The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is thrilled to welcome the return of track leaders to guide programming for the upcoming 40th Anniversary Conference & Expo in Hollywood, CA on July 9-13, 2024.
From AI/Emerging Technology to Leadership and Management, conference attendees can look forward to an all-new conference curriculum with engaging workshops and panel discussions surrounding the future of journalism and the media landscape. NAHJ will leverage the expertise of its track leaders to develop hands-on training and skill-building sessions that give attendees tools to navigate the industry.
“We are extremely excited and proud to have the conference curriculum aimed at empowering and elevating our community led by track leaders who are uniquely positioned to know what our members need to succeed,” said NAHJ programming co-chair Robert Hernandez.
More than 1,500 members attended the 2023 annual conference in Miami, which featured 70 training sessions in both English and Spanish.
“We’ve adapted past programming formats to tap into the expertise of our official task forces, plus journalistic beats and various communities,” added programming co-chair David Cordero Mercado.
We are looking forward to sharing the relevant training and workshops scheduled for the summer conference. NAHJ’s 40th celebration will make way for opportunities that allow our members to learn, grow and celebrate the vital work we do.
The ten tracks that will be featured at the conference include: AI/Emerging Technology, Broadcast (TV/Radio), Climate Crisis, Core Skills, Elections, En Español, Entrepreneurship and Freelance, Health and Safety, Leadership and Management, and Task Forces & Community/Beats.
All tracks will feature at least one session in Spanish. This year, NAHJ will also spotlight its Task Forces in the development of the conference curriculum by allowing each group to hold discussions that are relevant to their mission. Visit our conference website for more information and updates regarding the 2024 schedule.
Amanda Zamora is the Founder & Principal of Agencia Media LLC, a consultancy that partners with organizations to drive narrative change and civic engagement, especially with and for communities of color. Amanda is a journalist, storyteller, editor, design thinker, collaborator and serial disruptor with more than 20 years in the news business, most recently as co-founder and former publisher of The 19th. In 2021, she helped draft policy recommendations to combat mis- and disinformation as a member of the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder. She was a 2023 Media Transformation Challenge Fellow at the Poynter Institute and currently serves on the board the American Press Institute.
Cristina Fernández is a journalist and media executive with 23 years of professional experience in the communications and news industry in Puerto Rico, U.S., Latin America and Spain. Besides leading multiplatform content strategies for diverse audiences, Cristina has launched successful projects that combine editorial, commercial, and technical aspects. She leads the Digital Department at WAPA Media, a conglomerate that includes WAPA TV, the leading broadcast television network in Puerto Rico, WAPA Deportes (sports network), and radio stations WKAQ AM and KQ 105 FM. Prior joining WAPA, Cristina was the Deputy Director of Lifestyles and Entertainment for GFR Media Puerto Rico’s largest newspaper El Nuevo Día. As part of newsroom executive team, Cristina led multiple award-winning news coverages and product launches.
Dan Pacheco holds the Peter A. Horvitz Endowed Chair of Journalism Innovation at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where he teaches Virtual Reality Storytelling, Data and Digital Journalism, and AI for Media Professionals. A VR Journalism pioneer, Pacheco co-produced the award-winning Harvest of Change VR project which earned an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2015. In 2020, Pacheco led the student-produced project, Visualizing 81, which won multiple industry awards. He serves on the Peabody Awards Interactive Board of Jurors to recognize storytelling innovation in immersive media, games and interactive documentaries. Prior to academia, Pacheco spent 20 years in digital journalism and startups. He received a “20 Under 40” award in 2005 for social networking innovations in journalism, and a Knight News Challenge grant in 2007.
David Cordero Mercado, a current NAHJ board member who was on the programming team last year, is an investigative and multimedia journalist for El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico’s main daily, and instructor of the Journalism for Radio and Television course for undergraduate communications and journalism students at Facultad de Comunicación e Información (FaCI), Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Río Piedras. Before that, he worked as a collaborator on Rayos X for Telemundo Puerto Rico. David has been recognized on multiple occasions by the Association of Journalists of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Chapter of the Overseas Press Club.
Emily Elena Dugdale is a Los Angeles-based journalist covering criminal justice. Previously, she was the senior criminal justice reporter at NPR station LAist 89.3 (formerly KPCC), where she broke stories and investigations on the L.A. County jail system and sheriff’s department. She was also part of the 2020/21 ProPublica Local Reporting Network, publishing a searing investigation into the role of sheriff’s deputies in a California desert school district that won a Golden Mic Award for investigative storytelling. Emily is a 2022 Maynard 200 fellow. She is currently working on an investigation with The Fuller Project, a nonprofit newsroom invested in stories about women and girls.
As the Director of Programs, Juanita Islas oversees the IWMF’s global fellowships, grant-making initiatives, safety training, and emergency funds. She also supports the work of the Coalition Against Online Violence, a collection of global organizations collaborating to find better solutions for journalists facing digital attacks. Juanita joined the IWMF in 2015 to launch their $5 million multi-year reporting initiative in Latin America, where she worked with international and local journalists in Colombia, Mexico, and the Northern Triangle. In the past eight years, she has led the design and implementation of national and international programs, totaling over $12 million and reaching journalists in 124 countries. Prior to the IWMF, Juanita worked with the Woodrow Wilson’s Mexico Institute, the Center for International Policy, the Organization of American States, and the National Planning Department in Bogotá, Colombia.
