With a background in performance art and corporate business, Rhina Valentin excels as a television host, actress, performance artist and producer with La Reina Del Barrio, Inc. and BronxNet TV, where she is the host and creative producer for BronxNet and “Open Friday.” She began her career at a travel company before relocating to California to pursue acting and notably achieved a spot on the hit television show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” During her acting career, she learned about production and was inspired to create something for herself and others in the entertainment industry. Ms. Valentin has bolstered her skills through coursework at community colleges, trade schools and conservatories, and earned a master’s degree in the Meisner technique from the William Esper Studio.
For more than two decades, Ms. Valentin has used her platform to advocate for the arts and entertainment, culture, women’s rights and empowerment, mental health awareness, domestic violence awareness and more. She is constantly creating and redesigning projects and has worked with a number of other television networks, including the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, Inc, a primarily Spanish-speaking network, and the Public Broadcasting Service, where she developed and hosted a diversity, equity and inclusion event for senior executives.
Furthermore, Ms. Valentin’s community activity extends to involvement with New York Women in Film & Television, the East Harlem Community Alliance and 100 Hispanic Women National. She also sits on the board of directors for the Bronx Council on the Arts and is a regular donor to the Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education. In 2009, she was recognized by Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s administration with a proclamation for the show, “Death of a Dream,” which she produced and co-starred in. She later received a second proclamation in 2011, this time from Sen. Gustavo Rivera, which recognized her as an iconic and integral part of the culture of the Bronx.
Featured in AM New York, Ms. Valetin was named Woman of the Day in 2015 and was presented with the 25 Bronx Influential Women of 2015 Award as well. In 2020, she was honored with the Change Maker Award from Color Magazine. For her excellence, Ms. Valentin became the first Latina to be recognized as the Creative New Yorker for New York in 2021 and was presented with the Latin Impact Award by Schneps Media in 2022.