I had the pleasure of meeting Rhina Valentin when she interviewed me about my memoir on BronxNet Television’s show OPEN. From the very first words we shared in conversation, I knew that I was in the presence of a creative dynamo as well as a profoundly spiritual and generous soul. For the past 19 years, Rhina has been the host of the Friday edition of OPEN where she has created an uplifting platform for countless diverse, creative, inspiring, and entrepreneurial guests, offering them the opportunity to share their stories and, in many cases, demonstrate what they have to offer the world. From poets to musicians to visual artists to chefs to small business owners and many more, Rhina’s extraordinary talents as a talk show host continue to illuminate the vibrant community of the Bronx as well as of other boroughs in her beloved New York City.

Rhina Valentin on a NYC crosswalk representing the intersectionality of ametropolitan/park lifestyle. (Photo: Zo Photos, courtesy of La Reina Del Barrio, Inc.)

Since 2006, you’ve been hosting the show OPEN on BronxNet, and you have interviewed such an impressive array of people focusing on issues that affect all kinds of communities, especially in New York City. What does this work mean to you?  

Interestingly enough, I didn’t really plan to be a television host. I thought I would be a comedic actor and maybe play in a sitcom. I had a residence at the Nuyorican Poets Café, and Michael Max Knobbe, the executive director of BronxNet, discovered me there. He offered me this opportunity to be part of the pilot episode of OPEN, so I’ve been with it since its inception. OPEN has different goals for different days; they molded each version around the host’s strengths and personality. Friday’s episode, which I host, advocates for the arts, culture, women empowerment, youth development, small businesses, mental wellness, domestic violence awareness, and spirituality which are all the things that really matter to me. At this stage of my life, I feel that it has become a calling. This show is a record that is researchable for years to come. It highlights the importance of our stories, our movements, our activism locally, and the pulse of the community. So, I’ve been at this for 19 years now, and sometimes I wonder about it because I live in denial about my age! I’m grateful that doing this has allowed me to be my daughter’s primary caregiver. My daughter, Charm Vida, has just turned sixteen!

You know, a lot of people question why I remained at BronxNet. Aside from being of service to my community from this urban perspective—because I represent the New York urban flavor, of course, focusing primarily on the Bronx, the uptown culture—it has permitted me to be available to my daughter and not be pulled in so many different directions based on projects. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with that. I am just super grateful that serving in this capacity has allowed me to balance out my life. 

Rhina Valentin performing Off-Off-Broadway at The Producers’ Club in A Day In The Crib. (Photo: JSpock Vargas, courtesy of La Reina Del Barrio, Inc.)

Are you a single parent?

I am. Her dad is in her life, but I’m the primary caregiver. I really find it almost miraculous that I have been able to be available to her and present for all her pivotal moments. My daughter is also in the industry. She goes to one of the top performing arts high schools in New York City. She performs a lot, so she has a lot of rehearsals. She’s got her own coaches, but I have to manage everything. It takes a village, and I didn’t do it all by myself, but I made sure that I was the primary influence over my daughter’s development. I feel so fulfilled and proud that I somehow was able to design that. 

I’m saying all of this because I get questioned a lot, and right now community media is being challenged in the current climate that we’re dealing with. We’re still forging forward, and we still remain ever so present. When people asked me why I didn’t go on to a broader network, I remained very clear that it was important for me to get to control my own schedule.

Yes, and that’s true for all independent artists who want to have creative say and control over their own careers and lives. So, throughout your encounters with such a diversity of people over many years, what are some of the common themes or traits that you’ve observed during your conversations? 

Everybody wants to be heard, everybody wants to be valued, everybody matters, and then there’s this commonality within our differences in contributing to the same thing. It is through the arts that it all really stands out the most for me. I’m an artist myself and that’s another reason why I do what I do: I get to serve and provide this platform that allows everyone to express themselves. If I had to really bring it to one commonality, especially post pandemic, it’s that we’re all the same at the end of the day. The conversations that I have are with artists, artisans, musicians, psychologists, small business owners—you name it, we have it on the show. 

It really fulfills me to feel that, for the past 19 years, we have been able to hold the space for individuals to not only go on record but feel safe in sharing their truth. We highlight everybody and everything that New York is made up of, because we are a major melting pot here. But it’s all similar; we want to be understood, we want to feel included, we all want to find our similarities within our differences subconsciously. At least those are the conversations that I tend to engage in. Right now in particular, I find that, since the pandemic, everybody wants to process how that impacted where they are. I was fortunate enough to continue to hold this space throughout the pandemic because we switched to a virtual version of the show. That was important for the artists because they suffered from not having venues to perform and audiences to feed off of. The audience is part of their work.

