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Andrea Valdez

Andrea Valdez's Profile Photo

Andrea Valdez, a Houstonian, received a BA in English from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and received her MSJ from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 2006. Two days after graduating from Medill, she began working at Texas Monthly as a fact-checker. In addition to dutifully guarding the magazine's integrity, she wrote more than forty columns in a series titled "The Manual," a short lesson on activities every Texan should know how to do. The column has since been turned into a book, How to Be a Texan: The Manual.

Valdez moved to the digital side of editorial in 2011, and in 2014 she became the editor of texasmonthly.com. During her tenure, the site's traffic has increased more than 250 percent and Texas Monthly's social media audiences have more than quintupled. She also helped launch two verticals—TM Daily Post and TMBBQ.com—and had a hand in a major redesign of texasmonthly.com in 2013.

She lives in Austin.

103 Articles

Food & Drink|
October 13, 2015

A Día de Los Muertos Celebration

For those of you unfamiliar with the Day of the Dead, rest assured it is not another remake of Zombie Apocalypse. In Mexico, it is an annual fall celebration of remembering, honoring and communing with loved ones who have gone before. The holiday has its roots in a pre-Columbian summer

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Food & Drink|
June 15, 2015

9 Great Tacos in the Rio Grande Valley

As the taco trend marches north—beyond our own state’s borders—it’s good to remind ourselves where the roots of this culinary delight are sunk the deepest. That would be Mexico, of course, and within our borders, the Rio Grande Valley. Tacos are as entrenched in Valley culture as muffulettas are

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Politics & Policy|
June 10, 2014

Perry Report Card: Criminal Justice

Yesterday, when we unveiled the cover of our July issue featuring Rick Perry, we also told you about “The Perry Report Card,” an upcoming magazine feature where, as the title suggests, we graded the tenure of the governor on eight areas of public policy. We invited you to weigh

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Business|
October 4, 2013

Texas Business Report: Dell Finally Goes Private

A Done DellAfter months of delays and deliberations, Dell Inc. shareholders voted Thursday to take the company private in a $24.8 billion buyout from CEO Michael Dell and the Silver Lake Partners investment group. The deal, which is expected to go through by November 1, comes after a lengthy

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BBQ|
June 13, 2013

A BBQ Road Trip Soundtrack

Senior editor Katy Vine, author of the Greatest Barbecue Story Ever Told, put together a BBQ Road Trip soundtrack. It features fourteen songs with a variation of the word “barbecue” in the title, six tracks called “Salt and Pepper,” three boogies, an ode to white bread, and one

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BBQ|
June 10, 2013

Barbecue Editor Featured Down Under

Our barbecue editor was recently interviewed by Sunrise, Australia’s self-described “number one breakfast show.” The hosts ask him about Texas-style barbecue (and the difference between an Aussie sear and our preferred smoking method), if he is “the Simon Cowell of the brisket,” and his favorite places in Texas. Watch the

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BBQ|
March 21, 2013

We Have a Barbecue Editor

(Photograph by Chris Wilkins | Texas BBQ Posse)In a move that seems long overdue, today we named Daniel Vaughn as Texas Monthly‘s first barbecue editor.Before people start stamping their feet and cursing that they weren’t hired for this highly coveted position, let me assure you that Vaughn is very well

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