NAHJ 2020 Elections:
Candidates and Bylaw Amendments

Click on each candidate's name and proposed amendments to view more info:

[Click here to vote] – only NAHJ Members in good standing by the day in record (July 30th) are eligible to vote (That means you must have paid your dues by this date to vote!). All eligible voters were emailed with their username (first name) and password (member ID#). Eligible members are able to get their member ID by login into their NAHJ account here.

You can watch the candidate forum here. We invite our NAHJ members to be part of the elections process and vote the week of Sept. 28 - Oct. 2.
Here are the NAHJ Elections Frequently Asked Questions.

Meet the 2020 Candidates

Candidates for the President position:

Nora Lopez

BIOGRAPHY:
Nora Lopez is the Metro Editor at the San Antonio Express-News, a position she has held for eight years at the same newspaper where she began her journalism career as an intern.

A 33-year news veteran, Lopez oversees a team of editors and reporters who cover city, state and federal government and politics, education, as well as criminal courts and justice for both print and digital publications.

In between her stints at the Express-News, first in 1987 and again in 2000, Lopez worked as a reporter at The Dallas Morning News and the now defunct San Antonio Light. After transitioning from reporter to editor, directing criminal justice coverage at the Express-News, Lopez rose through the newspaper’s ranks.

As State Editor, Lopez oversaw half a dozen bureaus in Mexico, the Texas-Mexico Border, the state capitol and Washington, D.C., before being promoted to Deputy Metro Editor.

Lopez has long been active with both the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists, serving as its immediate past president from 2019-2020, and the San Antonio Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, serving as its vice president for programming and as a producer of the group’s annual scholarship fundraiser, the Gridiron show. She has helped raise more than $100,000 in scholarships to support journalism students through her work with both SAAHJ and SPJ-SA, and sought to help local area college students build their portfolios by giving them their first shot at work with weekend general assignments.

The daughter of farmworkers, Lopez was born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. as a child. She became a U.S. citizen in 2008. She grew up in Edinburg, Texas, about 30 miles from the Texas-Mexico border, and home to Pan American University, where Lopez graduated with a BA in communications.

STATEMENT:
I believe in NAHJ’s core mission to support Latino journalists and to increase their numbers with effective programs. If elected president of NAHJ I will be guided by the following:

* Make NAHJ TRANSPARENT: Join other journalism organizations in restoring trust in the media. How? By releasing information in a timely manner that is clear, accurate and sourced. It also calls for establishing effective communication with members. We should conduct open meetings via video conferencing so that more members can attend.

* Make NAHJ a leader in TRAINING Latino journalists in new technology and important issues in journalism: Our annual conference successfully went virtual this year for the first time, a credit to dedicated members and the staff. NAHJ, however, must be at the forefront of determining what is missing, the gaps and obstacles to increasing the number of Latino journalists and developing creative solutions. I will be reaching out to chapters to find out what they believe members need to enhance training, especially during the pandemic. 

* Make NAHJ’s ADVOCACY in line with its core mission and the ethics of our profession: We are unique and our membership is unique. We must continue telling our stories and work with others to promote job opportunities that highlight the commitment to excellence in journalism of all our members — from students to freelancers to Spanish-language to LBGTQ. 

* Make NAHJ RESPONSIVE to the changes in our industry: We must conduct a comprehensive review of NAHJ’s bylaws and recommend changes that will strengthen the organization. We must find ways to remain flexible while leading the way in programming and working with those who share our journalistic values.

I welcome feedback from members. Email me at [email protected]. Gracias

Nancy San Martín

As former Managing Editor of el Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martín, oversaw the news operation and digital growth. She also served as Visuals Editor, supervising the photography and video teams for the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.

She recently resigned after more than 20 years in the Miami news field to return to her first love: the art of storytelling.

San Martín is a near-native Miamian, born in East Los Angeles (of a Cuban father and a Mexican-American mother) but raised in Miami. She attended Miami Dade College and graduated from Florida International University.

San Martín started her career in journalism as a college intern for the Miami Herald’s Neighbors section. She was hired after graduation and spent three years covering South Florida’s diverse communities. In 1992, San Martín joined the SunSentinel, in Ft. Lauderdale, where her responsibilities as immigration reporter led to overseas assignments in Cuba, Haiti and other Caribbean nations.

In 1998, San Martín joined the Dallas Morning News, where she was chief of the border bureau covering Mexico and neighboring U.S. states. She returned to the Herald in 2001 as a member of the World Desk, where her coverage took her across the globe, from the war in Afghanistan and devastation in post-earthquake Haiti to political turmoil across the Americas and the economic meltdown in Puerto Rico.

San Martín currently serves on the board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists as vice president (print); was a Pulitzer juror (2019) and is a Harvard Nieman Fellow alumni, class of 2006. She was also part of a team that was honored with the Suncoast Emmy Awards for feature-length documentaries that aired nationally on PBS, the first in 2011 for “Nou Bouke: Haiti’s Past, Present and Future” and again in 2014 for “The Day It Snowed In Miami.”

STATEMENT:
I believe in the power of storytelling, the principles of journalism, the essentiality of diversity in the newsrooms. Being representative of the communities we serve is not just the right thing to do; it is how we will remain relevant. 

My journey began when I obtained an internship at the Miami Herald thanks to an interview during a NAHJ job fair at a convention in Los Angeles. I served on the board early in my career and remained involved with the organization as I carved a professional path that stretched from documenting hyper-local news to foreign affairs while at three major dailies. I most recently served as managing editor at el Nuevo Herald, where I had influence over the stories we covered and the diverse journalists we hired to document those tales.

