Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricardo Henriquez.
Ricardo, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was never a fan of school. I remember crying every year on the first day of school dreading the year that awaited me. I was never into listening to authority, I was never into the “busy work”, and was never interested in fitting in. Throughout my years in school, I was always getting into fights and always flirting with girls. This lead to many problems, many enemies, and a reputation that followed me into high school. As my old habits continued the consequences became more serious as well as the doubts people had about me. I was met constantly with negativity and started to feel like a “street rat”. Teachers and well-off students spoke condescendingly toward me and I became mad at the world for never giving me a chance. I got into more fights and more trouble. Through the adversity, I realized bad boys only get so much attention, but a smart one would get more. I took as many higher-level classes as I could and began to prove people wrong. I loved the feeling of revenge, of knowing I was the underdog of being underestimated, and exceeding expectations. I graduated in 2012, much to the surprise of my detractors, even being elected to recite the Pledge of Allegiance by my classmates.
The trend continued in college, I never sought popularity nor did I ever achieve it in an astounding fashion. I resonated with people because I was blunt, honest, and stood up for those who had not done it for themselves. I was told I was funny, smart, and talented but never believed it. I had always been a dreamer with a tinge of pessimistic realism, but it wasn’t until one year my life fell apart that I changed truly into who I am now.
I had experienced death in the most intimate way. I felt and heard someone’s last breath while they were in my arms. As I began to spiral out of control in most ways imaginable, I also lost someone who I thought was the love of my life in the most toxic way and basically dropped out of school and my job. After therapy, a diagnosis, anti-depression pills as well as a lot of bad behavior, I started life back up again. This time my humor was much darker, more dry, as well as my perspective on life. The world was my enemy again. Life continued to throw other obstacles at me that lead to me staying at community college four years longer than I expected.
Eventually, I started to hate seeing the same faces over and over again and knew I had to get out. I had started a job at a bookstore. I had piercings, long hair, an attitude problem, jewelry with skulls and black stones and a lack of customer service experience. I started out as a Barista and hated working with the food and drink. I did my job well though and managed to work three months worth of consecutive shifts alone but I wanted more out of my employment. My bosses didn’t believe I could do anything other than be mean and make a latte. I remembered how good it felt to prove people wrong and wanted the opportunity to do so again. I finally convinced a manager to give me the opportunity to start working on the register upfront to try to sell memberships and up sale other items. I made short work of the position and consistently came in as a top seller. I moved to the sales floor and started to have “regulars” and finished projects more often and much faster than a lot of other employees. They moved me to customer service and I began to handle much more responsibilities and started to outshine others with my unique personality. I jokingly assume that when I became noticeable competition they sent me to the back of the store, in the warehouse, to do shipments, returns, and sorting. I was out of sight and out of mind. However, I started to get too good at that job and the vets were starting to look bad. They brought me back out and I began to train every single employee that came in because I was the only one who knew how to do everything in the store. The bookstore offered me a management position. I absolutely conquered the retail world and I declined in favor of going to school. At this point, I had a few exes under my belt that inspired me to prove them wrong too. I jacked my GPA up as high as I could, applied for Financial Aid, made some friends, and transferred to the University of Houston – Downtown.
Here I changed my major from Psychology to Communication and in my first semester, I was offered the opportunity to join their radio internship program by my professor Dr. Lucan Logan. I took the offer and joined up once the semester had ended. My second semester, I took two classes with another Professor who became a sort of mentor to me. Dr. Roubicek was teaching me about Storytelling and Radio performance in his classes and I applied everything I was learning to my internship at iRadio. I began to get more involved with school, got interviews, wrote scripts and started to shine in my creativity. The manager in place at the time offered me her position as she felt I was one of the more deserving and determined. I accepted and quit my job at the bookstore to prepare for my new position. After the second semester ended, I began to recruit interns and revamp the infrastructure of the program. I organized meetings with high ranking staff and moved forward on big projects. Now that my third semester is almost over we’ve begun expansion to other locations on campus and UHD affiliated buildings, we’ve increased our visibility and followers on social media, we’ve negotiated for higher pay and budget, we’ve gotten political candidates for city council, mayor, and district judge, we’ve gotten entrepreneurs and artists, all the while doubling our operating hours. I’ve spoken at multiple events and met many influential people along the lines of Fox’s Isiah Carey and Beth Israel’s Rabbi David Lyon, I’ve done shows for KPFT 90.1 FM, been on TV for UHD, I’ve also assisted in developing a course curriculum, and I’ve done so much more that I can barely keep track of.
