Robert J. Renteria, Jr. can be considered a modern day Hispanic Horatio Alger. His raza rags-to-riches story is one that legends are made of. He has indeed transcended socio-economic class though hard work, word, deed, and life example. He has taken himself from the barrio to the boardroom. For him this media platform is only the beginning. He intends to take his message of hope to break the cycle of hopelessness for those young people like him, bound with a tradition of failure.
Renteria is from East L.A. where he was abandoned by his substance abusing father. As a young man he became involved with the social Darwinism of street life: he gang banged, dealt and used drugs, dropped out of high school, and went from one money hustle, dead end job to another. Many Latinos have been plagued with this cycle of hopelessness and used despair as an excuse. But not Robert.
Robert said, “I wrote the book From The Barrio to the Boardroom, I realized that we have children, teenagers, and adults alike walking around in a culture of darkness so I decided to do something about it, and so I wrote the book”.
The book chronicles Robert’s sometimes one-step-forward-two-steps-back unrelenting quest for business success. “The barrio book is a message of hope and dreams. There are no victims, only those who refuse to make a choice. If we believe we can overcome seemly impossible obstacles, we can. My objective is to show young people how it is done. My book has and will help people understand that there are no shortcuts and the secret to success has been and always will be hard work.”
Everything became different for Renteria as a young man upon learning that his estranged father had died in a half-way house on skid row. Robert resolved not to go out like his dad did. He decided right then and there to start making better choices in his life. The best choice for him at that time was to join the Army and learn discipline. He said, “The Army helps build character and helps you learn about honor and dedication for yourself, your peers, and your country. The word ‘commitment’ sticks with me when I think about the military. I learned a lot about standing tall, facing my fears and giving my all unconditionally, not just for myself, but also for the men and women that served with me.”
After honorably serving seven years in the United States Army as a Special Forces Green Beret, he returned home from serving his country and found himself back at square one. The old homeboys he had left behind were in the same place doing the same things, no doubt spinning their wheels in the mire of desperation and incarceration. Robert recalled, “I remember my grandfather used to say to me, ‘Dime quien son tus amigos, y te digo quien eres.’ This means, ‘Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.’ I knew then that I needed to leave LA and start my life all over again.”
Robert moved to Chicago slept on the floor of an acquaintance. He talked his way into a job at a laundry management and sales company. This eventually led to a position as vice president of a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. His trajectory is aimed at success and he has never looked back until now. Through his new book he has dedicated his life to sharing his story with thousands of other people around the world so that they, too, can help break the cycle of poverty through hard work and determination.
He said, “I would like to come back home to LA. I miss my family. I want to inspire kids so they can spread their wings and fly. The book has been very well received; a miracle in action. It has been embraced by everyone regardless of age, race, religion or economic background. I am planning to release a Spanish language version in September and a follow up book is on the drawing board.”
Several groups are using his barrio book as a teaching tool in conjunction with a curriculum written by the Chicago Public School District.
“We are also in discussions currently to release a From The Barrio To the Boardroom play in February of 2010 that will be co-Produced and performed by yours truly.”
For those of you who have young adults in your arena of influence, get them to read “From The Barrio To the Boardroom.” It could be all the inspiration they need.
- Twitter: Al Carlos, book
- Wikipedia: Al Carlos, book
- YouTube: Al Carlos, book
- Google: Al Carlos, book
- Google News: Al Carlos, book
- Bing: Al Carlos, book
- Bing News: Al Carlos, book
- Yahoo: Al Carlos, book
- Wordpress.com: Al Carlos, book
- Ask.com Blog Search: Al Carlos, book
Knowledge is Power and this page is just the start. Hispanics/Latinos are a growing diverse force in this country. Check out some of the 54,809 items found on this site below or dig into the Site Map
Best of the Rest
- November 23, 2009
- No Probable Cause? No Problem!: A U.S. Citizen Says He Was Detained Without Probable Cause by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, and Then Jailed for Traffic Violations
- New breast cancer screening guide will disproportionately hurt black and Hispanic women
- Women and Minorities Getting Left Out of Green Job Market, New Study Finds
- Americans Running South: Why We are Flocking to Mexico for Work
- On the mayor’s agenda: ‘Civilize’ Mexico City – Marcelo Ebrard
- Wild Horse Activists Fly Banner Over Denver Calling Salazar “Slaughter Czar”
- In Argentina, One Person Dies Every 28 Hours from Police Repression
- Lou Dobbs Calls Himself Latinos’ ‘Greatest Friend,’ Denies Tying Leprosy To Undocumented Immigrants – Interviewed by Maria Celeste on Telemundo’s Al Rojo Vivo
- November 21, 2009
- A federal judge dismissed dozens of immigration charges Thursday against the former manager of a kosher slaughterhouse, at the request of prosecutors who had already won a conviction on multiple counts of financial fraud. – Postville news
- Meg Whitman’s Latino Outreach & the Pete Wilson Connection – CA politics
- Poetry Series Spurs Debate on the Use of an Old Slur Against Latinos – “Spic Up/Speak Out” — at El Museo del Barrio
- Marco Rubio, A Crossover Success – (good read)
- A fire destroyed 106 houses in the Ecuadorian Pacific coast city of Guayaquil and left more than 500 people homeless, as well as 14 children with symptoms of smoke inhalation.
