Brenes was born in Nicaragua and illegally entered the United States in 1985 when he was nine years of age. Brenes has explained that during the Contra war, his mother had been shot in the face and had entered the US, as she urgently required surgery. Brenes traveled by bus with his aunt and uncle, who both eventually relocated to Miami, Florida, US, to reunite with his mother. Brenes was introduced to skateboarding around 1988/1989 when he observed other young males skating on a quarterpipe ramp; Brenes' first proper board was a Bryce Kanights signature model when Kanights was with the Madrid company; Brenes purchased the used board from another young skateboarder for US$15.
Professional skateboarding
After disseminating his first "sponsor-me" video tape, the young Nicaraguan skateboarder received attention from established companies: "After that, I started getting boards flowed from companies like 8Ball and Real. But all it ended up taking was for Jovontae to make one phone call. I remember him going across the street from Embarcadero to that phone booth right there. He made the call and just like that, I was on World." In 1992, at the age of sixteen years, Brenes became a professional skateboarder—he celebrated his twenty-year anniversary as a professional skateboarder in 2012. Alongside Daewon Song, Daniel Castillo, Shilo Greathouse, and Jovontae Turner, Brenes was an original member of the World Industries team, his first sponsor, and appeared in the now-famous Love Child video. In June 1997, Brenes appeared on the front cover of Thrasher magazine executing a trick known as a "backside tailslide", after first traversing a gap. In 2011, Brenes released a shoe model with one of his major sponsors, DVS Shoes; the shoe was released on Cinco De Mayo of that year, in recognition of his children's heritage, as they are half-Mexican. Brenes stated in the period prior to the shoe's release date, "This is probably the best shoe I ever helped design for DVS. I really like the way it looks, feels and skates. Sometimes it's hard to get all those things in a shoe. I'm stoked that we were able to pull that off. Try them; I guarantee you will love them." In a 2011 interview, fellow professional skateboarder Diego Bucchieri informed Brenes that a flip trick, named the "Chicoflip", is named after Brenes—the trick is a "nollie backside heelflip".
Sponsors
As of 2019, Brenes is sponsored by Independent Trucks, LRG,, Remind Insoles, Autobahn, and Central. After 24 years, Chico Brenes leaves Chocolate Skateboards — In his 7x7 part, he is seen riding Adidas shoes and his guest board on Krooked Skateboards.
In 2009, Brenes decided to " back to the country that helped make him who he is" and he opened the Central Skate Shop in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. He aimed to provide affordable skate equipment for locals and to use his celebrity to push for the construction of local skateparks. Brenes' cousin runs the shop, the country's first-ever skate shop, while Brenes himself manages the purchase of product in the United States to ensure products are not counterfeit. In late 2012, Brenes led the LRG clothing skateboard team on the "El Gallo Pinto" skateboard tour that visited Nicaragua. Team riders such as Billy Marks, Tommy Sandoval, and Tom Asta performed at live demonstrations in a series of events that was warmy welcomed by the country's skateboarding fans, as such tours are a rare event for Nicaraguans.
Personal life
Brenes is a father of two and has revealed that he is most mistaken for a person of Mexican descent.
