Erick Solorzano is a reporter at Cardinal covering accountability in New River Valley. Prior to joining RFA, Solorzano pursued a career in marketing and communications, serving in key roles for a private corporation and a mission-driven nonprofit. Solorzano’s dream of becoming a journalist began at the University of Georgia, where he graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s of arts from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications. As a first-generation college student, Solorzano discovered his passion for storytelling by becoming a student news contributor for The Red & Black newspaper and a student news reporter for Grady Newsource, the university’s student-run television news program. Although his post-graduate career began in other professional industries, Erick Solorzano never lost sight of what becoming a journalist meant to him and the community he serves. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he created The Solo Segment, an independent social media news channel covering important news events in Georgia and the world. Today, he’s proud and grateful to transition from independent journalism into a staff journalist role.
Beat: Accountability reporter in New River Valley
Through original enterprise work and consistent community engagement, this visual journalist covers the issues facing the New River Valley. This beat tracks how decisions made in Richmond, D.C., and corporate boardrooms after local schools, town governments, and daily lives in Blacksburg, Radford, Christiansburg, Montgomery County and the surrounding towns of the region.