Veronica Valencia-Hughes, Latina designer and mother of two, is the host of HGTV’s Revealed

On the days her father worked overnight shifts as the captain in the Los Angeles City Fire Department, Veronica Valencia-Hughes, along with her mom and sister, Katherine, would make over her house, which consisted of a surprise once he returned home.

“[My father] would come home, and his room would be in a completely different one. And my sister and I had his room,” Valencia-Hughes said. “I was raised in a home with a lot of love. My parents just let us explore and be whoever we wanted to be.”

The oldest of four siblings, Valencia-Hughes grew up in a Mexican and Native American household in Westfield, LA, just down the street from her grandparents – the home her parents still live in today. As a young girl, she remembers asking her father every Saturday morning to take her to look at model homes, where they’d pretend they were buying. She’d be entranced by the layout and personality of each one. 

“I remember vividly watching Father of the Bride and being like, ‘We have to paint our house this color.’ I started drawing floor plans,” Valencia-Hughes said. “A seven-year-old writing on a legal pad and being like, ‘Okay, we’re going to put stairs here, Dad. We’re going to do two stories, we’re going to get a pool.’ My parents, bless them, never made me feel like that was ridiculous.”

Despite having a clear passion for design, as an athlete playing softball, Valencia-Hughes never truly considered pursuing a career in that field until after she graduated high school. When she and her best friend, Laurin Coury-Dashiell, were unsure of their futures after graduating, Coury-Dashiell decided to submit applications for both of them to the College of the Canyons, where they went on to study interior design.

“She was my neighbor,” Valencia-Hughes said. “And she surprised me by enrolling me in interior design school, all because we wanted to carpool, open up our sunroof and listen to music on the way to school.”

After graduating from high school, and throughout her college career, Valencia-Hughes worked as a design assistant for Jill Wolff of Jill Wolff Interior Design. In 2007, at the age of 21, she was faced with the decision between attending the Art Institute to receive her bachelor’s in interior design and architecture or joining the team on HGTV’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EM: HE). 

“I found out about both [opportunities] within 24 hours,” Valencia-Hughes said. “I had told my parents, ‘I’m going to go on the road,’ which was a big deal because being raised in a Mexican household, my mom moved into a home down the street from her mom and was one of nine. It’s rare for you to go away because your parents want you to live in their house. It was a big deal.”

Since she first joined EM: HE, and after the show ended in 2012, Valencia-Hughes has garnered nearly 20 years of experience in the design world, spending much of that time running behind-the-scenes design teams for 600+ TV home renovation projects for HGTV, Netflix, ABC, NBC, Fox, CNBC and OWN. 

Additionally, after meeting her husband, Kristopher Hughes, the two of them launched their design studio, The Design Hunters, in 2013, which is a “full-service interior design, styling and creative development company based out of Los Angeles and New York City,” according to the website. Throughout the entirety of her design experience, Valencia-Hughes has come to fully understand the importance of encapsulating the stories and beauty of not only the homes but those living in them. 

“On Extreme Makeover, I was like, ‘Oh, wow. I’m really good at this,’” Valencia-Hughes said. “I love connecting with people, and I feel like because of my upbringing, in a big family where everybody’s so different, and you want to make sure everybody’s seen, I realized that I had a passion for connection to the home on Extreme Makeover. I felt like I get people. It’s a gift.”

After working behind the scenes for 20 years, in 2020 Valencia-Hughes decided to take the initiative and request her own HGTV show, which finally came to fruition through Revealed, which first aired June 29. Hosted and creative designed by the interior designer and accompanied by her EM: HE team – design guru Tommy Rouse, master builder David Bohler and talented artist Joshua Smith – Revealed not only depicts the renovations of several homes but also the team’s interweaving design with each family’s history. 

And although she is making meaningful impacts on each family by beautifully crafting reflections of each homeowner and their family, Valencia-Hughes is learning just as much, if not more, on her first-ever journey in front of the camera. 

“It’s never too late,” Valencia-Hughes said. “A lot of things were revealed to these homeowners and it’s so funny that the name of the show is Revealed, because I promise you, throughout this whole process, so much has been revealed to me. There are differences for everybody. Everybody is so different. I think being proud of who you are is important. I’m just so happy.”

New episodes of Revealed can be found on HGTV every Thursday at 9 pm Pacific Time (PST). If you want to learn more about Valencia-Hughes and any future endeavors, follow her on Instagram or check out her website.

CALÓ NEWS sat down with Valencia to discuss her new show, Revealed, dealing with imposter syndrome and the importance of Latina representation within design. 

Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

VERONICA VALENCIA-HUGHES, 37, CALIFORNIA, INTERIOR DESIGNER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR, SHE/HER, MEXICAN-AMERICAN AND NATIVE AMERICAN

YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT NOT GROWING UP WITH MUCH LATINA REPRESENTATION WITHIN THE DESIGN INDUSTRY. DID THIS EVER MAKE YOU FEEL HESITANT ABOUT PURSUING DESIGN AS A CAREER? 

Oh my gosh, all the time. When we were filming the pilot, I was so nervous. And I, on accident, said ‘Growing up, I didn’t have any role models that look like me.’ And my parents watched it and were like, ‘Whoa.’ I was like, ‘No, I meant in design!’ I said, ‘I’m sorry. I know sometimes you can’t make edits, but that’s inaccurate. I was so pregnant, and I was so nervous filming my show. I was like, ‘I want to clarify that, growing up, I did not see myself in the mainstream.’ I didn’t know any Mexican interior designers. I didn’t know any Mexican creatives. Of course, there are many out there, and I want to make that very clear. I love seeing Mexico, and all of the vacation spots like Oaxaca and Mexico City, just seeing that it’s so rich in culture and I feel bad sometimes that it took me being a 30-year-old and a mom with kids to want to embrace my culture. But it was because I was working in a predominantly white neighborhood. I went to school at an all-girls school in Calabasas, and there weren’t many people who looked like me. I didn’t know any creatives. We changed it just to make it known that I didn’t see myself [in design]. I remember walking into Target and looking at ads and not seeing anyone like me, so we made that super clear.

I thought I was just going to be behind the scenes. Being a caretaker was my passion, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good there.’ I don’t mind highlighting others and lifting others, and that’s probably the older sister in me. I think it took meeting the guys on Extreme Makeover, my team, they let me be me and, meeting my husband; he’s so authentically him. He’s Black and Irish, and he is from the Bronx, such a New York City guy. He’s so him. It took me meeting my best friends and the love of my life to make me want to stay grounded and be proud of who I am. And I’m going to be honest, it was during Covid-19 when everybody was at home sitting with themselves, when I was like, ‘Veronica, you have it in you. I’m pretty sure there are no Mexican-American and Native-American female hosts on HGTV; you should ask for your own show.’ I did and they said yes. That’s why we’re here.

YOUR NEW HGTV SHOW, REVEALED, AIRS ON JUNE 29. CAN YOU TALK A BIT ABOUT THE SHOW AND WHAT THE PROCESS WAS LIKE STARTING IT? WHAT INSPIRED THE CONCEPT OF INCORPORATING DESIGN AND THE HOMEOWNERS’ HERITAGE AND CULTURE? 

The show’s concept was brought to me as an idea. I think it’s something that we need as a society and as a world. We’ve gone through so much, especially in the past four years, and I think people just want to feel that connection and make it known that we’re all similar in life, so I got something that had just been buzzing around. I’m honestly not sure if it was something that had been, not quite a mandate, but a lot of times there are networks that say, ‘We’re looking for a couple who’s redoing schools, or whatever,’ so I’m not sure how it came about on their end. But when the concept was presented to me, I naturally had already been doing that, because, being a designer behind the scenes, as some people like to say, a “ghost designer,” on Extreme, I never met the families because it was a surprise. In the casting process, they filled out a questionnaire, and my design questionnaire for television and private clients is extensive. I’m asking about your background, favorite music, favorite food, who’s your role model in life, your biggest regrets and how you want to live in your home. I ask for everything. 

The whole [Revealed] concept is about weaving exactly who you are as a family, your stories, heritage and culture into your home. It’s different for everybody. I’m still discovering so many about myself and my family, and so are all of these homeowners. These homeowners have to be so vulnerable to submit an application, to have your home done by design and build teams that you don’t know, and it’s your money. These are real clients. These are real renovations. But the common thread, other than needing to renovate your home, is that all of these homeowners were missing something in their homes. They needed to include information about their family, roots, and upbringing. Whether their mother had passed away and they didn’t get to ask all those questions, or they heard all these family stories and want to know if they’re true. If they have kids, and they want their kids to feel proud of who they are and not go through what they went through. There’s something that I know viewers are going to relate to, if not one, then all of these families in some aspect. It’s a design show, a standard renovation show, and it’s all about weaving your family stories, heritage and culture into your home.

IN REVEALED, YOU AND THE HOMEOWNERS SIT DOWN WITH A GENEALOGIST TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THEIR HERITAGE. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE? 

They’re learning. I have this amazing Black couple [in episode one] who told me that all they want is for their home to be authentically theirs and rich in Black culture and history. To have ‘black joy’ for their daughters; they want their home to represent that. I’m sitting there at a table, and I’m looking at their faces, and they’re hearing that they’re descended from slaves, and how their ancestors got to vote not once, but three times. I’m watching them look at documents, paperwork of them being a slave, and then 20 years later, a document of that slave now being free and opening up their own bank account. This is real stuff, I’m sitting there watching them digest it. A lot was ‘revealed’ on the show besides a makeover, it was very deep. And after we would wrap filming, it was emotional. I had to walk away several times. I was just very emotional. Like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is intense. Keep it together.’

