He was born in Vina del Mar, Chile, but spent most of his formative years in Central Florida. He earned a bachelor’s in American Literature from the University of Florida in 1998 and then spent several years working first as a book editor and then as a sports writer and editor. In 2003, Sepulveda returned to academics, earning a master’s in technical communication from the University of Central Florida in 2005 and a Ph.D. in rhetoric, composition and the teaching of English from the University of Arizona in 2012. He has published over a hundred reports and articles in the fields of technical communication and international soccer, and his academic research focuses on political rhetoric and critical race theory.