Dominic Gallego

Pilon School of Business
Program: Accounting
Year of Graduation: 2014
Year of Induction to Hall of Fame: 2023

Founder, Snaptique and Nomad Custom Trailers

Dominic Gallego (Accounting ’14) is a lifelong entrepreneur. He immigrated to Canada from the Philippines at the age of 16 and then, while still in high school, he set up his first business selling peameal bacon sandwiches, burgers, corn on the cob and lemonade at farmers’ markets.

Later, he continued his entrepreneurship journey and opened a café offering fair trade coffee. While studying at Sheridan, he joined his mother to buy into a Lunch Lady franchise, working early mornings to prepare the day’s deliveries before heading off to Sheridan to study.

He started Snaptique, his mobile photo booth company, during his last year at Sheridan when he tried to rent a photo booth for his upcoming marriage, but none was available. He created his own photo booth and realized that there was a huge demand for it among others looking to celebrate their special moments. He soon began turning trailers into custom photo opportunities, including a 1957 Airstream that became Canada's first photo booth in the iconic camper.

Just before the pandemic, Gallego started Nomad Custom Trailers, refurbishing old trailers and customizing them to suit the needs of his clients. When the pandemic hit, his business grew as the demand for campers and travel trailers soared. Today, he has built Nomad into a company with 14 employees and a 10,000 sq. ft. shop.

Gallego calls growing Nomad Customs a “rewarding and humbling” experience and he continues to take on a variety of tasks including designing, building the trailers, sales and customer support. He is now looking forward to finding new business opportunities in building off-the-grid campers and experiential marketing vehicles.

His businesses have also given him the opportunity to stay connected to – and grow – his family. His father works with him full time at Nomad, he continues to co‑own the Lunch Lady franchise with his mother, and he met his future wife at the coffee shop he owned a decade ago.