I’ve always thought of NAHJ as the equalizer for Latino journalists, providing continuous training, creating networking opportunities and building a community of storytellers whose words, images and broadcasts contribute to the tapestry of history. 

Somos parte de esa historia. 

I am running for NAHJ president because I want to help open even more spaces for young journalists, mid-career and veterans who are ready to take on leadership roles. This is where we have the most impact. 

As an industry, we’ve got a grueling road ahead. But NAHJ is stronger than ever. Tengo fe en nosotros. We must build on the present to forge ahead with a stronger commitment to the challenges of tomorrow. 

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Candidates for the Financial Officer position:

Diana Fuentes

BIOGRAPHY:
A second-generation Texan whose first language was Spanish, Diana R. Fuentes grew up in Laredo on the Texas-Mexico border. She has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and is working on a master’s degree.

Fuentes started her career in 1977 on the copy desk at the Laredo News. She has worked at numerous Texas newspapers as reporter, editor and publisher. In 1990, she was the first woman and first minority on the San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board. She was the first minority Managing Editor of The Beaumont Enterprise, 1998-2001. Named Editor of Laredo Morning Times in May 2004, she was the first woman to hold the post in its 125-year history.

She became Publisher/Editor of the Del Rio News Herald in June 2011. She rejoined the Express-News in August 2013 as Editor, Community Publications and was named Deputy Metro Editor in 2015.

An award-winning journalist, Fuentes has served as treasurer and president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas; treasurer and president, Texas APME; secretary, financial officer and lifetime member, National Association of Hispanic Journalists; treasurer and president, San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists. She enjoys working with young journalists and those she has mentored over the years have gone on to work in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Austin. She has served as a judge for the Pulitzer Prizes in journalism and is a frequent speaker at schools and professional conferences on open government, journalism, ethics and literacy.

STATEMENT:
I am fascinated by numbers. I love to read and write – that’s why I’m a journalist – but there’s something magical about mathematics, especially when it comes to money. 

In first grade, I saved dimes so I could open my own bank account. In high school, I was treasurer of the Chess Club and helped raise $100 for our first scholarship.

As an adult, I have been elected financial officer of several state and national organizations, including NAHJ, overseeing budgets in the millions of dollars and the fundraising of hundreds of thousands of dollars for scholarships and training programs.

I value my experience serving on the NAHJ board as financial officer, 1998-2002. As a lifetime member, I have continued to serve, helping students, working on elections, moderating and participating on panels at the annual conferences. 

Now I have reached a point in my career where I can once again dedicate time more consistently to NAHJ and I believe I would best serve as financial officer. Of course, it’s the executive director and accountant who handle day-to-day operations, but the bylaws are clear: “The Financial Officer shall be responsible for the financial affairs of the Association.”That is a sobering responsibility. People work hard for the money they donate to our cause and they rightfully expect us to be good stewards of those funds. 

When I served previously, I met regularly with staff and contractors to ensure there was an independent check on our funds. And I would do that again.

I’m asking for your vote. I can assure you that if I am elected, I will always be honest, straightforward and dedicated to making the most of our resources for the benefit of our members and the next generation of journalists.

Keldy Ortiz
 

BIOGRAPHY:
Keldy Ortiz is a reporter at Newsday on Long Island, New York, covering local government. Previously, he worked at The Record and NorthJersey.com in New Jersey. As an NAHJ member since 2010, he’s worked in several capacities at NAHJ New York Chapter and currently serves as the interim president.

STATEMENT:
Transparency remains one of the roles of a reporter and as a candidate for NAHJ financial officer, I intend to make sure the organization follows that. Having worked on the bylaws committee this summer along with several NAHJ members, we all believe that the organization can and should be more transparent with financial records. It’s what the membership deserves.

As financial officer, I want to review membership standings and figure out ways we can bring back members who may have lapsed on paying their dues. While doing that, I want to figure out with the board how to re-engage with members we may have lost.

I also want to figure out how we can redistribute funds that the organization gets from membership to help those who are in need. Due to financial strains in newsrooms over the last several years, many journalists have not attended our annual conference and local events. If possible, I want to work with the board and figure out ways to help journalists attend even if it’s once. I got that first chance in 2012 and met other journalists that I consider friends who have helped me navigate the ups and downs of industry.

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Candidate for the VP for Print position:

Arelis R. Hernández

BIOGRAPHY:
Arelis R. Hernández is a national correspondent for the Washington Post, where she has spent the last six years of her career documenting hope and horror.

She previously worked for the Orlando Sentinel and Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Hernández has been the grateful beneficiary of journalism equity programs designed to give people like her a fair chance in this industry.

She is a graduate of the NAHJ Student Projects and scholarship recipient and the New York Times Student Journalism Institute.

She was so inspired by the investment of other journalists, most prominently journalists of color, that Hernández dedicated her career to doing the same.

She has been the co-director of the Asian American Journalists Association's high school program, JCamp, for six years and has worked closely with NAHJ's student projects and Next Gen Initiatives staff for years to mentor and assist young journalists.

STATEMENT:
This is our moment to expand NAHJ’s reach and inspire each member to take hold of our mission to grow as a community that promotes inclusion, opportunity and justice in journalism. 

Let's ensure NAHJ has the right organizational infrastructure to meet the challenges our industry faces from technology's impact to the evolving consumption habits of our audience and to those members who want to become entrepreneurs. 

I plan to continue the work of the bylaws review committee to update and upgrade NAHJ’s machinery to become a more nimble, transparent, and ethical organization that inspires greater engagement and conforms to the needs of membership.

