Born and raised in El Salvador, seventh of eight children, of Indigenous and Spanish ancestry.  I was educated in El Salvador until the age of 15 when a civil war forced me to leave the country.  As an immigrant without any extended family to support me in Canada, poor English skills and lack of financial means to continue my education, I worked for several years at a number of jobs, including:  assembly line worker in an auto parts’ factory, guts remover at poultry processing plant, donut shop sales clerk, telemarketer, janitorial worker, nanny and housekeeper prior to enrolling in University. 

I completed a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Western Ontario in 1998 attending school part time while working full time and raising two children with my partner Stuart Richardson. I am presently enrolled in the Masters’ program in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University while working full time to pay the bills.

My free time is spent in radio production. When I am not producing my radio show Latin Waves, I enjoy spending time reading, dancing and hiking with my beautiful dogs Pina and Luí

Sylvia Key Note Speaker at Media Democracy Day Oct 25, 2008 

Media Democracy Day 2009, Sylvia Speaks about Violence Against Women

I grew up in a small southwestern Ontario border town called Sarnia; we lived in a very central urban environment close to downtown.  I have fond memories of my childhood as I felt a real sense of community, our houses were close together and we knew all our neighbors. I don’t remember a day when one of my neighbors didn’t say good morning or stop by for a chat with my parents. My mom used to give frozen popsicles to the kids and we used to play outside until the street lights came on, there are many other reasons I loved living in the cities core but I think community was my favorite.

Leaving home at a young age and moving to the coast for opportunity  I was always suspicious as it seemed those who worked the hardest jobs had no economic power or influence in society.  It is no surprise to me now that the society in which we live by its very nature is designed to keep existing power structures in place.   Realizing this fact and struggling against hard economic realities in my own life I came to admire those who fight and refuse to accept society as it is now but see it as “what it could be”.

I have always been an activist and have found my passion in community radio giving a voice to those people whose voices have been ignored in our main stream media not because they have nothing to say but because their voices and stories are to powerful.