skip | text size » A A A |

About

My autobiography – Tomás Custer twitter Twitter facebook Facebook rss RSS and LinkedIn
E-mail: tomas.web@gmail.com | Voicemail: 310-439-9150

This is my rather poor attempt at an autobiography.

What started out collecting news about Latin Music has evolved into something much more. After 5 years and 60,000 posts collected and organized, I have created an easy system – refined to easily aggregate news and information by hand. In short, I have become an Aggregation Master named after the old moniker webmaster.

Many people may expect me to be an expert of all things Hispanic-Latino considering I run HispanicTips :: twitter facebook rss as it is a masterpiece of aggregated Hispanic and Latino news. While I wouldn’t say no to this, I think it better to describe myself as an expert in Hispanic News as well as something much more, an Aggregation Master.

I started HispanicTips almost on a whim when I couldn’t find the information and news that I knew was out there about Hispanics and Latinos in any single spot. After a year, I realized that this site was unique and needed. I am proud to have started and maintained this site (trust me, not an easy job), collecting thousands of news items to create a useful tool for my community.

I am very passionate about this site and I am looking forward to the future and what it may bring both myself and HispanicTips. I like to think of my greatest skill as creative inteligencia. I am proud and happy to do what I am doing.

Now I have added the sites you see to the right as well as this one.

Here is what I do / who I am.

  • an Aggregation Master :: the single best and most prolific human aggregator
  • Niche New Media
  • a creative entrepreneur
  • your host surfing on my own adventure and sharing it with you.
  • a voice to be heard – with more than a million people viewing my work a year
  • a new media maven – an advocate of technology adoption for Hispanics and others
  • a promoter of empowerment for individuals and communities through the power of knowledge and the utility of the web
  • a Community Enhancer
  • a character to be known – a Hispanic-Latino-Human – wearing my heart on my sleeve.
  • very creative – I see what I do as creating collages of news & info and presenting it in different ways so you can stay informed easily
  • a writer (sort of) – I have written all the copy on this site (don’t laugh)
  • a lover of nature and animals
  • a designer – creating the look, feel and usefulness of this site
  • an organizer – organizing every post by category, date and/or geography – check out the HispanicTips’ site map
  • a coder – working with xhtml, css, php, mysql, & javascript – a Wordpress pro
  • a salesman (sort of) – selling advertising, seeking sponsors to keep the site (my dream) moving forward.
  • a communicator and networker – dealing with a wide variety of people
  • an artist – UnSungArt.com - though I rarely update it but I want to get back to drawing soon.

I have gone to the Democratic National Convention and the Latin Grammys. I also have been interviewed on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday to mention a few highlights.

I am a Hispanic Gen-Xer. I was born and bred in Chicago to a mother of Mexican descent and an American father. Unfortunately, I grew up not speaking Spanish as it wasn’t as politically correct back then. Today, I can hold a converstation, but in my own estimation my Spanish needs work. Solo falta practica, supongo. Dos meses en Mexico estaria perfecto.

I was very lucky to attend good schools and have good parents, family and friends. Yes things good and bad have occurred in my life and I am sure more will come. Either way I am still here, laughing but now back in Missouri. (I was in LA for 4 months at the end of 2007) – Who knows where I might go next.

Some highlights of my life in no particular order

  • Running a mile in 4:36
  • Winning a watermelon eating contest
  • Studying abroad in Spain
  • Anytime I can really really see all the stars in the sky
  • Canoeing in the Quetico
  • Selling over 100 original drawings
  • The day I discovered how much I love cow-tongue tacos (and still do, yummy)
  • Surpassing 30,000 posts at HispanicTips – October 4th, 2007
  • Surpassing 40,000 posts at HispanicTips – July 2008 close to HispanicTips’ 3rd anniversary
  • Surpassing 50,000 posts at HispanicTips – July 2009 close to HispanicTips’ 4th anniversary
  • Having a crazy water fight with my friends in my house
  • Having millions of people viewing websites I have developed each year
  • Anytime I can spend on a beach
  • Visiting Palenque and Aqua Azul in Mexico
  • 113 degrees in Spain
  • -27 degrees in Chicago (or is this a lowlight)
  • Driving to Colorado in a $25 car in the winter.
  • The Indiana Dunes
  • Anytime I can eat really fresh fruit – picked from the tree is the best

Professionally, I have designed and developed websites since 1998. I have been/am an artist. I practically grew up in a TV station. I have worked in a radio station, a newspaper and Higher Education with various duties. I have waited tables and served food. I am an Aquarius, single and left-handed and still have plenty of hair on my head.

Niche New Media is my company.

I started it just for HispanicTips but I there is so much more there since I have a knack for creating websites/systems to solve my problems and help people/communities and entrepreneurialism runs in my family, especially the Mexican side.