From the Barrio to the Board Room: Second Edition

With a new foreword, a new epilogue, and illustrations from the Mi Barrio comic book version, this new release of From the Barrio to the Board Room shares Robert Renteria's journey from East L.A. and gang and drug life to becoming VP of a publicly traded company, owner of his own businesses and now his work as a civic leader, empowering our nation's youth to stay in school, out of gangs and off drugs. For more information about Robert and the From the Barrio Foundation, please visit www.fromthebarrio.com or Google "Robert Renteria."

Robert J. Renteria, Jr. is a successful businessman turned author of From the Barrio to the Board Room, who is using his memoir with youth across America to replace violence, delinquency, gangs and drugs with education, pride, accomplishment, and self esteem. Renteria came from humble beginnings, growing up in an impoverished East L.A. barrio. His family was abandoned by his drug and alcohol addicted father. At the age of six, Robert was involved in a carnival accident that resulted in serious head trauma and three years of rehabilitation to recover his motor skills. As a teenager, he became involved with a tough street crowd, used and dealt drugs, dropped out of high school, was shot at and stabbed, and went from one dead-end job to another. After learning that his estranged father had died on skid-row, Robert resolved to make better choices in his life. He returned to school, joined the military, and after honorably serving seven years in the United States Army, he moved to Chicago. Searching for that job where he could prove himself, he talked his way into a position with a commercial laundry management and sales company that eventually led to his becoming corporate Vice President of a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. Having the success he had been seeking, he was convinced to strike off on his own, opening and operating several successful businesses. Robert has now dedicated his life to sharing his story with thousands of others so that they, too, can help break the vicious cycle of poverty through hard work, determination and education. His book and the accompanying curriculum, are forming our “leaders of tomorrow” by helping them to find their identity, establish core values, set goals for themselves, prioritize education, and strive to reach their full potential. Renteria has received awards from the IL Secretary of State, Chicago’s Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations, Rainbow Push Coalition, Central Asia Institute, and the Chicago Latino Community. He has been featured in the Chicago Sun Times, Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, and on Univision, NBC5, and WGN.