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Candidates for the VP for Broadcast position: 

Julio-César Chávez

BIOGRAPHY:
My name is Julio-César Chávez and I am a producer with Reuters working out of the Washington D.C. bureau. I moved here just this past April, after spending five years as an on-camera reporter with KVIA, the top station in El Paso.

I’ve been an NAHJ member since 2015, when I was a college student in El Paso. I joined the organization to take advantage of the wide network of reporters available to help young aspiring journalists.

I really started to get into journalism in high school where I took broadcasting classes, and developed as a photographer when I worked four years at a wedding/quinceañera studio. When I was 20-years-old, studying at El Paso Community College, my news director at KVIA offered me the weekend reporter job. I would stay at KVIA for a good while, covering immigration and border issues not just for my station, but freelancing for agencies visiting the area and doing some radio pieces for the BBC.

In 2017 I covered Hurricane Harvey, doing 14 stories in four days, still the assignment I’m most proud of. A couple of weeks later I embedded with the Army out of Fort Bliss to cover their relief efforts in Hurricane Maria. It’s there that I wrote my first piece for Reuters, and I stayed a stringer with them, doing regular work until I was brought on full time this year.

I’m fortunate now to make a very comfortable salary in a great city, and with an agency for which people spend their entire careers working for. Not everyone is this lucky and I think the bulk of our members are the ones that need help the most.

Now I think the organization has focused too much on a narrow aspect of its responsibilities and I decided to run for the board to represent those reporters like me.

STATEMENT:
As Broadcast Vice President I want to modernize NAHJ, representing everyone in television, radio, and podcasting.

My first action as VP would be to call for an emergency board meeting and immediately work to provide hostile environment training to all NAHJ journalists who need it, ahead of potential chaos and violence in the near future. 

I have three main long-term goals:

• Make NAHJ accessible to all members regardless of location through digital trainings and bolstering local/regional programs
• Offer a digital space for members to freely network, connect with each other and start a mentorship program
• Make the board transparent: having board meetings accessible through Zoom for all members to listen/participate

As a long-time member of the NAHJ I believe the organization is too focused on the annual convention. The convention, while crucial to advancing member interest and fundraising, is simply not accessible to entry level or mid-market journalists who need the most support. 

If we want more Hispanic journalists in news we need to move in a member-focused direction. The key is offering trainings and opportunities not just to the few in Los Angeles, New York, or Miami, but also to the younger and poorer reporters across the country. COVID-19 made a lot of things go virtual out of necessity. We should continue virtual offerings out of choice.

Reach out to me directly, I want to hear your thoughts on where the NAHJ should be headed.

Click here to see my entire platform.

Fin Gómez

BIOGRAPHY:
When I first walked onto the White House grounds as an official member of the White House press corps, I became emotional thinking of my amazing familia who worked so hard to give me opportunities they never had, including my mother who came to this country from El Salvador when she was just 18 for a better education. I would not be anywhere without them.

As a White House Producer for CBS News since 2018, I am proud & grateful to be part of our stellar team that tirelessly covers the Trump administration during one of the most consequential years in history. I am also one of the few Latino journalists on the White House beat overall.

In over 15 years in the industry, I’ve covered four presidential campaign cycles since 2008 from the trail. I was humbled to be named one of the most influential in news by Mediaite for coverage of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

I also traveled extensively across LATAM covering various stories, including cartels in Mexico, the Venezuelan crisis, and Brazilian favela communities when I was based in Miami for Fox and Fox News Latino. I have also covered White House assignments in Iraq, India, Burma and China.

I love running — and bring my running shoes wherever I go. It is a fantastic outlet for our high impact jobs. 

I am a proud member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the first Latino journalist to serve on the White House Correspondents’ Association Board in its 106-year history.

STATEMENT:
I love NAHJ. Since I first joined in 2007, this amazing group of ours has always had my back.

In 2019,I decided to run for the White House Correspondents' Association Board. There had never been a Latino on the board in its 105-year history. 

I was told it might be an uphill race but my NAHJ colleagues never hesitated to have my back and encouraged me. And we won.

Representation matters. 

Since then, I’ve been a strong voz for Spanish language media at the White House & have stood up for press freedom issues.

On the NAHJ board, I finished the last year of a vacated term.It was a great opportunity to give back to our community. I have fought for press rights, Latinx representation in newsrooms, & backed change—during a busy year covering the Trump White House for CBS.

But I will always fight for #MoreLatinosinNews! I will always have NAHJ’s back & your back.

1. ELEVATE: Across our industry, we need MÁS Latino News Bosses
2. REPRESENTATION: PUSH to Increase Latinx news hires across the board
3. PODCASTS & PALABRA: I want to represent EVERYONE across the broadcast spectrum & support MÁS multimedia/audio reporting projects.
4. MOMENTUM: BUILD upon on the changes made this past year & GROW forward
5. AMPLIFY: A coordinated grassroots effort to amplify the work of NAHJ members across ALL platforms
6. BE WELL: Increase resources for wellness & mental healt
7. FIRE: Be First to speak out on Issues of Race & Equality, especially in our industry

Sinceramente,
Fin Daniel Gómez

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Candidate for the VP for Digital position:  

Yvette Cabrera

BIOGRAPHY:
Yvette Cabrera is a senior staff writer at Grist, where she covers environmental health, policy, and justice. Working at the intersection of criminal justice, immigration and environmental health she examines the impact of systemic issues, such as environmental pollution, on vulnerable and marginalized communities throughout the country.

