Rios earned his BA in theatre studies from Kent State University. He started his professional theater career as a master electrician at Childsplay Theatre Co. in Tempe, Ariz. That experience has turned into a lifelong passion of creating exceptional design in Theatre for Young Audiences. His thesis, Youth Devised Design, examined strategies to involve young people in his design process when building experiences for them. He was honored with the 2020 Don and Elizabeth Doyle Graduate Fellowship for demonstrated artistic ability in Theatre for Youth. Professionally, Rios has held many full-time and contract technical theater positions, including lighting supervisor, master electrician, assistant lighting designer and lighting designer at companies such as New York Stage and Film, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Heritage Theatre Festival and Nashville Children’s Theatre. He was also named one of 12 participants in the 2020 ETC Fred Foster Student Mentorship program where he has been paired up with professional designers to help guide and develop his design career.