I respect HGTV and RTR [media] because it’s a fine balance between how many makeovers, how much ancestry reveal, are we going too far and are we not going far enough. I would do this for anybody’s show: what is cultural appropriation, and what is cultural celebration and appreciation? When you have a homeowner giving you permission, inviting you into their home and saying, ‘Please, celebrate us. Let’s dig deep and learn information.’ In the process, I learned about myself, every single time, every one of these homeowners, so it was really beautiful.

YOU’VE WORKED WITH HGTV PRIOR TO REVEALED BUT BEHIND THE CAMERA. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FINALLY BE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA? HOW DOES IT FEEL?

It feels strange. I have to do my makeup and I don’t want to do it all the time, haha. No, I feel a lot of things. I feel appreciation, I feel gratitude. I’m very proud of myself, proud of the team. I worked very hard to get here. But I also am the oldest; I’m always someone who wants to share the light with everybody. And one of my friends told me, ‘The best thing you can do is shine.’ I am so thankful for having friends, families, HGTV and RTR for allowing me to shine and be me. That is okay, standing in your worth and knowing how great you are. That’s something, as a society, we’re always told, not to shine too bright; you don’t want to upset people. So, that’s something that I’m constantly working on because I have so many friends who work behind the scenes who will never get a show, and maybe they don’t want one and that’s fine, or maybe they do want one, I don’t know. I just hope that I’m making everyone who knows me proud. 

YOU DESIGN ON THE SHOW WITH YOUR TEAM — TOMMY ROUSE, DAVID BOHLER AND JOSHUA SMITH — FROM EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION. WAS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU TO CONTINUE WORKING WITH THEM ON YOUR OWN SHOW? 

My friend Tommy Rouse, the show’s design partner, and his husband, Josh, and the builder Dave, met on [EM: HE] when I was 21. And they’re all still my best friends, family, work colleagues and now the team on Revealed. We’ve been together, setting the trend behind-the-scenes, for so long. Just putting out makeovers and being a part of amazing teams and talent. We always say, ‘It takes a village.’ Just being here today seriously feels like a pinch-me moment, times a million.

We all still have our own successful careers. My husband and I have a company called the Design Hunters, which has been our production company forever. That was our first baby, before our two kids, Hunter and River. We still have that, and now we have Veronica Valencia Home. And Dave Bohler has a successful construction company in the San Gabriel Valley, called Bohler Builders Group. He also works on so many shows, all the HGTV shows that you guys see. Dave is running the construction while I do the behind-the-scenes design. And then Tommy and Josh have a super successful wedding furniture rental company, Avenue Twelve, in San Luis Obispo. We have our careers and then come together and support one another through those and this. 

NOT ONLY ARE YOU DESIGNING PEOPLE’S HOMES, BUT YOU ARE INCORPORATING THEIR CULTURES, MAKING THESE RENOVATIONS SPECIAL AND PERSONAL TO EACH INDIVIDUAL. CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS? HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU? DOES IT DIFFER WITH EACH CLIENT?

For television, it is very accelerated, I’m not going to lie. It takes us maybe six months from pre-production to the end of the show to do, sometimes, 12 renovations. And that’s insane. We have a great team, I do a lot of projects with Dave Bowler on camera and off camera. And David knows what homeowners to say ‘yes’ to for TV shows. Can we get this house done in the timeframe, city permits and things like that? I’m very involved from the beginning, from casting a family to going through budgeting, architecture and drawing floor plans. The questionnaire I discussed immediately gets sent to a family in the casting process. When we’re meeting them for the first time, I already know about them, I honestly don’t even need them to design their home, because I already know everything about them. That’s just a way for us to accelerate our process. My creative process is just reading about them on paper, which they tell you more when they’re writing and when you’re meeting them because it’s almost like a journal or almost manifesting their house and they don’t know it. Once we’ve locked the budget and the episodes are approved, and everyone’s happy with the family, then the designing can start, and honestly, it probably takes no more than three to four weeks to design it. Then the construction is usually six to eight weeks. 