Most recently she worked as an environmental justice reporter for HuffPost, and as an investigative reporter for ThinkProgress in Washington D.C. where she published a five-part series showing how lead exposure is still harming children in complex ways. In 2019 she was selected as a McGraw Center for Business Journalism fellow and is investigating the legacy of industrial lead pollution in urban residential neighborhoods as part of that fellowship.

She is a member of Investigative Reporters & Editors as well as the Society of Environmental Journalists. She currently serves as vice president, digital for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists; and is also a board member of CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California, the oldest regional organization of journalists of color in the country. She is a native of California and is the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants who taught her the importance of speaking up to address wrongdoing.

STATEMENT:
I was elected to the NAHJ board of directors for the first time in 2018, and have been honored to represent our members these past two years as vice president, digital.

When I ran for office, I pledged to advocate for diverse newsrooms and coverage, which has been my passion for more than two decades, and something that I began championing early in my career after joining CCNMA:Latino Journalists of California.

So much has changed this year due to the movement for racial justice and equity, which has resulted in a reckoning within newsrooms to address diversity goals that for too long have been ignored. I’m pleased to see newsrooms making commitments to hire more journalists of color. But I know that hiring a more diverse staff is just the first step to ensure that news coverage accurately reflects America’s communities.  

I’m seeking a second term because I firmly believe that NAHJ’s work is more important than ever, and I’m committed to maintaining pressure on news organizations to follow through on their promises. With my experience serving on the board’s rapid response team — which we created to allow the board to immediately address issues at specific news organizations as they arose — I’m prepared to take on this responsibility. I also hope to build on the work of our current board by expanding programs like palabra. to support more freelancers, and create a mentoring program for journalists.

With your support, I plan to continue speaking up to get #MoreLatinosinNews. 

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Candidates for the Spanish Language At-Large position: 

Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio

BIOGRAPHY:
Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio is the Senior Content Editor for El Sentinel Orlando. She manages the team that covers all the news related to the Hispanic community of Central Florida and focuses mainly on the digital platforms of El Sentinel and the production and edition of the weekly Spanish newspaper.

Jennifer is proudly born and raised in Puerto Rico and is honored to represent its culture and traditions in the continental United States. She has a bachelors in Journalism with a second concentration in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico.

She later earned her Master's in Communications from Florida International University (FIU) and lived in Miami for four years working on corporate communications, translation companies, and launching the local digital news platform MiamiDiario.com.

Since then, she has been working in the media for more than a decade. Before joining El Sentinel, Jennifer launched and managed the website for Univision Puerto Rico, where she served as the team leader for almost 5 years. She is passionate about news, human interest stories, and social media.

Since moving to Orlando 3 1/2 years ago, Jennifer has become a key role model and leader for the Hispanic community. She has given a voice to underserved communities and works tirelessly to make her stories and achievements heard.

She serves as vice president of the Central Florida Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), where she previously served as president. From there she works to promote the work and opportunities of #MoreLatinosInNews.

STATEMENT:
My name is Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio and many of you may know me from NAHJ conferences as Jenny from Puerto Rico. I am a proud Boricua whose been a member of NAHJ since I was in college studying journalism.

For the past 3 years I’ve been serving on the NAHJ Central Florida chapter as president and vice-president. During this time I helped to get the chapter out of an unfortunate probation, worked to fund registration for members to attend the convention, had a Google News training and hosted Mariana Atencio talking to journalist about the importance of being Perfectly You. We’ve also done training sessions with GLAAD about the do’s and don’ts of covering the LGBTQ+ community and most recently, worked to provide grants for members that were lay-off and furloughed. 

This has been an effort I have taken very deep to my heart fighting daily for the importance of having Latinos in news, but most importantly, En Español. As the editor of a niche product in Spanish, I work tirelessly to make sure that our reporters have a platform to publish in Spanish. I understand that struggle, the hustle of being treated equal as our English counterparts, of being paid equally.

I decided to run for the Spanish-at-large position because I am ready to be a true liaison for members who work for Spanish language media. I understand your concerns and I promise to represent your needs at a National level.

Rafael Mejía

BIOGRAPHY:
Rafael is an actor, playwright, producer, college professor, and entertainment journalist. He has a Master’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Florida International University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Educational Theater from the University of the Sacred Heart.  Rafael has worked for the television shows Acceso Total (Telemundo 47), Buenos Días Miami (Telemundo 51), Despierta America (Univisión), the newspaper El Especial in New York and as a correspondent reporter for the radio show “El Break” 95.1 (Phoenix, Arizona).

Mejia is part of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists serving as the Spanish Language At-Large Officer and Regional Director working directly as a liaison between their members and the Executive Board and supporting journalists to connect with the organization and participate in networking events, job fairs, and workshops.  He is also a Judge Member of the New America Awards for the Society of Professional Journalists.

Rafael also serves as the Vice Chair of the National Playwriting Program of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and combines his passion as a freelance journalist with his work as a theater and communication professor at City University of New York having the opportunity to be part of several conferences and conventions as a panelist, moderator, and guest speaker.