Manuelita Beck is a multimedia journalist at ABC 15 Arizona. A journalist with 18 years of experience in digital transformation, she has been a coach with Poynter’s Table Stakes program and has been a digital editor for the NPR Next Generation Radio project. Manuelita previously held editing and digital roles at the Arizona Republic, IndyStar, USA Today and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is transitioning from print/digital to video storytelling through the E.W. Scripps Journalism Journey program.
Michelle Faust Raghavan is the founder of Claridad Media, a newsroom consulting firm, and is currently researching best practices to improve retention of journalists of color in public media. Michelle is an award-winning journalist, editor, newsroom consultant and a regular managing editor with the Next Generation Radio project. As a policy reporter and radio host in public media member stations around the U.S., they advanced solutions, service and participatory journalism practices. Michelle later developed and implemented diversity, equity and inclusion strategy as the Solutions Journalism Network’s equity initiative manager. Michelle is an NAHJ lifetime member and was recently a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford.
Natalia Gutiérrez is a bilingual engagement journalist with experience working in the intersection of journalism, product development, and community building. Her work aims to help newsrooms connect audiences with great editorial content. Currently at Associated Press, she focuses on bridging climate stories to audiences at a global scale and to help translate text stories into other formats and products. She is leading an effort to track impact and understand how climate stories are resonating with readers and AP customers. With previous experience in engagement at outlets like The New York Times en Español and the L.A. Times, Natalia has honed her skills in connecting with English and Spanish-speaking audiences. An M.A. graduate in Engagement Journalism from CUNY, Natalia constantly innovates with tools and strategies to amplify audience engagement and drive meaningful impact.
Natalie Martinez – Broadcast (TV/Radio)
Reporter and Anchor at NBC5 Chicago – WMAQ
X
Natalie Martinez joined NBC Chicago as a general assignment reporter in January 2001. A native of Buffalo, New York, Martinez is a two-time Emmy Award-winning journalist who graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and University of North London on scholarship. She’s now seen every weeknight at 10 p.m. reporting on the top stories of the day. With nearly two decades of reporting and anchoring, she came to NBC Chicago from WXXA-TV, the Fox station in Albany, N.Y. Prior to her work at WXXA, this award-winning journalist had worked as an anchor, reporter and producer for several upstate New York television and radio stations. She is now an adjunct professor at DePaul University.
Nonny de la Peña is the program director of ASU’s NEM program, where she leads a best-in-class research and graduate program with a focus on new narratives developed using emerging media technologies in the areas of arts, culture, and nonfiction. She comes to the new Los Angeles-based center with more than 20 years of experience as an award-winning writer, director and producer in augmented and extended reality, film, print and television. De la Peña has been on the cover of the Wall Street Journal magazine as a WSJ “Technology Innovator of the Year” and has been called “The Godmother of Virtual Reality” by Engadget. As founder and CEO of Emblematic, de la Peña uses cutting-edge technologies to tell stories that create intense, empathic engagement on the part of viewers via immersive virtual, mixed, and augmented reality.
Robert Hernandez, aka WebJournalist, is a former NAHJ board member and has made a name for himself as a journalist of the web, not just on the web. His primary focus is exploring and developing the intersection of technology and journalism — to empower people, inform reporting and storytelling, engage community, improve distribution and, whenever possible, enhance revenue. He is a professor of professional practice at USC Annenberg, but he’s not an academic… he’s more of a “hackademic” that specializes in “MacGyvering” digital journalism through emerging technologies.
Ronald Ávila-Claudio – En Español
Journalist and Senior Editor at BBC News
LinkedIn
Ronal Ávila-Claudio is an award-winning journalist and video producer with experience covering politics, environment, culture, and social issues. Some of his work has been translated into different languages, such as Portuguese, English, and Arabic. Ávila-Claudio have held leadership positions in three newsrooms, including BBC Mundo, the Latin American service of the BBC. In his nine years of career, Ávila-Claudio interviewed high-profile personalities such as Oscar-winner Rita Moreno, Grammy winner Residente, and former governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló.
Selymar Colón is an award-winning journalist, currently the Executive Director for Digital at GFR Media in Puerto Rico, owners of the leading newspapers El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora. Colón spent the 2019-2020 academic year as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard where she took courses on leadership with a focus on diverse and inclusive teams and culture, successful business strategies and innovation. Before her fellowship, she served as editor-in-chief of digital news at Univision, where she built a team of multimedia journalists and drove the network’s digital integration. Her efforts contributed to Univision News winning the first World Press Photo Best Online Digital Video of the Year in 2019, an Emmy and an Edward R. Murrow among others. Colón was named a 40 under 40 : Latinos in American Politics by the Huffington Post.
Victor Hernandez, Chief Content Officer at WBUR Boston, leads editorial strategies at one of public media’s premier institutions. With a professional background spanning roles at national and local news outlets, nonprofit newsrooms, and digital startups, he possesses a range of diverse editorial leadership experience. Currently, Victor is focused on expanding WBUR’s editorial excellence and audience reach, deepening community engagement, and navigating technological shifts in journalism that will provide a sustainable future for the multiplatform media institution. He oversees local news, national programs, digital, podcasts, and live events.