About Tomás & HispanicTips

"HispanicTips is the barometer for Hispanic and Latino news and issues."

Contact

Tomás Custer
e-mail | Voicemail: 310-439-9150
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Personal Accounts: & LinkedIn

Quick Intro

I am a leader, pioneer and authentic voice in utilizing the web to empower people about Hispanics and Latinos. I am an expert in Hispanic and Latino news as well as curation. This service is the product of just one individual with a passion for keeping you informed in order to empower you because knowledge is power.

My mission is simply stated: Help Hispanics and the Nation.

This site is the world's largest archive of Hispanic and Latino news with 95,655 posts. I started it back in 2005 because of the glaring lack of news in English about us. Things have changed quite a bit since then with more than several big media companies starting news websites in English targeting Hispanics but there is still nothing to compare to this service. This site is all about relevant, comprehensive and respectful curation(?) of the news to improve our knowledge and understanding.

78% (39+ million) of Latinos are either English dominant or bilinguall and have $780 billion in spending power (statistics info). Read that again. It has been and still is my belief that part of the reason Hispanics still lack the power, attention and exposure our numbers (50 million+) and spending power ($1 trillion) should yield is due to the comination of the lack of engaging and relevant news in English (although this is changing slowly) as well as the lack of an authoritative voice built upon a strong foundation/system of information. After all if we want people to understand us we can't expect them to learn Spanish. We must be the leaders. Hispanictips and I attempt to address these issues so that both we as Latinos and the rest of the nation can begin to understand the historic multi-faceted tidal wave of demographic change that is occuring in our country.

E-mail Newsletter

Why you should get this newsletter

What is HispanicTips?

HispanicTips is the premier English Hispanic and Latino news service. This consists of three parts (more below):

At base it is a database and curation tool that is an archive.
It is a news distribution service for those wishing to stay informed.
It content service providing engaging relevant Latino content.

I have produced this site for over 6 years collecting 95,655 items in order to provide a useful service for Hispanics and Latinos as well as everyone else to better understand our incredibly vibrant and wonderfully diverse communities and those issues we share in common. In doing this the site has already touched the lives of over 4.5 million people.

My mission is: Help Hispanics and the Nation. Basically, I want to empower people by engaging them with relevant and comprehensive Hispanic and Latino news in the most useful, efficient and stimulating formats.

Imagine real Hispanic and Latino news and I am not talking just a few stories. I am talking about the news you hope or know is out there but don't always have the time to search out. It can be like an entire newspaper covering as much as I can daily find to truly reflect our diversity and to give you a choice in what you want to read.

This is the most comprehensive and relevant Hispanic/Latino news service in existence and it is designed to help you be informed EASILY.While there are a lot of serious issues there are also many cool and interesting stories spread out across the web and I bring it all together for you, for us. This site represents the largest digital archive in the world on this subject with 95,655 news stories and blog posts collected and organized, the first "national" Hispanic news website, a fine example of independent media, a major personal achievement for me and an important tool for all of us.

Why should you trust me and my services?

I have been doing this for over six years and have created the world’s largest Hispanic/Latino news archive right here with 95,655 posts. In other words, I really am an expert and have the track record to prove it.
Many people use my service. This site has already touched the lives of 4.5 million people and many of my subscribers (there are over 3,300 of them) are professors, journalists, US Congress members, professionals as well as parents, students and regular people. My readers always say it best: “love it,” “addictive,” “useful,” “great,” and “invaluable.” Check out some Readers’ Quotes | Testimonials.
I am independent without any affiliations that may influence what I do. I am entirely supported by my readers and services although a sponsor would be nice.
Sign up for the newsetter towards the top and to the right of this page and give it a try or read this to get a better understanding of why you should get the newsletter

Services Provided

Database/Curation Tool and home to the world’s largest digital Archive of Hispanic/Latino history and current events begun in 2005.

Currently looking for an Academic to jointly seek a grant to create a better archive - more info

News Services for the Public
- A News website
- Essentials Newsletter with the Top 5 Essentials (the serious stuff), The top 5 Cultura (the cool stuff) and the Top 5 Business (the money stuff) as an introduction. (Why you should get the newsletter)
- Comprhensive Newsletter (learn more about this truly powerful tool)
- Social Media via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Posterous and RSS (View all the ways to follow HispanicTips)
A Hispanic Content Service - Engaging Relevant Latino Content for Websites, Print or Marketing

Some Highlights

Featured in Hispanic Business Magazine’s December 2008 issue for article entitled “Tech Pioneers Forge New Marketing Models“
Media credentialed for the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver
Content is found on various Hispanic Chambers’ websites
Interviewed for segment on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday (it was my honor to follow Jorge Ramos in this piece)
Cited in Ad Age’s Big Tent
Media Credentialed for the Latin Grammys
Interviewed by Colorado’s NPR
Speaker at the 2010 Hispanic PR & Social Media Conference
Listed as one of “10 Latino Bloggers You Should Follow on Twitter” by Andy Checo / Edelman
I feel like the one of the senior citizens of the Latino Blogospere.
This site has touched the live’s of more than 4.5 million people
But readers say it best: “love it,” “addictive,” “useful,” “great,” and “invaluable.” :: readers’ quotes & testimonials

SlideLatino

Are Hispanics and Latinos important
to you or your family,
to your business or organization?
Shouldn't we be?

We are over 50 Million strong and growing fast,
56% of the US population growth between 2000 and 2010.

We are 1 out of every 6 individuals
and 1 out of every 4 children

We have $1 trillion in buying power ($1,000,000,000,000)!

WE ARE VITAL to this nation
culturally, economically and politically.

An autobiography(ito) of Tomás Custer

I would call myself a professional curator, a web expert, a leader, a Hispanic/Latino news expert and so much more.

I am a Hispanic Gen-Xer. I was born and bred in Chicago to a Mexican-American mother 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. Although my kids make fun of my accent as my x-wife is from Puebla, Mexico and has taught them Spanish from birth. Not that they couldn't use two months in Mexico as well (of course who couldn't when it is only 30 degrees out).

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. I want to travel and live all over the place.

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. I am older than I look but young and curious at heart. I really love to laugh.

Niche New Media is my company. I also have several other sites based on my TrustCuration system and have dreams of many more niches that could benefits from the useful tools I create. HispanicTips is the flagship and my main job. I guess I have a knack for creating websites/systems to solve my problems and help people/communities and entrepreneurialism runs in my family, especially the Mexican side.

6 Steps to Help Hispanics & Nation

Mission

Curation Leads the Way

To do this, I have redefined Hispanic and Latino news through a powerful system of curation(?) that I have built and refined over 8 years. I scour the web collecting news and then organize and present it here and in news summaries. My unique style of curation is the best way to get a picture of what is going on as it brings together the news from a wide variety of sites ranging from big media companies to small blogs. It puts all of this news in one place resulting in a relevant and comprehensive service that saves you time while empowering you with knowledge you would otherwise need to spend hours gathering yourself and acts a archive and witness to Hispanic/Latino history and current events.

10,000 Leaders Campaign (200x50)

However, if not enough people are actively learning and empowering themselves here then I feel that I am failing at my mission. You are important! There is a great need for what I do here but there is also a great need for leaders (like you!). We need understanding and appreciation of our diverse and changing communities not only for the communities themselves but for this great nation. So I am launching an attention and engagement campaign with a goal of:

10,000 newsletter subscribers (Why you should get the newsletter)
10,000 daily visitors to the site and
10,000 combined social media followers (View all the ways to follow HispanicTips)

I am calling this the "10,000 Campaign." As I see it, that would only be an average of 200 people per state: 200x50=10,000!