Erick Galindo, the SELA renaissance man

When Erick Galindo showed up for our interview this Spring, I felt the pressure to make sure all the equipment was ready and that my interview skills would be sharp. See, Erick was a coworker of mine at LAist Studios where I saw him and his team develop what would become an award-winning second season of their podcast "WILD." He would greet me in the mornings between studio sessions and marketing campaigns. He had also just promoted a TV show he sold, a film he wrote with Patty Rodriguez and, wait for it, another podcast with another company at the same time.  

So when I was developing the first few interviews for CALÓ News’ first-ever podcast, I knew I needed to get Erick in the lineup to talk about his journey in journalism and more importantly, how a red-headed Chicano from Compton and South East L.A. made it to producing a series on the Lakers during Kobe’s reign and eventually developing TV and films for major studios. 

For over two decades, Erick Galindo has been at the forefront of telling stories by any means necessary. The accolades are endless, (takes a deep breath): he is a five-time Telly Award-winning and two-time Podcast Academy Award-winning writer, director, podcast host and showrunner. With projects in development like his film with Patty Rodriguez “A Christmas to Remember,” the Wilmer Valderrama produced show, “Mexican Beverly Hills” for CBS and of course his podcasts “WILD,” “Out of the Shadows” and the “Ballad of Chalino Sanchez,” Erick has been on a consistent stride with shows and work that tell the various complexities of Latino identity.  

How does one go from the hood to working with Kobe?

Like many first to second-generation immigrant families, Galindo’s family moved a lot and their family specifically moved around throughout the South East L.A. region. Erick stood out for having lighter skin and red hair and learned the hard way to defend himself but would later note that this, however, not only gave him tougher skin but also a unique perspective. 

His father worked all the time while his older siblings also navigated as best they could. Erick knew that he needed to work and find a career that would provide as soon as possible. Art was never an option nor something he considered until meeting Patty Rodriguez. 

They were both working at a JC Penney in South East L.A. when they both realized there were bigger worlds to imagine. 

She was very cosmopolitan at the time, according to Erick. With dreams of New York inspired by “Sex and the City” and eager to tell stories, Erick learned that there could be a career in writing and amplifying the stories of their communities. He asked his professors at the time what it would take to write for publications and learned that journalists get their start with clips and building a portfolio. 

Through cold-emailing and developing connections, Erick would eventually end up getting the opportunity to write about the Olympics for Yahoo News, at that time in the 2000s being one of the first outlets to push news strictly online. 

Erick was there before we all were. By we, I mean audiences and the news industry. See, the Yahoo gig would then open a door for Erick to join a new outlet that had a new project and they needed someone sharp in sports news producing. It would be as both director and producer of a series on the Lakers for Spectrum News. 

In our episode, we talk in length about what it was like to cover Kobe during his 2000s and 2010s era. Erick offers some fun anecdotes about that.  

From Emmys to homelessness and getting back up

Erick has spoken openly about the ups and downs of making a career in Los Angeles as a native South East L.A. writer, and it is this vulnerability that has helped him to excel.  

In our episode, Erick openly narrates how it was to be let go from his hit show after a larger hedge fund bought out the company. Much of our conversation revolved around what you do and who you lean on when things go bad. 

What I learned from him was the importance of finding your ground and standing on it when the world gets rocky in this way. There was a lot of time between that layoff and where Erick is now, but in our conversation, you hear a voice of someone who has stayed focused on the goal of sharing intimate yet entertaining stories for communities of color and especially Latino audiences.   

Listen to our first episode here: 

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