About
Valleywood Magazine has been published as a 12 page tabloid newspaper since April 2007. Five thousand copies have been distributed throughout the Rio Grande Valley stretching from Mission to South Padre Island, Brownsville and in between. The newspaper office is located in Mercedes, Texas and it is operated by it’s founder and publisher Raul Garcia Jr.
The newspapers is sustained with advertisement sales. It covers local politics, education, business, sports and community events showcasing news that sometimes gets left out of mainstream media.
Raul Garcia Jr. is the Valleywood Publisher / Editor. He has been a news journalist for ten years.
Do not hesitate to contact Raul Garcia Jr. at 956.463.4438, by email at: valleywoodmag@gmail.com or at Valleywood Publications home office located at 143 North Texas Avenue, Mercedes, TX.
Garcia studied journalism at the University of Texas – Brownsville, Austin Community College, Lansing, Community College, Michigan State Univeristy and has a Masters Degree in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University. He has held the position of Managing Editor at the Mercedes Enterpise in Mercedes, Texas and Assistant Editor for Mi Gente Magazine in Sagainaw, MI. His work has been published in the Lansing State Journal, The Monitor and the Valley Morning Star.
Raul Garcia received his Bachlors in Business Managesment from Spring Arbor University in Michigan. He attended the University of Texas at Brownsville where he started his journalism path with the Colligian student newspaper. He then moved on to Austin Community College where he worked as a student assistant to the Journalism Director. In 2001 Garcia continued his education with the School of Journalism at Michigan State University where he worked for The State News student newspaper as a freelancer writer and the Julian Samora Research Institute creating public relations material for a federal funded grant focused on Migrant Farm workers called Proyecto Empuje. In 2004 prior to finishing his undergraduate degree Garcia attended Lansing Community College where he worked for the student newspaper called The Lookout and as given the duty of Editor.
It was not until late 2006 that Garcia decided to move back to his hometown of Mercedes to start his own business as a newspaper publisher. He linked up with the late Robert Hinds from the Mercedes Enterprise. The two began working together and in 2008 while still producing Valleywood Magazine Garcia left the Enterprise as Managing Editor. The Enterprise is the older that every other newspaper but the Brownsville Herald South of San Antonio.
