Erik Valencia, president and CEO of the Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce, has a background in theatre going back to middle school. He said his stage training has made his current job easier. Photo contributed

Performing on stage can illuminate an already present confidence in a person. For Erik Valencia, president and CEO of the Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce, the theater sparked an ambition he could carry on for the rest of his life.

After reading a story in the local paper, The Reedley Exponent, about a new theater company starting in town in his seventh-grade year, Valencia knew he wanted in. Mark Norwood, Reedley High School’s first theatre arts coordinator, helped him find his love of performance.

As Valencia approached high school, his place in the drama program developed slowly because of his shyness in a new, larger school. He regretted not participating in the spring musical his first year.

It kept him up — literally.

“I remember lying in bed at night thinking, ‘I need to make a change and figure things out for myself,’” said Valencia. “No one’s going to tell me ‘you need to go audition for the show.’ So, the next year, I joined a bunch of clubs. I paid attention to all the bulletins because I knew what I wanted to do. I was very driven this next year, so I got involved and cast in the show in high school.”

After his awakening, Valencia, 43, performed in productions each semester of his last three high school years. He said getting involved in these shows helped him find confidence.

“That’s where I found my niche,” said Valencia. 

Early start

Service to the community was introduced to Valencia at an early age. Raised in Reedley. Valencia’s mother and grandparents owned businesses in Parlier and were active in the Parlier Chamber of Commerce. His father’s parents owned businesses in Sanger and Orange Cove. Commerce and community service were part of life, giving him an understanding of how both benefit the community.

His parents’ service to the community went beyond business. It also applied to Valencia’s education.

Valencia attended St. La Salle School, a private religious

school in Reedley.

When the school was in danger of closing when the previous owners were stepping away, parents — including Valencia’s — stepped up by working with the local Catholic parish to take over the school.

“To see their support for us to have a good childhood and a good future really inspired me,” said Valencia. 

Before the Chamber

As Valencia began his college career, he was still determining what to do with his future.

“I wanted to learn and figure out how I can make my community better. If there were issues, what can we do? That was started even before we had this position. That was always in my head that I wanted to be active,” Valencia said.

With his ambition for service, he attended Fresno State to become a physical therapist. His major was interdisciplinary health and rehab sciences, with an emphasis in the pre-physical therapy section. Valencia enjoyed his time taking the classes and enjoyed patient-practitioner interactions.

The tricky part for many majoring in the sciences is typically the math sections.

 

“There is so much physics and chemistry, and I was struggling. And I was thinking, at this point, I’m not going to get into the program. And it was a little bit of a letdown,” Valencia said.

Despite the uneasiness of his major, Valencia proposed a new way to serve his community by throwing a block party in his neighborhood.

The Reedley Exponent published an article Valencia wrote about the block party. In high school, Valencia was the editor-in-chief for the yearbook. This experience gave him some writing experience to submit content to the local paper.

Budd Brockett, editor of the paper at the time, called Valencia about his article. A connection was made that led to a journalism career.

“It was nice to learn about my community, even more in-depth than I already did,” Valencia said.

Valencia went on to work for the paper for about four years when a new opportunity presented itself.

Kings Canyon Unified School District was looking for a public relations officer. Valencia applied, seeking a new avenue to serve his community. 

Valencia worked for the district for 10 years, creating programs and events to benefit the educational community. As the superintendent that hired him, Dr. Juan Garza, was leaving, Valencia was again, approached with a new offer. 

Leadership role

The chairman of the Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce at the time called Valencia to tell him the position for CEO was open. They wanted him to apply.

“I enjoyed working for the district, but here’s this other opportunity to do something different for our community I love. I decided to apply and interview. I did a couple of rounds of interviews. They decided to hire me in 2017,” said Valencia.

Valencia brought his skills and experience to the chamber. Some of it came from the theater, which he is still involved with.

Performing on stage allowed him to find the confidence to speak in front of crowds and talk to different kinds of people.

Valencia recently performed in a Selma Arts Center production called “On Your Feet” about the music of Gloria Estefan. Valencia was cast in the role of Estefan’s father.

“When you have people working for a common vision, you see the product you can put together. I think that’s another place I can connect the two. When you’re all working together, you get this beautiful production. The same thing working with my job. If we can work together, we get a beautiful product,” said Valencia.

Now, he sits on the board of the River City Theatre Company in Reedley. Valencia has been with the board for two years and has served as president for six months. Valencia’s first job as president was to find a new general manager. The group sought a leader in the style of previous manager Mark Norwood, who helped Valencia find his passion for theater back in middle school.

They hired Peter Allwine, an actor and director since 1986 who has previously worked with most of the major theatre companies in the region. He comes from a show business family. His father Wayne Allwine was Disney’s official voice of Mickey Mouse for 32 years. His stepmother Russi Taylor was Disney’s original voice of Minnie Mouse.