Bound to cover just a little more ground…He’s Vic.
About our Founder
Vic Vela is a 5-time Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist, podcast host, educator, public speaker and fierce advocate for addiction and mental health recovery. He is the founder and executive director of The Back From Broken Foundation.If one word defines Vic, it’s resilience. For years, Vic suffered from a crippling addiction to crack cocaine. He was also hospitalized after being diagnosed with HIV, which had nearly developed into full-blown AIDS. Vic has also struggled with diabetes and behavioral and mental health issues. Through all of this, Vic is — to quote one of his favorite musicians, Elton John— “still standing.” He’s been in recovery for cocaine addiction since 2015 and has lived with an undetectable HIV status for more than 18 years. Vic now dedicates his life to helping others.
Vic’s podcast, “Back from Broken”, features comeback stories of people who have overcome the biggest challenges in their lives, such as drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health issues. “Back from Broken” has won several awards – including back-to-back wins for Best Podcast by the Colorado Broadcasters Association and the Carolyn C. Mattingly Award For Mental Health Reporting – and has helped tens of thousands of people along the road to recovery.
After graduating from the Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2000, Vic began his career as a sports anchor for an NBC affiliate in West Texas, worked in newspapers, including as an investigative crime and courts reporter for the Albuquerque Journal, and covered politics and state government as a member of the Colorado Capitol Press Corps. For nearly a decade, Vic was a news, podcast host and reporter for Denver’s NPR affiliate, Colorado Public Radio. He has also taught aspiring journalists as an affiliate journalism instructor at his alma mater. Vic was named the 2020 Media Personality of The Year by the Public Relations Society of America Colorado Chapter.
Vic’s Roots:
Vic is a fourth generation Colorado native and was the first person in his immediate family to attend college. He comes from a large Chicano family that’s deeply rooted in the American West.
Vic's grandparents on his dad’s side were raised in southern Colorado, relocating to Boulder County, where they worked long hours picking vegetables in beet fields. His Grandpa Vela was a boxer in the Marines and a coal miner. On his mother's side, Vic's Indigenous and Spanish ancestral roots from New Mexico predate the earliest New England colonies. Vic's dad coached football, served in the Army and is a longtime Chicano rights and community organizer in Longmont. His mom worked in head start, sold tamales and cleaned houses for extra money. Vic was named after his great Uncle Vic of Longmont, who won a Purple Heart for fighting in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.
Vic's career/advocacy work:
Vic has inspired countless people who are struggling with addiction and mental health issues through his advocacy work as a public speaker and through his podcast, "Back from Broken", which he created in 2020. Vic’s podcast guests include Hunter Biden, Jim Belushi and The Lumineers. Throughout his career, Vic has interviewed many prominent names in politics and entertainment, including Nikola Jokic, Don Rickles, Jay Leno and the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir.
Vic has told his addiction and mental health recovery story at mental health conferences, rehab centers and at training seminars across the country. Vic has received several prestigious awards for his work in recovery, including the Larry Tajiri Media Award from ACLU Colorado, for “honesty and compassion in sharing stories of substance use and recovery.”
Vic is an enthusiastic supporter of animal rights and often helps to raise money for rescue groups. He’s also a huge fan of the Grateful Dead, even naming his happy rescue dog Rider after one of their songs.