A few years ago, he won the Award of Best Production with his latest original play My Favorite Sin at the “Fuerza Fest” Latino Theater Festival in New York and a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role from the Latin ACE Awards.  He also represented the United States in the International Collegiate Theater Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

STATEMENT:
El servicio nos enriquece, nos hace humanos y nos fortalece como comunidad. Por los pasados cinco años he tenido el privilegio de servir en la Junta de Directores de NAHJ como Director Regional y en el pasado año como Spanish At-Large Officer. Ha sido una experiencia de mucho aprendizaje pero aún falta camino por recorrer; por eso propongo que sigamos trabajando para:

• Promover la igualdad salarial de los periodistas que trabajamos en medios en español y no cobramos lo mismo que un periodista que hace nuestro mismo trabajo en inglés.
• Enaltecer el arduo trabajo de los periodistas independientes ya que son los héroes que buscan la noticia para poder llevarla a distintos medios.
• Organizar más talleres en español para nuestros miembros profesionales y estudiantiles, tanto en la convención anual como en actividades regionales. Estos entrenamientos deben reforzar las técnicas de dicción, proyección y escritura en nuestro idioma español.
• Seguir colaborando mano a mano con los capítulos estudiantiles para resaltar el trabajo tan extraordinario que ellos realizan en su comunidad. Si le enseñamos que trabajar en los medios en español es igual que trabajar en los medios en inglés, tendremos mejores profesionales en el futuro contando historias en nuestro idioma.

Defendamos nuestra diversidad, nuestras diferencias, nuestro español y nuestro acento. Si trabajamos unidos podremos lograr metas que pudieran parecer inalcanzables. Si nos apoyamos más y nos criticamos menos podremos seguir siendo el mejor equipo de la mejor organización periodística del país: La Asociación Nacional de Periodistas Hispanos.

Cuento contigo!
#SpanishLanguageMatters

Sal Morales

BIOGRAPHY:
Sal Morales was born in Managua, Nicaragua, and grew up in San Francisco, California, and Miami, Florida. Sal began his career working for Univision’s lifestyle show TV Mujer and Telemundo’s Club Telemundo before graduating from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Mass Communications. 

Thanks to contacts made at a NAHJ Convention, he was hired as a weatherman and features reporter for the first 24-hour, Spanish-language news channel, Canal de Noticias NBC. In the following years, he worked at The Weather Channel in Atlanta and Telemundo’s KSTS-48 in the Bay Area, where he was the weather anchor. 

In 1999, Sal moved to Detroit to work for the DaimlerChrysler Automobile Company, where he was in charge of launching a daily, in-house channel for its employees in Mexico. The channel, DCTV Noticias, highlighted financial and automobile trade industry news. 

In 2001, Sal moved back to California where he worked as Telemundo’s KVEA-52 morning weatherman, also reporting on consumer news and serving as a substitute morning news anchor. 

In 2005, Sal moved back to Miami where he joined MegaTV-Channel 22. There he served as the head of community relations and later on provided on-air reports on the Hurricane seasons for station’s Mega News program. 

After a stint at CNN en Español in Miami and Atlanta, Sal returned to Miami to work for MundoFOX Network’s WGEN-8. In 2014, he began freelancing for Mexico’s Multivision Networks and recently became the foreign correspondent for El Salvador’s Canal 33 flagship newscast TelePrensa

STATEMENT:
Time and time again, I have heard from mid-career journalists in need of help with networking and job training, especially in the digital space.

During this pandemic, we also have seen scores of colleagues let go, furloughed or working for reduced pay. Instead of seeing this as the end of an era, we should see it as a time to seek training from institutions that help journalists at low or no costs and to establish networking and mentoring platforms to keep journalists and recruiters connected and sharing guidance and help. All of this is paramount at any age, any level in our careers —and seems to be lacking especially as far as our español members are concerned. 

I also want to identify and work with colleges and universities with large populations of Hispanic journalism students to bring them onboard with new student chapters, especially those students who are Spanish-proficient and fully fluent. They too would benefit from training in Spanish and can use help with networking and job hunting in Spanish-language media in the U.S.

Mentoring is also extremely important, especially for students and young journalists who don't have connections in the working world. I want to connect Spanish-speaking college students and young journalists with seasoned professionals working in Spanish-language media who can guide them in the early stages of their careers. It would be a one-year commitment that will help shape a new generation of journalists and content creators.

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Candidate for the Academic At-Large position:

Jessica Retis
 

BIOGRAPHY: 
Jessica Retis is Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Director of the Master’s in Bilingual Journalism at the University of Arizona.

She is affiliated Faculty with the Center for Latin American Studies and the Human Rights Practice Program at UA. Retis holds a Major in Communications (University of Lima, Peru), a Masters in Latin American Studies (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and a Ph.D. in Contemporary Latin America (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain).

She has almost two decades of professional experience as journalist in Peru, Mexico and Spain, and worked as a journalism educator for almost three decades in the United States, Spain and Mexico. Her areas of research include journalism studies, journalism education, bilingual journalism, Latin America, international migration, diasporas and transnational communities; cultural industries; ethnic media; diversity and the media; Latino media in Europe, North America and Asia. She is co-author of Narratives of Migration, Relocation and Belonging: Latin Americans in London(Palgrave, 2020) and co-editor of The Handbook of Diasporas, Media and Culture (Willey, 2019). Recent book chapters include “Migrations and the Media between Asia and Latin America: Japanese-Brazilians in Tokyo and São Paulo” (Sage, 2019), “Hashtag Jóvenes Latinos: Challenges and opportunities of teaching civic advocacy journalism in ‘glocal’ contexts” (Peter Lang, 2018), “The transnational restructuring of communication and consumption practices. Latinos in the urban settings of global cities” (Routledge, 2017). Recent reports include: Hispanic Media Today. Serving Bilingual and Bicultural Audiences in the Digital Age (Democracy Fund, 2019), La circulación de la cultura en español en las ciudades globales de los Estados Unidos: Los Ángeles, Nueva York, Miami (Hispanic Cultural Circuits in Urban Context of Global Cities: Los Angeles, New York, Miami) (RIE, 2019), and Los Latinos y las industrias culturales en español en Estados Unidos (Latinos and Spanish-language Cultural Industries in the U.S.) (RIE, 2015).

