About Me

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Awards

  • 1995 Society Award by America's Future Foundation.

  • Novak Journalism Fellow for The Fund for American Studies.

  • 1856 Society Award by the Young Republican National Federation.

  • Recognized by the President of the United States during the National Day for the Victims of Communism.

  • Rising Leader Fellow from the Heritage Foundation.

  • Institute for Humane Studies Fellow

Daniel Di Martino was born in 1999 in Venezuela to a middle class family. His grandparents escaped poverty in Italy and Spain in the 1950s, seeking a better future in the then 4th richest country in the world, Venezuela. Italy was destroyed by fascism and World War II and Spain by the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime’s autarkic policies. Despite not having a high school education, his family started businesses and prospered under Venezuela’s relatively free market and strong democracy in the second half of the 20th century. But Daniel was born in the same year that Hugo Chavez was sworn in as President and saw how his socialist policies transformed the once prosperous nation that welcomed his grandparents into a poor and dangerous place. His family’s income was drastically reduced due to inflation, blackouts and water shortages increasingly plagued much of his life, and he was forced to line up for food and basic necessities for hours.

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Roles

  • Fellow at the Manhattan Institute

  • Founder of the Dissident Project

  • PhD candidate in Economics at Columbia University

  • Board of advisors member and Speaker at YAF’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise.

  • Board member at Incubate Debate

  • Hispanic Advisory Board member at the Heritage Foundation

  • Member of the New Jersey advisory board to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

In 2016, he left Venezuela to attend Indiana University in Indianapolis thanks to a full-tuition scholarship that is awarded to only one international student per year. From Indiana, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with honors and the highest distinction in Quantitative Economics on December 2019. He then went on to pursue a PhD in Economics at Columbia University in New York City focused on immigration economics, especially in assimilation, selection, and the fiscal impact of immigrants. And he is now a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

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Daniel has been featured on national TV dozens of times, being interviewed in Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, Newsmax, NTD News, and many other TV channels and radio stations discussing everything from what’s happening in Venezuela, to the impact of socialist policies in America, economics, foreign policy, and immigration.

He has written op-eds and articles for outlets such as the USA Today, National Review, City Journal, and The Daily Wire.

Daniel is also a sought-after public speaker who lays out the problems of socialism using his story and knowledge to connect with diverse audiences. He speaks at college campuses through Young America’s Foundation, and he is a board member at their Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise.

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Media & Speaking

The Dissident Project

Daniel’s experience in Venezuela and passion for freedom drove him to found the Dissident Project, a nonprofit speakers’ bureau that connects immigrants who fled tyrannical countries for America with high schools and middle schools so they can tell their stories to young Americans and help them understand the value of their freedom.

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Manhattan Institute

Daniel is a Fellow focused on immigration policy at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in America and its great cities.

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Young America’s Foundation

Daniel has spoken at over 40 events for YAF in college campuses, high schools, middle schools and fundraising retreats. YAF is the leading and best organization for young conservatives in America. Founded by William F. Buckley Jr. and with close involvement of Ronald Reagan, YAF takes the conservative message to the next generation.

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U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Daniel is one of the 12 advisory committee members for the state of New Jersey to the federal U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which advises congress on a range of issues related to civil rights, liberties, and the constitution.

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