Rhina Valentin hosting the third installment of  “Lincoln Center Presents Latiné Luminaries” at The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center. (Photo: Zo Photos, courtesy of La Reina Del Barrio, Inc.)

Speaking of the pandemic, in 2021, CitizensNYC honored you as one of the top New Yorkers for New York—and you are the first Latina to receive that honor—because of these efforts and all you’ve done helping the city recover. What was it like to get that kind of recognition?

Sometimes I want to pinch myself! It was amazing but also kind of sad because we were in 2021 and I’m the first Latina honored? May there be many more! I really appreciate the fact that the recognition came for me upholding our metropolitan culture. I keep going back to that because I’m committed to making sure that our urban culture has its own voice and we’re also recognized as part of the essential fabric of New York City. I saw myself as an essential communicator and they recognized how I’ve been serving all five boroughs even though we are technically a Bronx-based network. The recognition was also because I have my own production company, La Reina Del Barrio, Inc., a media marketing boutique in which we highlight local artists and local events. I partner up with major institutions such as Lincoln Center, Casita Maria, El Museo del Barrio, and not only do I serve as a host, but also as production consultant. My objective is always to make sure that I’m inserting our urban knowledge, our urban flavor, our urban culture in history or even creating our own urban movement so that we are present from the perspective of being just as relevant as the hip hop culture. But also, there’s more to it than salsa!  

Rhina Valentin laughing it up with OPEN artist spotlight Reggaeton Artist, Adrian Read. (Photo: Joe Boonchan, courtesy of BronxNet)

I understand that you’re a poet as well…

I want to say I became a poet by default because I’ve been surrounded by so many great poets, and that rubbed off on me. I do perform poetry. Most of my work has a psychological element to it because I am a metaphysics spiritualist, so I tend to hone in on the elements of our existence and mindfulness. I am able to insert some comedic sprinkles into it too since I’m a comedic performer. I still dabble in this and take on projects so I can fulfill that aspect of my craft. 

You are a Transcendental Meditator, and in the middle of all this activity, you advocate for a daily practice of stillness. Tell us more.

I wouldn’t be able to function if I didn’t incorporate that into my life. My daily routine meditation is what saved me from the pandemic. It’s important to understand that our mind is almost like this hard drive, this overloaded hard drive. Depending on what’s there, that’s what we’re going to attract, which is going to impact our quality of life. So, when I transcend, the objective is to get to nothing, to step out as an observer to see the files of the hard drive and see what’s taking up the most space. In that transcendence, in going to nothing, there’s this awareness of how to sort it out and address what needs to be addressed so that there’s an alignment. It’s a daily practice of realignment, and now I’ve brought swimming into my practice; that’s another form of meditation. I swim every day. I immerse myself in the water, having a relationship to the water. There’s this surrender into the water even though I’m in motion, but I’m in a trance. I put meditation music on, and in that form of meditation, I’m able to see what is either blocking me or what is heavy. The water teaches me to just trust the flow of the way everything moves. 

Right now, especially, in our world, there’s a lot of chaotic energy that we’re being spoon fed in festive mode, and I don’t mean that in a celebratory manner. I mean it in the fact that it’s overload. Dealing with my personal responsibilities and with the uncertainty that we’re all being fed, if I didn’t meditate, I would be living in a state of panic and worry every day. Unfortunately, I feel like that’s kind of the culture of our reality because a lot of people mention it. I don’t use language like that; I try to avoid it. I encourage everybody to meditate every chance they get, even if it’s just five minutes. I meditate for 20 and I swim for 45 so I do deep dives into just being in nothing, being with myself and really addressing what I need to from a nonjudgmental view. If I don’t take the time to see that, how do I know what is working and what’s not? This to me is mindfulness practice and that’s how I am able to do what I do. It’s not always ease and flow; sometimes it’s all really fast, but in that pace, I always make it my business to pause and really take in how it’s impacting me. Whatever it is that you hold on to in your mind, your body takes on, and it is through meditation that you’re able to design your internal world. Your external world is then a reflection of your internal world. If I don’t do this, I don’t feel normal; it’s the same as brushing my teeth. 

I hope this will encourage more people to do so, since we can all get so caught up in the whirlwind of constantly moving, constantly taking in information, and being in a hurry. There’s a lot of frantic energy around… 

Yes. That’s why I also mentioned nature as important. I’m blessed to live across the street from Central Park, and all the trees were my salvation. That was my connection to you and your memoir – the importance of the tree, what the quince tree meant for you as a child! At the time of the pandemic, we were banned from hugging each other, for protection and precaution. We were doing fist bumps and elbow bumps, so I would go and hug trees. I encourage everybody to hug trees. The trees became my salvation, my sanctuary, my grounding, not only grounding as being rooted into the earth but also from a place of belonging and coexisting and understanding that that they got me! And they did. 

