“We tell the stories of ordinary Texans doing extraordinary things,” said Sauceda, who co-hosted YOLO TX before taking the show’s reins from founder and longtime host Bob Phillips and his wife and co-host, Kelli. The couple sold Texas Country Reporter to Texas Monthly magazine in 2022 but stayed on during the transition period.

“When I had the opportunity to apply for the show, I was extremely excited,” he said. “It really cuts to the core of what I’ve found to be a very motivating initiative and objective for me, which is bringing people together and building community.”

Like his predecessors, Sauceda travels throughout the Lone Star State to find human-interest stories. Given today’s divisive world, he hopes his reporting will unite Texans.

“I believe passionately that we all have significantly more in common than we think we do,” he said. “That’s something that I have just always felt in my bones, and it’s something that my mom really believed and instilled in me.”

During a recent interview in West Texas, he interviewed a man who owns a native seed company. Learning about this effort to help the grasses, flowers and plants that once thrived in this region grow again, and how the man’s goal is to be a “good ancestor,” drove home how lucky he is to serve as a storyteller.

“I’m really blessed to be in a position where I get to go out and not only find these stories but share them and open people’s eyes to these optimistic and uplifting ways of living their lives,” he said.

Sauceda grew up southeast of Houston in the small city of La Porte, where his parents were both active in their parish. Although he loved going to Mass as a child, especially spotting friends and familiar faces in the Communion line, he — like many college students — went to church sporadically while attending the University of Texas at Austin.

It was at UT that he met his future wife, Priscilla, salsa dancing; they were friends for several years before they began dating. He recalled being amazed to learn that they shared a connection central to his childhood. His parents had regularly taken the family to the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle — and as it turns out, hers had, too.

“It was fun for me to meet somebody who knew what that was and had gone a lot herself,” he said. “We had some common experiences in that regard, in terms of both upbringing and religion.”

The two married at St. Ignatius just over a decade ago and have made Austin their home. Having children — Evalyn, 8, and J.C., 5 — helped cement their return to the church. Now that they attend Mass more regularly, they have started finding Catholic connections in unexpected places, from neighbors to parents of their kids’ friends.

“I feel very lucky to have found the community that we found at St. Ignatius,” Sauceda said. “I feel … blessed to have also found other people within the diocese that we happen to know and realize that this has been something that’s been missing [in] my life.”

With the host of activities their children are involved in, including faith formation, and his travel schedule throughout Texas required for Texas Country Reporter, Sauceda and his family are working to carve out time to be more active in parish life.

“I haven’t gotten involved in the St. Vincent de Paul or Knights of Columbus or anything like that in the way that my parents were when I was in La Porte,” he said. “But we’ve started to get more active … and I find myself engaging with other Catholics a lot more than I had been previously.”

The family continues to build relationships at St. Ignatius.

“I hope my kids are able to see that value and grow their relationship as well, and continue the tradition that my family and my wife’s family have had for a long time,” Sauceda said.