User:MoreThanRedNailPolish/sandbox

Frank Mercado-Valdes (Born May 18, 1962), is an African-American media entrepreneur. Born in the Bronx, Mercado-Valdes eventually moved with his family to Miami, Florida when he was eleven. He is known for creating the African Heritage Network, an African American television sales, marketing, and distributing company. African Heritage Network (AHN), subsequently changed to The Heritage Networks (THN), was a broadcasting network running exclusively African American content: namely African American classic films. Mercado-Valdes is also noted for his producing of STOMP, a nationally syndicated televised stepping competition.

Childhood
Mercado-Valdes, born to Linda Valdes and Frank Mercado, was raised in the Bronx by his Cuban grandparents until he moved with his family to Florida at age eleven. In the less diverse Miami Florida, Mercado-Valdes faced discrimination because of his race, and was ostracized by peers. Due to the intensity of verbal and physical abuse Mercado-Valdes was subjected to at school, he took up fighting. With the skills he gleaned from fighting everyday, he won several Florida Golden Glove championships during his high school career. In the Bronx Mercado-Valdes was raised to appreciate learning and education, and the importance of reaching towards a goal. His dreams of becoming a lawyer were fostered by his supportive grandparents, and his diverse public high school in New York City. However, in the racist, far less diverse Florida area he felt stifled and overshadowed by white students. Due to the racism Mercado-Valdes faced, along with the violence and self doubt, his grades slipped drastically during high school, until he graduated high school in 1980 at the bottom of his class. Mercado-Valdes feared his dream of becoming a lawyer was over. Believing he would not be able to get into college with his grades, Mercado-Valdes joined the marines for a two year stint. After his time in the army was over, he enrolled in Miami-Dade junior college in 1982 and upon graduating with a Associates in Arts degree went on to study political science at the University of Miami.

Early Career
While attending college at the University of Miami, Mercado-Valdes created the Miss Collegiate Black American Pageant. The pageant was meant to attract more African American women to the university, but it came to be an important event for the celebration of African American culture and heritage. The first Miss Collegiate Black American Pageant was held in 1985, at the Miami Marine Stadium. And, though the pageant started off slow, the first televised version was aired five years later in 1990. After it's third year, the pageant turned a profit of $.6 million.

During his college career, Mercado-Valdes was introduced to Stepping, a style of dance with its roots in the boot dances of South African miners. First introduced to it when a contestant on the Miss Collegiate Black American Pageant performed a solo Step dance during the show, Mercado-Valdes was so impressed he came up with the idea for Step teams in fraternities and sororities. Through that idea, S.T.O.M.P. was born. Mercado-Valdes created S.T.O.M.P. as a televised competition between different fraternity and sorority Step teams. In 1992, S.T.O.M.P. was first aired on national television.