Rhina Valentin and Teresita Ayala
Recorded
June 15, 2021
Archived
June 15, 2021
01:08:37
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
ddv000881
Description
Rhina Valentin [no age given] speaks with her friend and mentee Teresita Ayala (41) about her family background, childhood, and her career in media production. Rhina talks specifically about her spiritual relationship with her father, who was killed when she was three, and also about her relationship with her daughter.Subject Log / Time Code
RV introduces herself, sharing her parents and ancestors. She explains some of her parents history, saying that both of her parents are from Puerto Rico. She talks about identifying with everything that makes her who she is.
RV talks about her father’s side, saying she didn’t know that much about his family. She says that he was killed when she was three years old, and it stifled her ability to know about his family.
RV talks about struggling with the fact that her father was killed when she was so young. She explains that he was a spiritual being, and he was very connected to his indigeneity. She says she has always felt him with her, and talks about dreams that she would have where they would play ball.
RV talks about her barrio. She says that she couldn’t even count how many relatives she had in the barrio. She says she struggled with her cousins who had that physical relationship with their fathers.
RV reads an excerpt from a piece she wrote that was included in an anthology.
RV talks about ‘La Reina del Barrio.’ She talks about how her family owned a bodega called the Gonzales Family Grocery Store. She remembers some games that she and her cousins would play.
RV talks about coming back to do programming on TV about local stories. TA contextualizes RV’s work highlighting local businesses was very important during COVID.
RV talks about supporting cultural expression, specifically hip hop. RV also talks about what peace journalism means to her.
RV talks about starting her production company, highlighting arts and small businesses. She discusses the impact of the work she does.
RV talks about how she would like to be remembered, saying she centers a lot of her energy around her daughter. She also wants to be remembered as a supporter of the arts community.
RV talks about the Gonzales Family Grocery Store. She describes the store physically.
RV talks about Death of a Dream, one of the first productions that she did with La Reina del Barrio, that was about domestic violence awareness. RV also talks about Meet your Merchant Mondays, producing one-minute videos about business owners and their backstories.
RV talks about the name Reina del Barrio. She says that she was often mistakenly called Reina instead of Rhina.
Participants
- Rhina Valentin
- Teresita Ayala