- LatAm Immigrants Are Changing Spain, Sociologist Says
- Mexico’s top domestic security official said Friday that sectors of the general public have cooperated with drug cartels in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, and the government is about to launch new social programs there to combat gangs.
- Pro-Castro mob attacks spouse of top Cuban blogger – Yoani Sánchez
- Miguel H. Díaz is first Hispanic to represent U.S. at Vatican
- Efrain’s Corner: A Response to….”Puerto Ricans in New York Struggling…Still” Comment
- Puerto Ricans in New York Struggling…Still – Puerto Ricans are some of the most prominent figures in New York politics and culture, so some people are surprised when they hear that, overall, Puerto Ricans are among the poorest and least educated New Yorkers. Almost a third in New York are living in poverty.
- Lalo Alcaraz on Lou Dobbs (departure from CNN)
- November 20, 2009
- Police in Peru say gang members killed people to drain their fat for cosmetics
- Mexican authorities predict fewer Mexican immigrants will be back home for Christmas
- Interview with Aurora Anaya-Cerda, owner of La Casa Azul Bookstore – NYC
- We need an honest definition of who is a “real American”
- Immigration Reform: The Phone Call Heard Around the Country – On the call were Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.; Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.; and Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz. Immigrant rights advocates from various parts of the country also spoke.
- Digital out-of-home (DOOH) Effectively Reaches Latinos On The Go – few marketers truly utilized digital media when reaching out to the Hispanic community.
- A week after abruptly quitting his longtime job as a CNN television news host and commentator, Lou Dobbs said on Thursday he is considering career options including possible runs for the White House or U.S. Senate.
- ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton announces 1,000 new workplace audits to hold employers accountable for their hiring practices
- In Virtual Town Hall with Immigration Reform Activists, Gutierrez Promises Bill By December
- Economic Blame Game: U.S. Unemployment is Not Caused by Immigration
- November 19, 2009
- Shakira Refuses To Do Interviews In Spanish
- BMI Foundation Announces Opening of 7th Annual peermusic Latin Scholarship Competition
- Video: Sofia Vergara’s “Modern Family” Costar Trashes her on “Chelsea Lately”
- The Cuban band Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro can legitimately claim to be inventors of salsa. But it last played in the United States when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, and there was no telling when it might be able to return — until the very slightest hint of a thaw in cultural relations between the United States and Cuba quietly brought the band to New York early this month.
- Mexico’s Drug Violence Gives Rise To Vigilantism
- The wave of crime besetting Puerto Rico seems to be out of control with 800 murders being committed here so far this year, but the island’s top police official says the problem does not fall exclusively within his department.
- The University of Panama indefinitely suspended classes on Wednesday after confrontations between students and police during a protest against alleged U.S. involvement in plans to build new military installations.
- There are 16 million children in immigrant families in the United States
- Over the last 3 years, high schools that received the lowest marks from the city have been the ones with the highest percentages of poor, black and Hispanic students, despite an evaluation system that was meant to equalize differences among student bodies, according to an analysis by The New York Times of school grades released this week.
- Who seriously wants the Cuban trade embargo?
Latest Essentials
- November 23, 2009
- New Study: U.S. Hate Crimes Fall Slightly In ‘08; But Data Is Limited
- San Antonio’s Museo Alameda in financial straits
- It is Better to “Spic”? When Were Ricans Ever the Model Minority?
- Al Carlos sits down with Nancy De Los Santos, writer. Period.
- Guapa, it’s your genetic ancestry I love – study of DNA found that within Mexican populations, people tended to pick partners with similar proportions of Native American and European ancestry, while in Puerto Rican populations couples had paired up based on their shared balance of European and African ancestry.
- November 21, 2009
- Hispanic Caucus: ‘You Lie!’ Outburst to Blame for Senate Health Bill Provision on Illegal Immigrants
- Central American nations will demand $105 billion from industrialized countries for damages caused by global warming, the region’s representatives said on Friday.
- “They” Are “Us”: The Devastating Effects of Broken Immigration Policy on Children in Immigrant Families
- November 20, 2009
- Hispanic lawmakers say an old adversary, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, has his fingerprints all over a push to prohibit illegal immigrants from buying health insurance plans in a new market for people who don’t get insurance through their employers.
