I was born in Abilene, Texas, to Joe David Reyes Sr. and Maria Norfelia Perales. I've resided in Dallas, Texas, for the past 26 years and hold two degrees, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master of Business Administration in Information Technology Management from Western Governors University.

As a child my fondest memories were those of my great-grandmother Elena Villanueva our family's matriarch. As far back as I can remember, my family would take annual trips down to South Texas (Lower Rio Grande Valley "El Valle") to visit our great-grandmother Elena. Although at the time my siblings and I could speak a little Spanish (i.e. Spanglish), unfortunately, our first language was English therefore struggled most of the time when speaking with our great-grandmother. As a result, our parents, cousins, great-uncles/aunts use to translate for us since our first language was English. I can still remember many of the wonderful stories our Great-grandmother use to share with us about our Tejano ancestors.

Without a doubt my interest in genealogy stems from my great-grandmother Elena. I knew that one day I would write a genealogy book that would substantiate all of the wonderful stories about our familia and antepasados that our Great-grandmother use to share with us. My great-grandmother Elena was extremely proud of her Tejano roots and Hispanic Heritage as should all of her descendants.