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Shea Serrano Biography
Shea Serrano is a Mexican-American author, journalist, and former teacher hailing from Texas. He is best known for his work with the sports and pop culture websites, The Ringer and Grantland, working as a correspondent, as well as his publications, including The Rap Year Book and Basketball (and Other Things), both making it in The New York Times best-sellers. Serrano’s activity and humor on Twitter have earned him referrals from GQ and other publications. Further, he has also written for GQ, ESPN, LA Weekly, XXL, Rolling Stone, MTV, and Vice.
Education
Serrano was born in San Antonio, Texas and grew up in the neighborhood of Valley Hi. He graduated from Sam Houston State University, where he started as a criminal justice major but eventually earned a degree in psychology, he also was in Omega Delta Phi.
Professional Career
After graduating from college, Serrano moved to Houston, where he worked in construction before becoming a middle-school science teacher. He taught 8th grade science at a Title 1 school in Houston for nine years.
Shea Serrano Journalism
Serrano began writing in 2007 as a way to supplement his family’s income when his pregnant wife was put on bedrest. After briefly writing for the Near Northwest Banner, Serrano freelanced for the Houston Press. He predominately wrote about hip-hop after noticing that the majority of the writers only wrote about rock music, despite the fact Houston is a cornerstone of southern rap music.
Shea Serrano Photo
Serrano’s first work that drew national attention was his Houston Press piece on rapper Trae tha Truth’s ban from a Houston radio station and the rapper’s subsequent lawsuit against the station. This piece allowed him to earn a place at the Houston Press’ sister publication, the LA Weekly. Serrano continued to earn national attention with his pieces about his children and stories about the songs played at his school dance and birthday party. While there, he wrote a piece describing having sex with his wife while listening to Drake. Grantland writer Molly Lambert saw the piece and passed it to her editors, who then invited Serrano to freelance for them. His first piece was about gift shopping with the rapper 2 Chainz. Serrano was hired full-time in July 2015.
Shea Serrano Books| Publication
Bun B’s Rap Coloring and Activity Book
Serrano’s first book, Bun B’s Rap Coloring and Activity Book, was published 17 September 2013. The book consists of coloring and activity pages based on popular rappers. The work was a collaboration with Houston rapper Bun B, although Serrano wrote and illustrated the book himself.
The Rap Year Book
Serrano’s second book, The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed, was published 13 October 2015 by Abrams Image. It soon appeared on The New York Times Best Seller List for the advice, how-to and miscellaneous category as well as the culture category. In March 2016, the book was optioned for a documentary series. In September 2016, the book was listed by Billboard as one of the 100 best music books of all-time.
Basketball (and Other Things)
Serrano’s third book Basketball (and Other Things) was published in October 2017. Illustrator Arturo Torres, Serrano’s collaborator on The Rap Year Book, also illustrated Basketball (and Other Things). It debuted at number two on The New York Times Best Seller list for the advice, how-to and miscellaneous category. In November 2017, it climbed to number one on The New York Times best-seller list for the sports and fitness category.
Movies (and Other Things)
Serrano is set to release his fourth book, titled Movies (and Other Things), in October 2019. Torres is also set to do the illustrations for the book, and the foreword is said to be written by “a movie star”
On 31 December 2017, former U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned Basketball (And Other Things) in a Facebook post describing his favorite books of the year.
Shea Serrano Television
In addition to the documentary project based on The Rap Year Book, Serrano also has a sitcom in development. In October 2017, ABC Studios ordered a pilot for the show, written by Serrano and produced by Serrano and Michael Schur. The Hollywood Reporter described the project as “a single-camera comedy…based on Serrano’s life growing up in a family with five uncles who all have different perspectives on manhood.” On Twitter, Serrano wrote that he “got tired of waiting for there to be more mexicans on TV so i asked [Schur] to help me try & make a family sitcom for ABC about them.
Shea Serrano Relationship|Wife
The writer is married to Larami Serrano. The couple have sired theree sons over the years. Their three sons are nicknamed Boy A, Boy B, and the Baby. The couple lives in Houston, Texas with their children and their French bulldog Younger Jeezy. Shea and Larami met in college in 2000 and were married in a hospital after Larami was hospitalized the day before their wedding.
Shea Serrano Charity
Serrano’s Twitter feed has also spawned considerable charitable giving. On 21 December 2016, Serrano and his Twitter followers, colloquially termed the FOH ARMY, joined up to give a parking lot attendant who’d helped Serrano find his car at an airport a $3000 tip. They playfully referred to it as the Radelle Christmas Miracle. On 9 March 2017, Serrano and company donated $12,539.87 to Planned Parenthood in recognition of International Women’s Day.
On 27 March 2017, Serrano mobilized the FOH ARMY again, this time to help one former student fund a trip to Turkey she was hoping to take to help teach children there English. She’d set a $3700 goal for her Go Fund Me page; Serrano and his Twitter followers raised nearly $4,500 in less than an hour.
On 17 August 2017, Serrano and the FOH ARMY joined up to fund several teachers’ Donors Choose pages to help them start the school year off right, often completing the requested funding in a matter of minutes;two days later, the group contributed over $10,700 to support an LGBTQ youth center in San Antonio, raising the money in less than seven hours.
On 31 August 2017, Serrano invited Twitter followers to join him in a “Fuck Hurricane Harvey” round of donations to support Houston relief work, with Serrano putting in $200 to start the effort. Four hours later, the group had contributed more than $90,000; by the end of the night, they had raised more than $130,000. On 8 December 2017, Serrano and the FOH ARMY donated $19,000 to The Children’s Shelter in San Antonio.
Shea Serrano Twitter
Shea Serrano Instagram
Shea Serrano Youtube
