“I dream it, I work hard, I grind till I own it.” - Beyoncé

What I’m currently up to:

The latest happenings with DACA

I am one of 700,000 DACA beneficiaries. Some of those beneficiaries are journalists. As a journalism leader, I wanted to find ways to help other DACA journalists. Educator Ray Ruiz and I organized a meeting with DACA and undocumented journalists at the NAHJ conference in 2018. About a dozen of young journalists from Texas, California and Illinois showed up and we spoke about navigating the industry, how to tell stories as immigrants, some living with trauma. Since then, other DACA recipients, including allies, have joined a Facebook group curated by Ray and me.

Chats:

Undocumented living and mental health: Ways to relieve trauma

Fundamedios: Conversatorio con periodistas hispanos beneficiarios de DACA.

Coverage:

'Dreamers' periodistas: cuando la historia que cuentas es también la tuya

Enhancing the reach: Spanish-speaking audiences

I’ve worked on audience and social strategy on projects that span borders. Guerrero Asylum Seekers was a 4-part project highlighting the cartel crisis fueling migration stemming from Guerrero, Mexico. We worked in partnership with Animal Politico to disseminate the stories in Spanish and reach Mexican readers. Lesson: If people don’t go to you for Spanish content, go where they read it. The Migrants, a USA TODAY Network project that highlighted the country’s broken immigration system over a week of storytelling, was the first of its kind of immigration coverage for the publication. Lesson: Find out what’s important to translate and what to highlight for Spanish speakers. (PS: We don’t need a culture lesson, they want to read about resources.)

Diversity, equity and inclusion. Always.

We’re still saying hire #MoreLatinosinNews. And we will continue until the goal is reached. As a newsroom manager who is Mexican, queer and immigrant, I make sure to promote this mission that’s been championed by NAHJ and other newsroom organizations and leaders. After serving four years on the NAHJ national board, I committed to helping Gannett be a workplace that elevates its Latino/Hispanic employees and covers the community accurately. I am the co-lead of VAMOS Forward, an employee resource group that unites and empowers Hispanics, Latinos, Latinas, Latinx.

If you’d like for me to speak on any of these topics, please email me.