Guest and Crew at BronxNet Studio on the Lehman College campus. (Photo: Joe Boonchan,courtesy of BronxNet) 

What are you most proud of in your career and in your personal life?

When people want to understand why I didn’t move into the bigger leagues, I say that what I feel most proud and accomplished about is that I belong to myself. In this industry, you can depend on a manager, on producers, and then all of a sudden, you’re doing what is required to get to the next level, to generate more revenue, to move up. So, you’re in the care of other people telling you what you have to do. Don’t get me wrong, I have a team but it’s not a matter of being pressured. 

For example, I’m working on a film right now and I have a small part, but I had to be on set for four full days. I loved everything about it, and I could totally see myself doing this more frequently now that my daughter is 16. What it took for me to get to even being on set those four days was a detachment from my life. I was okay with it, but I don’t know if I would have been able to function well throughout all these years as a single mom catering to my daughter and serving my community, had I been pulled in too many directions that were decided by other individuals. 

But you’ve built your career so that nobody owns you and you dictate your own pace.

Yeah, I love that! And I get to take responsibility for it, whether it works or it doesn’t. 

What projects are you currently working on?

Now I seem to be getting pulled back into the domestic violence awareness arena, and that is because I am a domestic violence survivor, so I can give a psychological and emotional perspective. I used to do speaking engagements, and I’ve put that on the shelf because I’ve done a lot of healing work. But I’ve never stopped being open to offer whatever services I can. So, I wrote a piece that seems to want to come to light, a short with characters and a story about an experience around abusive words playing a role in a person’s mental state: removing the words from their home as a metaphor to removing them from their body. It looks like we may mount it as short play, but ideally, I’d like it to be produced as a short film. I’m in conversations with the Violence Intervention Program around serving the community and offering workshops while having that as my visual component. 

I also have another project in development that has to do with me paying homage to the parks that saved me during the pandemic, called Park Buzz’N with Rhina—an experience from an urban perspective. It’s a five-part series that I’m still working on; I only have one episode fully written out. Since I do partnerships with institutions, I’m contracted already next year: with NYC Celebrates Women, Casita Maria, and Museo del Barrio at the top of the year—I’m the host of their breakfast ceremony. 

And then there’s this feature film I mentioned that I was on set for, called I’m Not Her. I actually did a reading for it about two years ago, and when they brought it to life, they just offered me the role, so that’s super exciting. It’s being independently produced by a well-known actor who is making her directorial debut; she’s the executive producer, the co-writer, the director. Her name is Luna Lauren Velez, and this film was written by both her and her twin sister Lorraine Velez. Most people recognize Luna Lauren Velez from New York Undercover and Dexter. I’m really excited because this is their film and these are the kind of stories that I want to see more of and to be a part of. It is the icing on the cake! 

Rhina Valentin marching in front of the symbolic life-size Three Kings at El Museo del Barrio’s annual Three Kings Day Parade and Celebration. (Photo: JSpock Vargas courtesy of La Reina Del Barrio, Inc.)

Any special message for our readers in New York City and beyond?

Woman Around Town readers, New York City is our town! As a woman, a mompreneur, an artist, as somebody who is just out there doing the hustle—because I’m a hustler with a capital H—I think that right now more than ever it is so important to take the time to assert what balance looks like, because it looks different for everyone. That’s what I want to pass on to everybody. There are really wealthy individuals who are not happy. I know a lot of famous people and people in different scenarios who are not happy. So, at the end of the day, where does success really lie? For me, success lies in happiness. But that looks different for everyone, so it’s important to assess where your joy is or how to constantly replenish it. 

There are a lot of external factors and people who try to diminish joy. If you’re aware—because awareness is where it starts—then you’re able to practice this constant restoration of realignment and it doesn’t become a job. It just comes with practice, and it becomes a way of being that allows you to flow. I reference the water again because water has been my greatest teacher, and I’m a fire sign! The water has been my alignment; it’s been allowing me to adjust. Everything seems to be happening in extremes, and in the rollercoaster ride that we call life, the inclines and the declines can be extreme right now. At this stage of the game, I could either step into my day worrying about it or step into my day asserting that I am in alignment with how it is that I want to show up. So, that right there is the key to people not only living harmoniously but contributing from this intentional place of finding that peace that I think we’re all looking for. As fluffy as that sounds, when you’re in that peace, nothing’s really going to penetrate and shake you, not really.

Top photo: Host Rhina Valentin on the set of the show OPEN at Bronxnet Studios on the Lehman College campus. Credit: Joe Boonchan, courtesy of BronxNet