Jessica Retis es Profesora en la Escuela de Periodismo. Dirige la primera Maestría en Periodismo Bilingüe en UA y es Profesora Afiliada al Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos y al Programa de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad de Arizona (UA). Es Licenciada en Comunicaciones por la Universidad de Lima, Maestra en Estudios Latinoamericanos por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y Doctora en América Latina Contemporánea por Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Tiene casi tres décadas de experiencia docente en diversas universidades de Estados Unidos, España y México y dos décadas de experiencia como periodista y comunicadora en Perú, México y España. Sus áreas de investigación incluyen estudios sobre el periodismo, periodismo bilingüe y enseñanza del periodismo, América Latina, migración internacional latinoamericana, diásporas y comunidades transnacionales; industrias culturales y medios latinos en Europa, Norteamérica y Asia. Es coautora del libro Narratives of Migration, Relocation and Belonging: Latin Americans in London(Palgrave, 2020) y coeditora de The Handbook of Diasporas, Media and Culture (Willey, 2019). Recientes capítulos: “Migrations and the Media between Asia and Latin America: Japanese-Brazilians in Tokyo and São Paulo” (Sage, 2019), “Hashtag Jóvenes Latinos: Challenges and opportunities of teaching civic advocacy journalism in ‘glocal’ contexts” (Peter Lang, 2018), “The transnational restructuring of communication and consumption practices. Latinos in the urban settings of global cities” (Routledge, 2017). Recientes reportes: Hispanic Media Today. Serving Bilingual and Bicultural Audiences in the Digital Age (Democracy Fund, 2019), La circulación de la cultura en español en las ciudades globales de los Estados Unidos: Los Ángeles, Nueva York, Miami(RIE, 2019), and Los Latinos y las industrias culturales en español en Estados Unidos (RIE, 2015).

As a journalism educator at the University of Arizona, I am leading the UA’s first Master’s in Bilingual Journalism to keep advancing in training our younger generations of journalists. I conceive college education as a permanent conversation between academia, media, and civil organizations.

I have been an NAHJ member for several years, served as Academic Officer for the Los Angeles Chapter, was part of the Advisory Council for the first NAHJ Academic Officer At-Large, and just recently participated in the collective proposal with other Latino professors for an Educator Project presented to NAHJ. I seek to represent all NAHJ educators, improve the scholarly activities and help professional members learn about academic opportunities. My plan includes immediate projects as well as a vision for long-term activities centered in 3 areas: 

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Candidates for the Secretary position: 

Rafael Olmeda

BIOGRAPHY:
Graduate of Baruch College, City University of New York (1994)

Reporter, NY Daily News, 1993-1999

Senior Writer, South Florida Sun Sentinel, 1999-present

[Member of Pulitzer Prize-winning staff in 2018]

Adjunct professor of writing, journalism: Florida International University (2003-2010)

UNITY President: 2009

NAHJ President: 2006-2008

NAHJ Board of Directors: 2000-2006

STATEMENT:
My record of service to NAHJ dates to 2000, when I joined the board as an at-large officer. I was then, as I am now, committed to ensuring that our voices as Latinos are heard in the newsroom, in our content, in our profession, and in society.

I was part of the team that fought back against excessive media consolidation, against homophobia in the Boy Scouts, against the unjust treatment of NAHJ members targeted for retribution for practicing good journalism. I went to Congress to lobby on behalf of NAHJ for net neutrality before the issue was on the radar of most Americans and journalism associations. 

I was president of NAHJ from 2006-2008 and president of UNITY in 2009. I am on the board of the Society of Professional Journalists.

I am running for secretary on a platform of accountability, transparency, and vision. The next NAHJ board is likely to develop a strategic plan that sets ambitious, achievable, and measurable goals to fulfill our mission. NAHJ must reorganize its board to make it leaner and more responsive to the needs of current and future members. NAHJ can also raise its profile by forming partnerships, not only with other journalism organizations but also with other Latino cultural groups.

We are having an election this year because I and a small group of members banded together to amplify the voices of every member who felt disenfranchised. I intend to keep fighting for you as secretary of NAHJ.

Blanca Rios

BIOGRAPHY:
Blanca Rios graduated from Northern Illinois University and was born and raised in West Chicago, Illinois. Blanca has 20 years of experience in television news. Her journalism career began as a Field Producer for Telemundo Chicago.

She has since worked at Fox 32 Chicago, Univision Chicago and now works for ABC 7 Eyewitness news Chicago as of 2003. Blanca’s versatility allows her to be utilized in various roles at ABC 7.

Her connection to community issues has lent to her success as the station’s longtime Assignment Desk Editor. But her talents and skills have led to her recent shift to Digital Producer and Newswriter. 

Blanca has also been a leader for Latino journalists, having served as a past Chicago Chapter President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She now serves on the national board as NAHJ Region 6 Director.

Dear fellow NAHJ members,

NAHJ found me mid-career in 2013 and I’m forever grateful for the opportunities it has given me both personally and professionally. NAHJ has helped mold me into a better newsroom leader and reminds me to always give back to our future journalists.

I’ve served as a past NAHJ Chicago chapter president and I’ve been your Region 6 Director since 2016. I have worked behind-the-scenes in both Spanish and English local television news for more than 20 years. Throughout my career I have been a Field Producer, News Writer, Assignment Desk Editor, a Digital Producer and much more. 

