She's been in Richmond for fewer than two years, but radio personality T.T. Torrez has quickly become the city's go-to source for entertainment news, information and gossip. According to iPower 92.1 co-worker and longtime Richmond disc jockey Lonnie Battle, Torrez has stepped into a void long needing to be filled, bringing “a different type of energy that has never been on Richmond radio.” And ratings have risen.
Torrez has used Richmond radio as a building block to what she says will someday be an empire of “fabulosity on a whole new level” — think Kimora Lee Simmons. She's brought stars to the airwaves — most recently Tyrese, Toni Braxton, Maxwell and film director Quentin Tarantino — and engaged them in grown-folk talk. In her Bronx accent, she offers her young, urban listeners stories of success and struggle using her own bottom-up story as inspiration for conversation.
On the weekends, Torrez hosts some of the hottest club parties in town and slips away to host parties in other major cities. Her uncanny ability to entertain comes with a great sense of responsibility.
Most recently the Norfolk State graduate dedicated her second annual charity birthday party to raise awareness for breast cancer. This summer, she led a campaign encouraging girls around the city to wait until they graduate to have children. Her favorite way to give back these days is to mentor young girls one-on-one.
“If you stay true to who you are,” she told Style earlier this year, “then it is only a matter of time before you will become successful.”
