and to get my father out of the Canary Islands, we said that it was necessary to put ‘a sea in the middle’ so that he could disconnect.

Also because we started doing the gala with Antonio and, two years later, we realized that Marbella was in a good moment precisely because of absence: I knew the splendor of Marbella, and at that moment nothing was happening, the truth is that was not obvious…

Are good opportunities generally not obvious, in your opinion?

When something does not exist, when it is not being done, an opportunity arises. We realized that Marbella was one of the most attractive places, and Starlite was conceived that way from the beginning, as a festival with international intention.

When something is not there, the opportunity arises

The idea of ​​Starlite also had to do with its previous artist booking agency… Yes, I had already set up Avory Celebrity Access at a very young age, a company for booking artists around the world, for brand image, public appearances. …

Do you maintain this activity? Some example

Yes, well we have done everything, even taking Clinton to give a conference in Cairo.

Is working with well-known people as complicated as they say?

Sometimes it can be complicated, but I am lucky that some of them are friends after working together for many years.

The birth of Starlite

The project began “with a very powerful solidarity paw and soon, in two years, it needed a business structure,” says its founder. “The first year with the gala there was brutal success, notice that in 2010 we were in a crisis, but it had enormous acceptance.”

“We lost money, that’s true, that first year, but we realized that we positioned ourselves very well,” he says. George Benson, Julio Iglesias, Raphael, Simple Mind, Rosario, Lolita y Carmona, Tony Benett… García-Sanjuán’s agenda worked a miracle from the beginning with a stellar poster that repeats annually.

“One year’s ceiling is the next year’s floor.” he jokes. This summer, Starlite is in its 11th edition (from June 3 to September 3, Luis Fonsi, Diana Krall, Christina Aguilera and Serrat perform at Starlite, among many other artists) and this is probably, in his opinion, “thanks to having “started at such a strange time when nothing was being done.”

Now the duration you have decided for Starlite is three months?

Yes, before it lasted two, well, in 2020 we decided to only do one month due to the pandemic, but since last year we did three months, we realized that people accepted it very well and we decided to keep them.

From the beginning, did you consider the festival as something so big?

In life, phrases like ‘I’m going to try and see how it turns out’ don’t count for anything, if we were like that it wouldn’t have worked. I just think that tests never work, you either go for it or you don’t. In life you have to bet, fears are the most limiting thing there is.

Who is Starlite’s audience?

Very varied. Starlite has something very curious, a very familiar, healthy environment, something special. Where in the world can you go out for a night out with your parents and grandparents? The only place I know where 18 or 20 year old children ask their parents for that is here.

“When people are happy, there is something physical, that sparkle in the eyes is real”

Some of your best friends are, for example, Antonio Banderas, José María Cano or Valeria Mazza. What are they like in private?

When you live with them you know their most human side, what they feel and what motivates them. I always say that I have had the great privilege in this life of having met people and not just characters.

Antonio Banderas is a ten, generous, well, look, he starts doing theater in Malaga, and he does two performances on a Sunday, charging what any actor would, to get a project forward, so that Malaga is positioned as a cultural capital, so that there is art.

Valeria Mazza, you can’t imagine what it’s like, everything she does for social work, for the hospitals, she is very involved. José María Cano is my best friend and a genius, who will be studied in books next century, I am sure.

Are these famous people especially charismatic?

What makes them so special and magical and why do crowds follow them as if they were spiritual guides… I don’t think it’s because of the frivolous part, it’s because there is something inside them that generates that magnetism. They are extraordinary people.

Is there then what they call ‘stage presence’?

I believe a lot in energies and that there are people who have this gift of brutal connection, it is not a question of whether the voice is better or worse. They get on stage and generate a light and shine that inspires many people and with their performance they make people levitate and be completely happy.

I like to stand from the stage and see the eyes of the audience like glowing fireflies. When people are happy, there is something physical, that sparkle in the eyes is real, and I continue to feel very lucky to be part of that magic and when many people tell me that at Starlite that happens every night, that they have experienced one of the most magical moments of your life, I love it.

What would your dream be?

On a philanthropic level, my dream is to unite the strength of many artists around me, not only in music, but also in cinema and fashion, and to be able to make transformative changes in the world because by uniting we can do incredible things, recover values. and the spirituality that the world needs.

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