I’m answering the call to run for NAHJ Secretary because I would like to have a stronger leadership role within the organization. Given that it forms a part of the executive board, I would like to have a stronger voice in our decision-making process.

I have served on the national board consecutively for the last four years. During my time as Regional Director I’ve helped strengthen NAHJ’s reach throughout the Midwest. I continue to have a strong relationship with the growing Chicago chapter, helping to establish a $20,000 grant through the MacArthur Foundation. That money is used strictly for training and helping our professionals and students get to our conferences. I hope to build on that and help find more grants for other local chapters, further helping some of our more mid-level journalists.

This year, I was an NAHJ Curriculum chair for our first-ever virtual NABJ/NAHJ virtual conference. I am proud to have been a part of a team that helped create robust, timely and hands-on training sessions.

I am dedicated, organized and hard-working. I rarely miss a meeting and beyond taking the minutes, I hope to help strengthen our contacts and membership and continue our mission of #MoreLatinosInNews.

Thank you,
Blanca Rios

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Candidates for the General At-Large Officer position: 

Steve Soliz

BIOGRAPHY:
Steve is an experienced journalist with a background in radio and television.

He is currently the weekday evening anchor at KOB 4, New Mexico’s NBC News affiliate.

Steve’s career began in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas and included stops in Phoenix, Dallas and Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. Steve is a Rocky Mountain EMMY winner, a Lone Star EMMA winner and has been recognized for his work along the U.S./Mexico border. The father of two lives with his family in Albuquerque.

STATEMENT:
I believe in NAHJ’s mission and am honored to serve its members.

As NAHJ’s General At-Large Board Member, I intend to act as a clear and accessible line of communication between the board and the organization’s members.

Mc Nelly Torres

BIOGRAPHY:
Mc Nelly Torres is an independent award-winning investigative journalist based in South Florida and former investigative producer for NBC6 in Miami. Last year, Torres collaborated with the Center for Investigative Journalism of Puerto Rico to publish a project supported by the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, a program of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.

In 2010, Torres co-founded FCIR.org. Her consumer stories at the Sun-Sentinel won state, regional and national awards and led to the arrest of a bad contractor. She covered education for the San Antonio Express-News where her work contributed to the conviction of a school building architect. In South Carolina, she garnered local and state awards for her investigative work on the state's hog farm permit process. Torres was the first Latina to be elected to the Investigative Reporters and Editors Board where she served from 2008-2014.

As an investigative journalist, she has trained journalists of color in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. Torres, who earned an Emmy award in 2015 for her investigative work at NBC6, was inducted to NAHJ's Hall of Fame in 2018. A native of Puerto Rico, Torres has lived around the world while following a military husband who retired in 2005. When she's not working, she likes to walk her two American Bulldogs, dance salsa with her husband and practice yoga. @WatchdogDiva

STATEMENT:
I was working on my second newspaper job as a crime reporter when I joined the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in 1998. I believe in NAHJ’s mission of increasing the number of Latinos in newsrooms and that’s why I’m running for general at-large officer. We need to address the needs of the industry so we can help Latinos with the tools they need to be successful at every level in the newsroom.

I served on the Investigative Reporters and Editors Board of Directors for six years and I developed a good relationship with foundations including those that fund NAHJ. We also need to create a mentorship program to support future generations of Latinos in the newsroom, but also mid-career journalists and those aspiring to move to upper management. We need an annual conference that is affordable to the members and supports all journalists working in both English and Spanish, including freelance journalists. 

There’s a reckoning in our industry and among journalists as we face a pandemic that is disproportionately killing people of color, wide-spread protests against injustice, and an economy that's hanging by a thread. This is the time to ensure our voices are heard. 

I have experience in dealing with tough issues, as I served on the Board of Directors of IRE during the last financial crisis. I’m running also because I want to ensure that NAHJ speaks up on issues of diversity in the newsroom, and more importantly, when our members are abused and discriminated against.

I’ve been an ambassador for NAHJ for decades and have provided training and mentoring at annual conventions. I want NAHJ to be a transparent and financially-healthy organization that will continue to serve our members and its mission: More Latinos in the newsroom. 

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Candidates for the Student Representative position:

Kimberly Cruz

BIOGRAPHY:
Hola National Association of Hispanic Journalists! My name is Kimberly Cruz and I’m running for the 2020 Student Representative position. I am a first generation college student at California State University, Fullerton and a proud Salvadoran. I am majoring in broadcast journalism and aspire to become a reporter covering the stories of the Latinx community. Other than journalism, my passions include advocating for animals, drinking coffee, and thrill seeking.

I am an alumni from the 2020 virtual student project where I published 3 multimedia stories, including an investigative piece on the lack of representation of Latino professors in the newsroom within the CSU system. I am also the Vice President of the NAHJ student chapter at CSUF.

Throughout my journey at CSUF, I have had the opportunity to be the founding Vice President for a scholar program that worked with low-income first generation college students. I created a constitution from scratch and was able to assess the needs of a scholar group of about 200 students. I have also served as a Resident Advisor where I was in charge of helping 45 first-time freshmen navigate their first year of college. I was their outlet to resources including tutoring, counseling, or anything else that they might need. This position has prepared me to succeed in any leadership position as it has taught me how to work under pressure, communicate with professional staff, but most importantly how to advocate for students.

STATEMENT:
In my short time of being a part of NAHJ, I have learned and grown more as a student journalist than I ever imagined. Within 8 months of being a NAHJ member I applied to the NAHJ Student.

