Tomas

An autobiography(ito) of Tomás C.

(contact info | linkedin)
I highly suggest that you read the “about this site” page

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This is my rather poor attempt at an autobiography. In the interest of privacy and not wanting to bore anyone to death, I will keep this rather short.Many people may expect me to be an expert of all things Hispanic-Latino but I can easily that while I am an expert in a variety of areas, I am always learning stuff here on HispanicTips every single day. Please join me on this adventure that I call HispanicTips.

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I started this site when I couldn’t find all the information and news that I knew was out there about Hispanics and Latinos in any single spot. After a year, I realized that this site was unique and needed. I am proud to have started and maintained this site (trust me, not an easy job), collecting thousands of news items to create a useful tool for my community. I am very passionate about this site and I am looking forward to the future and what it may bring both myself and HispanicTips.I like to think of my greatest skill as creative inteligencia. I am proud to do what I am doing.

Here is what I do / who I am.

• I am your host surfing on my own adventure and sharing it with you.
• I am a voice to be heard - with a million people viewing my work a year
• I am a new media maven - an advocate of technology adoption for Hispanics - see CIMS
• I am a character to be known - a Hispanic-Latino-Human - wearing my heart on my sleeve.
• I am very creative - I see what I do as creating collages of Hispanic & Latino news & info and presenting it in different ways so you can stay informed easily
• I am perhaps the single best aggregation blogger covering a single subject
• I am a writer (sort of) - I have written all the copy on this site (don’t laugh)
• I am a designer - creating the look, feel and usefulness of this site
• I am an organizer - organizing every post by category, date and/or geography - check out the site map
• I am a coder - working with xhtml, css, php, mysql, & javascript
• I am a marketer/promoter - of Hispanic & Latino news & info and this site.
• I am a salesman - selling advertising, seeking sponsors to keep the site (my dream) moving forward.
• I am a communicator and networker - dealing with a wide variety of people

I am a Hispanic Gen-Xer. I was born and bred in Chicago to a mother of Mexican descent and an American father. Unfortunately, I grew up not speaking Spanish as it wasn’t as politically correct back then. Today, I can hold a converstation, but in my own estimation my Spanish sucks. Solo falta practica, supongo. Dos meses en Mexico estaria perfecto.

I was very lucky to attend good schools and have good parents, family and friends. Yes things good and bad have occurred in my life and I am sure more will come. Either way I am still here, laughing but now back in Missouri. (I was in LA for 4 months at the end of 2007) - Who knows where I might go next.

Some highlights of my life in no particular order

• Running a mile in 4:36
• Winning a watermelon eating contest
• Studying abroad in Spain
• Anytime I can really really see all the stars in the sky
• Canoeing in the Quetico
• Selling over 100 original drawings
• The day I discovered how much I love cow-tongue tacos
• Surpassing 30,000 posts at HispanicTips - October 4th, 2007
• Having a crazy water fight with my friends in my house
• Having over 2 million people viewing websites I have developed each year
• Anytime I can spend on a beach
• Visiting Palenque and Aqua Azul in Mexico
• 113 degrees in Spain
• -27 degrees in Chicago (or is this a lowlight)
• Driving to Colorado in a $25 car in the winter.
• The Indiana Dunes

Professionally, I have designed and developed websites since 1998. I have been/am an artist. I practically grew up in a TV station. I have worked in a radio station, a newspaper and Higher Education with various duties. I have waited tables and served food. I am an Aquarius, single and left-handed and still have plenty of hair on my head.

Niche New Media is the company I started just for HispanicTips but I anticipate there will be other projects soon since I have a knack for creating websites to solve my problems when I have the time and entrepreneurialism runs in my family, especially the Mexican side.

I wrote this for the New Year 2007.

We, like you, are a diverse group of human beings.

We, like you, are essential to this country and planet.

We aren’t just here or there, we are everywhere.

There are 44 million of us living in the US.

That is 14% of this country’s population and by 2050, that number will jump to almost 25%.

We already are 20% of Americans aged 34 and younger.

60% of us aren’t immigrants at all. We were born here.

We are the fastest-growing segment of the electorate nationwide.

Our combined purchasing power will soon top $1 trillion.

Some of us only speak English, some only Spanish, but many use both to varying degrees.

Immigration is a complex issue that needs to be intelligently addressed on a national level.

We, like you, are a diverse group of human beings.

We, like you, are essential to this country and planet.

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