And I think it’s fast because I’ve had so much experience working with so many different designers and their partners, and all of them had such different brands that I would never attach. I always said, ‘I want them to be happy … it’s their brand. I want the family to be happy.’ So, I was able to make decisions very quickly. When I walk in, I’m just more about the feeling. It’s also television, so it’s like, ‘What’s the shot?’ You think about every angle. It’s different on TV than in person. My process is very quick. And then the team … I know how incredible Tommy is, who’s my design partner. Dave, our builder, and Josh, are artists, and I, immediately even when designing, I’m already thinking about those projects. What’s my heirloom project? What project is Josh going to excel in? What project is going to push Dave or push Josh? I always think about those things because I want them to be right in their light. I’m thinking about all that pretty immediately.

YOUR HUSBAND AND CHILDREN ARE ALSO FEATURED IN THE SHOW. WAS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU TO INVOLVE THEM? 

Yes, because there are families like us. There are blended families out there who look like us. We’re not fancy designers, we’re just a regular family; we have regular things, we’re stressed out all the time, and our house is a mess all the time. My husband is Black and Irish, so our children have blended roots – Black Irish, Mexican and Indigenous. I think that’s special and they’re beautiful. With that, I wanted them to be in our show, and, as a mother of two, I want people to know this is so hard, doing this as a mother is extremely hard. But it’s possible, and you can do it, you just have to rely on a village. And my husband, Kris, and I discussed, ‘Do we want to be on TV as a couple? Do we want to do a husband and wife show?’ But he’s so confident in himself and was like, ‘Being on camera is not something that I’m interested, in terms of being a full cast member.’ And he works behind the scenes, so Kris is on all of our shows and he’s really a fifth member. He holds down the fort with the kids and stuff on some days because it’s a lot. So, for him, I just wanted him to be in there as well – my love.

I READ THAT YOU TOOK THE INITIATIVE AND ASKED FOR YOUR NEW SHOW. HOW DID YOU DEAL WITH FEELINGS OF IMPOSTER SYNDROME WHEN ASKING FOR WHAT YOU WANTED? 

It’s funny because something took over me where I didn’t have imposter syndrome – until now. [On premiere day], I had all the emotions, I had imposter syndrome. I was crying. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, if I hadn’t asked, would anybody have seen me? Would I have been given this opportunity if I didn’t ask? Am I worthy?’ All those things that naturally come up in any career, it doesn’t matter what job you’re at. I’m very spiritual, and I’m very in tune with the universe and I just knew, I don’t know, something came over me, where I just looked at my husband and said, ‘I’m just gonna call.’ And the show concept wasn’t what I asked for, I had just asked for my own show. They were like, ‘You’re going to make over Bed and Breakfasts.’ I’ve done that, I can do that. The show concept fell into my lap, or the network’s. They said yes to the show, and it took six months and a network executive was like, ‘No, Veronica is our family girl. She’s been on Extreme, she’s our family girl and loves connecting with people. This is the show concept.’ When they told me, I was like, ‘Absolutely, that is exactly who I am. This is a gift on top of a gift!’

YOU ARE EXACTLY THE LATINA REPRESENTATION IN DESIGN THAT YOU DIDN’T HAVE GROWING UP. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THAT REPRESENTATION FOR YOUNG LATINAS, AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? 

It means everything to me, just to sit at the table and know that it’s in good hands. I’m so compassionate; all I want to do is inspire and bring hope. My experiences, family and career are so rare that what would be the point for me just to sit here and keep them to myself? I just want to share them. Even if I inspire one person, that’s amazing, but, honestly, all of my cousins have already reached out to me, and my great aunt, at a family reunion, gave a speech about me to the whole family. I’m just looking at all these beautiful faces of people I’m related to and everyone is so proud. They see themselves in me, so I already feel like I made it. I feel proud.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO YOUNG LATINO/AS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN DESIGN, BUT FEEL LIKE IT MIGHT NOT BE THE CAREER MEANT FOR THEM? ANY ADVICE? 

Just listen to your heart and not your head. I think it’s in those quiet moments that you know exactly who you are and what you want to be. You owe it to yourself and the little girl who was you to just go for those dreams. If you shoot for the moon, and it doesn’t happen, it’s okay. It’s fine. Maybe it wasn’t your path and maybe try something else. But I think, if you have a passion or a dream, you owe it to yourself to go for it. 

WHAT DO YOU HOPE FOR VIEWERS TO TAKE AWAY FROM WATCHING YOUR SHOW? 

I want viewers to think about their own families. If people walk away and are curious about their roots and their family, and incorporate a deeper sense of belonging in their home, I feel like, no matter what the ratings are, we’ve succeeded. Because I feel like, once everybody learns more about their family or who they are, their home just feels different. It just feels different. It’s not about the pretty pictures or the Pinterest-worthy images, it’s not about that. It’s just about what makes you feel full in your home. [Also] thinking a little bit deeper. You’re going to be someone else’s ancestors, so what is your version of family? What does that mean to you? For your kids? And it can be about your stories or your travels. It doesn’t just have to be about your roots.