Brando Franco Windah (born 14 March 1992), better known by his online alias Windah Basudara or simply as Brando, is an Indonesian YouTuber and online streamer, best known for his video game live streaming and Let's Play videos on YouTube and noted for his comedic persona, he is also the brand ambassador for the Indonesian based esport organization Rex Regum Qeon since 2021.
Early life
Brando Franco Windah was born on 14 March 1992 in Manado, North Sulawesi, he is the second child of 4 siblings. He has two sisters, Florence and Caroline, and a younger brother, Vincent. He and his family moved and settle in Jakarta when Windah was still in Kindergarten, and grew up there. He attended SD Santo Vincentius elementary, SMP Marsudirini junior high and SMA Santo Bellarminus high school.
When Windah was in the eleventh grade, he was frequently bullied by his classmates, eventually leading him to quit school and work for his father as an internet café operator. His parents convinced him to continue his education to graduate with a diploma, so he later applied for a homeschooling program run by Kak Seto, an Indonesian Psychologist.
After graduating from high school, Windah went to college where he studied International relations for a Bachelor's degree (Strata-1 in Indonesian academic standard) at The London School of Public Relations (LSPR), but he had to drop out due to economic constraints.
In July 2022, his channel is hacked by a live streaming video showing an American bussinessman named Brad Garlinghouse
After quitting college, Windah began his working life as a waiter in a small café in Jakarta, where he earned around IDR 900,000 per month. He quit after only a month due to the low wage. Soon after, Windah started work at the Bluegrass restaurant in Kuningan, South Jakarta, where he was trained to be more professional, so his communication skills improved rapidly.
After three months at the Bluegrass, hotel officials from The Westin Jakarta Hotel visited the restaurant and Windah received an offer of work at the new five-star hotel due to open in the Gama Tower. Having decided to accept the offer, Windah quit his job at the restaurant. Because it was several months before The Westin Jakarta would open, he was unable to start immediately, so in the meantime, Windah had to find work in another restaurant.
Once working at the hotel, Windah earned a salary of around IDR 10,000,000. After approximately two and a half years working in the five-star hotel, Windah felt he was being passed over for promotion and decided that he did not want to remain in the same position any longer, so he resigned. He met his girlfriend Sesilia Agnes while still working at the hotel.
Windah decided working at a hotel was not where he wanted to be, he saw his future as a professional YouTuber, particularly in the gaming category.
Personal life
When Windah was in his freshman year in middle school, he experienced bullying by his schoolmates, this could have been due to his tall, lanky stature. He did not tell his parents because he felt ashamed to admit that others saw him this way. The bullying continued into high school which is why he decided to quit in second grade.
Career
Windah had been fond of playing video games since childhood. The first console he played on was a Nintendo NES. Since beginning elementary school, Windah was fond of his PlayStation 1 (PSX) and the RPG game Suikoden II.
Windah's interest in gaming continued into adulthood, although at that time he was working as a waiter in a five-star hotel. After he saw the success of YouTubers like MiawAug, he felt he had the potential to become a professional Gaming YouTuber and decided to resign from the hotel. To begin his new career, he bought an Asus ROG laptop for IDR 13,000,000, but he was still nervous about starting his own channel, so he planned to invite two of his siblings, Caroline and Vincent, so each could start their own channel at the same time. However, because they were still at school, he had no choice but to build a channel by himself. He created the channel Windah Basudara, taken from the family name, Windah and Basudara, which means 'brothers' in Manado language.