- Some U.S. Democrats see momentum building for an overhaul of immigration laws that would legalize millions of undocumented workers, but analysts say a crowded agenda and struggling economy may once again sink hopes for reform next year.
- The current global crisis will cause the number of poor people in Latin America to rise by 9 million to 189 million this year, the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said in a report presented on Thursday.
- Do Long Island Police Ignore Hate Crimes?
- Mexican migrants are spending more money on taxes in the United States than on the remittances they send home to relatives, according to a new study by Mexico’s largest bank, BBVA Bancomer.
- Ana Maria Perez Gonzalez, said to be the oldest woman in the world, died in Mexico this week. She was 119.
- Part of a Cuban blogger’s essay that advocates lifting the ban on U.S. travel to Cuba was read aloud at a House Foreign Affairs committee hearing. – Yoani Sánchez
- November 19, 2009
- TOP Ten reasons you should watch Lopez tonight not Conan
- Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Report Finds Immigrants Hit Harder During Economic Downturn than Native-Born Workers
- After a 3 year trial of producing regionalized news for several top 10 Hispanic market stations via the Telemundo Production Center in Dallas, the network is reverting to producing local news. Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Phoenix and San Jose will once again have locally produced news.
- Nacional Records Sampler 2009 | The New Sounds Of Latin Music – 21 FREE mp3s over at Amazon – (cool!)
- Ironically, Latinos should be greatful to former CNN blowhard Lou Dobbs – commentary by Albor Ruiz
- When White Writers Do “Latino” Issues – It was chaos this week in the LA Weekly’s virtual mailroom, which received a deluge of reactionary attitude in regard to Christine Pelisek’s cover story “Chaos in the Casitas: Lawless, south of the border–style speakeasies get a grip on L.A.”
- More Than 60,000 Americans in 45 States Organize for Immigration Reform
- New Report Shines Light on Detainee Rights Violations in Minnesota
- CIS Report Attempts to Erase 100 Years of Data on Immigrants and Crime
- Video: Senator Menendez Speaks on Behalf of Hispanic Farmers’ Discrimination Lawsuit + update
- November 18, 2009
- New Report: More Than 2 Million Hispanic Households With Children Face Hunger – Hispanic households with children experiencing very low food security up almost 50%
- On November 18 at 8:00 PM Eastern time/5:00 PM Pacific, all across the country people are hosting house parties with their families, friends, neighbors, churches, classmates and anyone else who supports comprehensive immigration reform for America.
- Video report of Latina forced to give birth while in chains in Maricopa County, AZ courtesy of Sheriff Joe Arpaio (en Español)
- California’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman told a group of supporters Tuesday that she is making an unprecedented effort to attract Latinos to the Republican party – in South El Monte
- Hundreds of defendants awaiting trial for violent crimes in Dallas County have been deported by federal immigration officials and then set free in their home countries. – The practice goes back to at least 1991 and includes the release of murder, kidnapping and child rape suspects.
- Environmentalists alarmed by Puerto Rico policies – Sweeping from lush mountain rain forests to pristine beaches, a corridor of land protected by Puerto Rico’s last governor hosts dozens of rare and endangered species and was championed by celebrities who helped fight off resort proposals. – Now new Gov. Luis Fortuno has revoked the reserve as part of a drive to bring jobs and investment for the U.S. territory’s struggling economy. And activists see a broader pattern of looser protection for the island’s environment.
- Deporting undocumented students affects the chances for legal return if Congress doesn’t address it in immigration reform bill
- Eleventh-hour criticism is arising over President Obama’s nomination for United States attorney in northern Iowa of a prosecutor who had a leading role in the criminal cases against hundreds of illegal immigrants arrested in a May 2008 raid at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. – Stephanie Rose
- From a group calling themselves Electronic Civil Disobedience comes the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a simple mobile application intended to aid and abet border-crossers from Mexico to the United States by mapping the safest routes to take. – This GPS app is built to work on the cheapest cell phones available.
- Report from America’s Voice: The New Constituents… How Latinos Will Shape Congressional Apportionmention After the 2010 Census
- November 16, 2009
- 15th annual Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza in San Antonio – more than 1,000 professional & student musicians participating – 8-day festival of mariachi competitions, workshops, presentations, serenades & concerts attracts more than 15,000 visitors annually.
- Money Trickles North as Mexicans Help Relatives – reverse remittances from Mexico
- Scarlet “A” will dominate immigration reform rhetoric – Greg Tejeda on immigration reform & Janet Napolitano’s speech
- The first Texas Hispanic legislators didn’t want to go public when they organized some 40 years ago out of fear they might be considered “un-American.” – Today, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) is growing in influence — and raising record amounts of money — as Texas’ population turns increasingly Hispanic.
- Supporters of tough U.S. sanctions against the Cuban government have given more than $10 million to congressional campaigns over the last seven years
