The Hispanic Caucus of the NYYRC awarded radio host Rich Valdes for Hispanic Heritage Month. Valdes is a prominent LatinX broadcaster seen on various news and commentary outlets and the host of This Is America with Rich Valdes.
Valdes started his radio career in 2009 voicing advertisements for the college he worked for. After a stint working for the governor of the State of New Jersey (2011-2013) and being appointed as an advisor to the State’s Center for Hispanic Policy Research and Development (2017), he broke into the New York City talk radio market in 2018.
Since then Valdes has built a loyal following of listeners to daily talk shows and weekend programs he’s hosted on WABC, WLIR, and WPHT. He is also a familiar face on Newsmax TV, Discovery UK, and regularly guest hosts nationally syndicated radio shows like The Mark Levin Show and The Jim Bohannon Show.
In his remarks, Valdes shared his personal success story which started with very humble beginnings in Brooklyn, NY with his Puerto Rican-born parents and his journey through poverty and politics. Valdes’ sense of humor isn’t lost on anyone in the room as he references himself as an O.G. and clarifies that this stands for “Original Gordito” (the Spanish term for chubby) not the slang initialism for Original Gangster.
He also shared about two foreign graduate students who said that America wasn’t good anymore and reminded the audience at the NYYRC clubhouse in midtown manhattan, “America is still great! And if we work hard we can still achieve the American dream!”
The New York Young Republic Club was founded in 1911 and is the oldest chapter in the country and its Hispanic Caucus represents Club members whose cultural diversity spans 20 countries. The Caucus’ primary purpose is to unite Hispanic Americans towards one cause; to grow their presence within the organization.
