Behind-the-Scenes

About Rebel Media ||  Behind-the-Scenes ||  Watch Online ||  Resource Center

REPORTERS

Taleigh Smith is an inspiration, both in her work and on a personal level, with her positive and tireless energy and honesty. From a young age in Seattle, Smith organized against inequality and injustice in her school, church and neighborhood. Smith's studies in Sustainable Community Development and the Global Economy led her to examine the diverse responses to globalization throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. Her work with homeless and at-risk youth eventually took her to Guatemala and Nicaragua, where she learned that economic violence is killing more youth than U.S. military intervention of the 80s. While in Nicaragua, she worked for a rehabilitation program for street children and was a frequently featured speaker for Witness for Peace, Students for International Training, CEPAD (Council of Protestant Churches) and ProNica Quaker delegations.

After living there for three years, Smith returned to the U.S. in 2001 to build a different kind of globalization — one that serves workers, students, families, the environment and most importantly the next generation. In 2002, she joined the IFCO/Pastors for Peace program team and as the National Coordinator, organized Peace caravans to Chiapas, Cuba and Central America; coordinated NYCISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador and the Dos Pueblos Sister City Project; and cofounded the coalitions NYC People's Referendum on Free Trade and PetroBronx.

Julian Gerena-Quiñones grew up in El Barrio, East Harlem, NY. He went on to attend college at the University of Hartford where he studied mass communications and TV production. He created Barrio Media, a community minded video production company and co-produced segments for a TV series entitled "Pa? Que Sepa / So You Know," a Latino Sports Life Style show. He is the programming coordinator at Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) Youth Channel. Gerena-Quiñones has worked with the Youth Channel in the past as a Peer Educator and is now proud to be the Programming Coordinator.