Project and became Vice President of the CSUF chapter. I highlight this experience to show how quickly NAHJ transformed my life and empowered me to reach greater heights. I am very grateful to be part of NAHJ because it allowed me to find my voice.

If I am given the opportunity to serve as the student representative, my goal is to help other Latinx students find their voice and own the power which their voice brings to the journalism community. As a first-generation college student, I can empathize with the struggles our Latinx students face on a day to day basis. Representation is one of my main goals. I want to increase the student voice within NAHJ by communicating and being transparent with the needs of our students across the nation to the NAHJ board members. Another goal for me is to be seen as a resource to other NAHJ students.

I want students to feel free to reach out for help, with any concerns, or even as just a friend who will listen to them or guide them through their journey as a student journalist and beyond.

Let’s increase Latinx student representation within our university newsroom, so that we can increase the Latinx voices in newsrooms across the nation!

Luis Joel Méndes González

BIOGRAPHY:
The seven months without power after Hurricane Maria in 2017 became the beginning of my college years, disrupted by dramatic increases in tuition costs that caused dozens of friends to drop out of school. And I was able to understand the injustices low-income people suffered in Puerto Rico not only as a mere citizen, but as someone who has overcome those challenges. I was born in Moca, a small town located in the most western region of Puerto Rico. My father is a bricklayer while my mother cooks for mental health patients in a clinical institution.

I was accepted to the Department of TeleRadial Communication Technology at the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo —a small community college— as a first-generation college student. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I lived with my grandmother in Lares, Puerto Rico. Thanks to her years of wisdom in her house, I learned to value and respect my origins. It has become one more motivation to fight for my goals. Despite the challenges, I have persevered because I want to make my family proud.

I want to show everybody that regardless of where we come from, dreaming it is worth it. I want to demonstrate to everybody that with care and dedication everything is possible. I want to show that, no matter our economic obstacles, the most important thing is to have our family as the key to transform ourselves into human beings capable of fighting for our dreams with dedication and commitment.

STATEMENT:
When I was in my worst moment, they helped me assume this challenge.

Student members represent nearly 30% of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) total membership.

We are essential for this association. Aside from receiving scholarships and applying for internships thanks to the tools our Association provides us, we also create new opportunities for other students through newspapers, newscasts, and workshops. It is impossible to imagine NAHJ without its student members.

If we unite, we will not just work for more opportunities, we will help put more Latinos in newsrooms. With enough compromise and dedication, we will strengthen our communication and we will look for more opportunities for all. 

We will support each other to make sure people understand the importance of student news outlets.

In the same way that the 35 members of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo Student Chapter became a team, our student members, in its entirety, will not be an exception. More than 800 student members of NAHJ will be part of a strong, united, and determined team with the capacity of reaching the impossible.

Kate Sequeira

BIOGRAPHY:
Kate Sequeira is a senior at the University of Southern California studying journalism and contemporary Latino and Latin American studies. She is the former editor-in-chief of USC’s Daily Trojan, where she currently oversees long-form and in-depth pieces as one of the features editors.

She also works at the Los Angeles Times in Public Affairs, where she handles the Times’ youth literacy initiative Reading by 9 and works with High School Insider, its platform for youth voices. Kate spent her summer interning with the Dallas Morning News editorial board and is part of the 2019 class of The New York Times Student Journalism Institute.

She has been an NAHJ scholarship recipient, has contributed pieces to palabra. regarding how students have navigated academic and home life throughout the pandemic and is working with others at USC to reactivate the school’s NAHJ student chapter.

STATEMENT:
NAHJ was the first organization I joined upon entering USC. Through it, I’ve met many individuals on the same journey. I’ve stayed connected with people on campus, at conventions and beyond because of bonds that have grown from care for our work.

NAHJ has supported my journey through scholarships and helped sharpen my reporting abilities through palabra. and The New York Times Student Journalism Institute. These opportunities enabled me to oversee the Daily Trojan as editor-in-chief last semester and focus on expanding literacy resources for youth through the L.A. Times. I wouldn’t be where I am without the support, and I want to ensure that more Latino students can receive it.

As someone whose family immigrated from Mexico and Nicaragua, I want the news to reflect the world I see, and I know it’s no different for others in NAHJ. NAHJ is about using the knowledge that we’ve acquired to uplift others. It’s about ensuring that we’re equipped with the tools we need to grow — and that starts at the student level.

I want to help make NAHJ a safe place for students by expanding mentorship and career-building workshops, highlighting our work and sharing opportunities.

I also want to foster student connections by facilitating more interaction among student chapters and creating a Slack channel where we can collaborate and offer advice. After all, we are living in a virtual world so we should use that to grow our circles and expand our knowledge. Some of the best things I’ve learned have come from other students. Who better to lift each other up than our peers?

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If you have any questions, comments or concerns about the 2020 elections -- we want to hear from you! Please email [email protected].

The 2020 Election Committee:
Financial Officer Geraldine Cols Azócar, Region 3 Director Melissa Macaya and Region 8 Director Cristy Fajardo.

The 2020 Election Advisory Committee*:
Cindy E. Rodríguez, Court Passant, Michelle Faust Raghavan, Tomás Harmon, Wil Cruz, Melanie Gonzalez and Brandon Benavides.

*The 2020 Election Advisory Committee was created by the Board of Directors on July 3, 2020 to support the activities of the Election Committee. Per NAHJ bylaw 9.2, “The Board of Directors may create one or more advisory committees whose members need not be directors. Advisory committees are not Board Committees and shall not exercise any of the powers of the Board.”