I’ve got plenty more in store and I absolutely cannot wait to see how much further I can exceed expectations. Stay Tuned.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Smooth? I don’t even know the definition of it! Court cases, fees and fines, death, cheating, lying, doubt, depression, loss, loneliness, emptiness. I would say in short, my life has had an abundance of potholes. It’s always a sigh of relief when I can achieve something. It’s like in Houston when it floods a little bit and you get home without spending half of your day on a highway. However, because you’re so used to the floods, you kind of either expect it or accept it, right?
Please tell us about UHD iRadio.
UHD iRadio is young in comparison to many of the organizations on campus. It was started three years ago but only recently started to gain some serious ground. As a manager I coordinate meetings with staff and interns. I throw ideas out and get them worked on, I schedule interviews and hand them off to my interns so that they get experience, I train them in technical aspects of speaking and operating the board and writing scripts. My specialty is radio performance and I think I am known not only for my deep voice, which by the way is not fake, and my radio name “Rico Suave”.
However, I am fully aware it takes more than just talent to be known. So my rings and piercings, and sometimes my kimono, make regular appearances. Also, my hair changes every few months either in color or style.
The things I am most proud of is our growth. We went from interviewing each other or our classmates, to interviewing people running for mayor, people who are a part of cultural issues, young adults who want to share their business sense with their world. To be honest, nobody knew that UHD had a radio station but now that is not as common.
I know other schools have either had a station or are just starting one. What sets us apart is that we are student run. We are by students for students and Houston in general. We operate under FCC and our music licenses sure, but all the creative aspects are handled in house and not by a sponsor, not by big wigs on campus or off. We do what we want and I really identify with that lifestyle.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I know I sound amazing, like a one man army, and I am, but even an army needs supplies and inspiration from the outside. Now I’m joking, I am not nearly as competent as I may make myself seem, I question sometimes if I really learned how to read and speak when I was a child or if I learned at some point in the last three years and I am just doing exceptionally well for myself.
I’ve had some good professors since I have transferred. Jay Stailey who was my speech professor, Dr. Logan who taught me comm theory and is actually an undercover badass, Dr. Roubicek who’s kind of the old hat in the room that dispenses sound advice and doesn’t judge my criminality, Professor Abby Koenig who used to be a part of iRadio’s team as a media supervisor but also helped me snatch a gig that put my face and voice out there, Dr.. Archiopoli who helped me very recently get another speaking event, Professor Michael Wilson who I had for Debate and Interpersonal Communication who is the nicest guy and says everything “out of compassion” and really teaches me to search for meaning in my declarations of fact, even Dr. Candice Shivers who is so down to earth and realistic, I barely see her as a professor because she reminds me so much of my sister but she is so human compared to the robotic atmosphere I get sometimes from other people.
In terms of supports, I got a couple of friends and faculty that tune in. I think it’s so cool that even though there are music streaming apps that people tune in to us to get that “friends on the couch” vibe. There’s Tremaine in Student Activities who’s so gung-ho about us and is so willing to help us however possible, Dr. Toni Hoang who is a regular listener, a bunch of people in maintenance who are curious and friendly toward iRadio. There’s tons of people in IT that help out so much, they’re super busy but still somehow seem to find time to squeeze us in, people like Albert Holden, Steven Chachia, and the rest of the staff that helps with the audio and visual live events, they rock.
My interns all are receptive to the advice I give them and to the things I ask of them. This might be the best group we’ve had, but of course I am biased. The two managers in the past were Cali Apodaca and Cam Living. Cam always seemed to be at home in the studio and I had hoped I would be able to feel at home too. I did have more of a relationship with Cali as she helped onboard me. I had never been in a management position and wanted to shadow her and follow her around and ask her all the questions. What I learned from her is that you can get a lot done by being a nice person, which was something I knew I would struggle with. Breanna Segovia, the student I hired to be my right-hand woman, is my Media Manager and helps me in terms of establishing iRadio’s relationship with different big names on campus as well as set up small, numerous events, is my nice “other half”. She’s like Cali and handles everything with a smile. To both women’s credit, they were pretty scary when they weren’t “Misses Nice Lady” anymore.
My family and my girlfriend have all been very supportive of my radio shows, my live events, and everything else I do. Here’s a quick apology; sorry I haven’t been around too much y’all! Things are busy for me so I hope they understand. Then finally, my dog Lycan. When it gets lonely because I am swamped with work, he’s always keeping me company and taking his puppy naps while I take care of business and interrupts me here and there to make sure I am still mentally grounded. Love them.
Pricing:
- Listening to UHD iRadio is free! Google “UHD iRadio” and click “Listen Now” on the first link.
- Following UHD iRadio is also free! Look up “UHD iRadio” on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to see.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
- Website: https://www.uhd.edu/iRadio/Pages/Listen-Now.aspx
- Email: henriquezr13@gator.uhd.edu
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uhdiradio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uhd.iradio.37
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/UHDiradio
Image Credit:
UHD IT Staff, UHD Dateline Staff
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