Carlos P. Odio Biography
Carlos Prio Odio is the husband to MSNBC anchor Alicia Menendez. He is a co-founder of EquisLabs, an advocacy organization that is focused on researching and mobilizing Latino voters. He is a former Deputy Associate Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Obama administration.
Carlos P. Odio Age
Carlos is 39 years old, he was born in 1983.
Carlos P. Odio Education
He did his undergraduate studies graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of America.
Carlos P. Odio Parents
Odio is the son of Cesar H. Odio and Marían Prío Odio. His mother is a retired psychotherapist who was the executive director of the Miami Mental Health Center. His father had been the city manager of Miami from 1985 to 1996. He died in October 2020, at the age of 84. His maternal grandfather, Carlos Prío Socarrás, was the president of Cuba from 1948 to 1952.
He was brought up alongside his sister Sarah Odio-Torlage, now a policy aide to the Miami-Dade County Commissioner Xavier Suarez.
Carlos P. Odio Wife
Carlos married his wife Alicia Menendez on February 15, 2015. The couple met in 2008 when Carlos was a the deputy Latino vote director on the 2008 Obama presidential campaign and she was working as a media director for Democracia USA. At the time, Alicia was writing a freelance article about the growing influence of Hispanic voters. She wanted to interview Carlos but he refused to answer most of the questions.
Carlos told The NY Times that at the time, he thought Alicia was pushy as he was waiting for a job in the Obama administration and didn’t want to say anything that would get him in trouble. Alicia got irritated, and that irritated him.
For the next few months, they ran in the same political circles, but without actually bumping into each other. Alicia added that the two talked trash about each other.
In September 2009, Carlos close friend and colleague, Stephanie Valencia-Ramirez, decided to set them up at a reception at the National Museum of American History, although he never knew their history.
At the time, Alicia had a boyfriend but Carlos had recently ended his relationship. They hugged and it was an instant truce. They sat beside each other at a Greek-Mediterranean tapas restaurant in Washington and began having conversation around their ethnicity.
About a month later, Alicia texted Carlos that she was with her dad and they had “nothing in the refrigerator” to eat. Carlos called to make a dinner date. They began having frequent dinner dates and soon than later they were in a relationship. They moved in together in spring of 2010. They got engaged in 2013.
Carlos P. Odio Children
Odio and his wife Alicia have two daughters together; Ofelia and Evangelina.
Carlos P. Odio EquisLabs
Carlos is a co-founder of EquisLabs, an advocacy organization that is focused on researching and mobilizing Latino voters. The group produces research reports and studies on things such as digital content reception and advertisement testing among Latinos.
He began his career as the communications manager of AlleyCorp, a media start-up company. He served in the position for a year before joining Obama’s presidential campaign as the deputy Latino vote director. He was appointed as the Deputy Associate Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs after former President Barack Obama won in 2008, a position he held until 2011.
In 2011, he joined New Organizing Institute, a now-defunct left-of-center nonprofit that was focused on training digital activists and organizers, director of special projects.In 2012, he was a member of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Platform Committee.
He was appointed in 2013 as the executive director of Florida Alliance, a left-of-center donor organization. He stepped down from the position in March 2018. In 2019 he co-founded EquisLabs.