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Diniz Borges, was born on the island of Terceira, Azores. At the age of 10 he emigrated with his family to the United States, having lived and worked in the Central Valley ever since. He founded his first radio program at the age of 18 and co-founded the first 24-hour Portuguese radio station in Central California. He has served on numerous boards of Portuguese-American organizations at the local, state, and national level. He taught Portuguese at Tulare Union High School and the College of the Sequoias for 22 years. He is a lecturer at Fresno State where he is the founding director of the Portuguese Beyond borders Institute (PBBI). A contributing writer to various Portuguese language newspapers in the US, Canada, and the Azores, he has published several books in Portugal including anthologies and translations. He was the first Portuguese language teacher to be recognized as an Outstanding California World Languages Teacher.
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Diniz Borges, was born on the island of Terceira, Azores. At the age of 10 he emigrated with his family to the United States, having lived and worked in the Central Valley ever since. He founded his first radio program at the age of 18 and co-founded the first 24-hour Portuguese radio station in Central California. He has served on numerous boards of Portuguese-American organizations at the local, state, and national level. He taught Portuguese at Tulare Union High School and the College of the Sequoias for 22 years. He is a lecturer at Fresno State where he is the founding director of the Portuguese Beyond borders Institute (PBBI). A contributing writer to various Portuguese language newspapers in the US, Canada, and the Azores, he has published several books in Portugal including anthologies and translations. He was the first Portuguese language teacher to be recognized as an Outstanding California World Languages Teacher.
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Isabel Cabral-Johnson was born on the island of Terceira, with parents from the island of São Jorge in the Azores. She came to California as a young child and early on developed a passion for education. A leader in Portuguese language education in Central California, Isabel Cabral-Johnson has instituted many successful programs, including the only immersion Portuguese program in our state. She has been a volunteer and leader at an array of Portuguese educational and cultural institutions.
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Maria Fernanda Simões was born on the island of Pico, Azores. She emigrated to the US in her twenties and has been very involved in the local community in Kings County and throughout the state. She was supreme president of the fraternal organization SPRSI and had a Portuguese language radio program for many decades. She is an artist with exhibits featured throughout California and the Azores and is a published author.
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The Rosa Brothers, Noel and Rolland were born in Hanford, California. Their grandparents were emigrants from the Azores islands and began a dairy operation that has been in the family for three generations. They have been innovators in dairy production and retail of dairy products. Although second generation born on the US, they are very committed to their cultural legacy and the values brought from Portugal by their forefathers.
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William Silveira Jr. was born in the Central Valley. His grandparents were immigrants from the island of São Jorge in the Azores. For several years he was a very successful attorney, he became a judge in the Tulare County Superior Court where he did groundbreaking work in the juvenile sector and was instrumental in continuing with the sister-city relationship between the city of Tulare and Angra do Heroísmo in the Azores. He has researched and written about the Portuguese-American presence in Tulare County.
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Miguel Canto e Castro was born in the island of Pico, Azores and came to the US as a teenager. He has the oldest Portuguese language radio program in the US, broadcasting continuously for over 60 years. A dedicated member of the Portuguese-American community, Miguel has spent most of his life promoting the Portuguese-American experience in Central California.
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Maria Hortênsia Silveira, was born in the island of Pico and emigrated to the US as a teenager with her parents. She climbed the ladder of America’s corporate world and became Vice-President for Human Resources for Foster Farms, while simultaneously she continued her cultural activities in the Portuguese-American community being at the outset of various organizations in the Valley.
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Devin Nunes was born in Tulare County with roots in the Azorean islands of São Jorge and Pico. He was the youngest Portuguese-American ever elected to the US Congress. He has been instrumental in defending Portuguese-American issues and the US presence at the Lajes Air Force Base on the island of Terce
