Normally you don’t stumble into a New York Times bestseller. They write several articles, even books, while they polish their craft until they are good enough to earn the coveted status of a writer. This is exactly what happened to Shea Serrano. That’s not to say he didn’t deserve it or didn’t have the talent to be one, but it wasn’t his goal.
Serrano was a man who was simply trying to earn a few dollars by writing. His talents include writing, journalism, illustration, and social commentary, and he is also a television writer and producer – he does it all.
Shea Serrano’s Bio
The childhood of Shea was nothing unusual. He grew up in Valley Hi, although he was born in San Antonio, Texas. For his education, he attended Sam Houston State University, where he joined a fraternity, Omega Delta Phi. His exact major in Sam Houston is unknown at this time, but as a gifted writer, there is a possibility that he may have majored in something related to the arts.
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As mentioned above, Shea’s resume is quite diverse. After graduating from college, he worked in construction in Houston and worked as a laborer before turning to teach. After college, Serrano taught 8th-grade science students for nine years.
When responsibility increases and the income is not enough to keep up, the logical step was to find a way to increase the income, and Shea Serrano did. When his wife, who was then pregnant, was put on bed rest, Shea Serrano needed an extra income to supplement his teaching salary. The desperation of earning an extra income would launch Shea Serrano’s journalistic and writing career.
His first literary work was for Near Northwest Banner. An avid hip-hop fan, Shea took advantage of the lack of specialist writers for hip-hop. His writing style and opinions quickly became a hit among editors and publishers across the country. He began to receive recommendations, and not long after that, he was writing for GQ, ESPN, LA Weekly, and other major media platforms in the country. He currently writes for The Ringer.
With his hip-hop opinions that were so well received by readers, Serrano decided to go further and write a book. He published his first book, Bun B’s Rap Coloring and Activity Book, in September 2013, and his book was a warm-up for the success that awaited Shea’s writing career.
In October 2015, Serrano published the book that would establish him as a writer and thought leader. The book, The Book on Rap Year: The most important rap song from every year since 1979, Discussed, Debated and Deconstructed, hit the shelves on October 13 and made a sensation on the New York Times bestseller list. While this may have been a fitting success for a man who is not a traditional writer, the book was selected for a documentary series in March 2016 and made the Billboard list of the 100 best music books of all time.
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Serrano’s success with books was not over. He had found a genre in which he was great, and he was not about to give in. In October 2017 he published another book, Basketball (and other things), and like its predecessor, this book made it to the New York Times bestseller list. The secret of the book’s success was a stamp of approval that President Obama gave in a Facebook posting in which he declared it one of his favorite books of the year.
When he’s not writing for media publications, he debates in social media and talks about various topics ranging from hip-hop to basketball to writing. He regularly interacts with fans, and his use of social media has helped him create a cult.
The Mexican American is also a philanthropist who uses his voice and a newsletter he created with his partner Arturo Torres to raise money for various charities.
Wife, Family
They say that whoever finds a woman finds a good thing. The case has never been more true for Shea, whose success was unintentionally due to his reaction to help his wife in her time of need. The couple has been together since they met in college in 2000. Although they were planning a wedding, the couple could not go through with it because his wife, Larami, was hospitalized the day before the wedding, so they got married in the hospital. They have three children, whom Serrano affectionately refers to in public as Boy A, B, and the baby. A French bulldog completes the beautiful family.