NAHJ celebrates co-chairs of NAHJ Sports Task Force ahead of NAHJ 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

May 11, 2021

NAHJ celebrates Iliana Limón Romero and Joe Rodriguez as co-chairs of NAHJ Sports Task Force ahead of NAHJ 2021

Washington, D.C. — Ahead of NAHJ 2021, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists is eager to celebrate Iliana Limón Romero and Joe Rodriguez as the new NAHJ Sports Task Force co-chairs. At the upcoming International Training Conference and Career Fair, beginning June 16, the Sports Task Force will host programming, networking, and community building to support Latino sports journalists and organizations.

NAHJ is motivated to feature practical experiences from sports journalists of color, and the collaboration between co-chairs Limón Romero and Rodriguez will bring under-represented perspectives of Latinx sports journalists that are valuable to the future generation.  

As a Latina and an El Paso, Texas, native, Limón Romero has had remarkable accomplishments in the industry. Before joining the Los Angeles Times in March 2021 as the deputy sports editor, she was the sports editor of the Orlando Sentinel and co-founder of the website Pro Soccer USA. She was the NAHJ Central Florida chapter president, and in 2020, she earned NAHJ’s Dale Award for “going above and beyond to assure fair and accurate representation of Latinos in news.” 

“I’m honored to work with Joe as we lead the NAHJ Sports Task Force’s next chapter,” said Limón Romero. “Talented Hispanic sports journalists have done outstanding work in English and Spanish for years, but they often do so without much support.” 

“I’m eager to help develop a mentor program, offer sports-specific professional development opportunities, amplify the work of our members in sports media and provide a space for NAHJ sports journalists to collaborate in English and Spanish,” she added. 

Emmy award-winning professional Joe Rodriguez has more than 15 years of experience producing live studio, remote, and field productions. In addition to leading production for the top sports broadcast companies such as ESPN, Fox Sports, Telemundo, and EA Sports, Joe has produced coverage of a wide range of events and shows, including FIFA World Cup, the Olympics, the UEFA Champions League, Major League Soccer, Madden Championship Series and SportsCenter. 

Rodriguez is a bilingual, bi-cultural Hispanic-American who possesses a dual point of view and understanding of the Latino market in the United States. He is also the founder and head of content at El Tri Online, an online media company that creates English language content focused on the Mexican National Soccer team and Mexican soccer, serving bilingual English-dominant Hispanic-Americans in the U.S.

“I’ve long admired Iliana’s career and respected her commitment to forming a path for other Latinx journalists,” Rodriguez commented. “I am honored to serve alongside a colleague who shares the goal of designing and building pipelines that go beyond putting Latino journalists in a role but hold organizations accountable to maintain and promote in a way that changes the standard of representation and inclusion in mainstream and independent sports coverage.”

The NAHJ Sports Task Force recognizes the dearth of representation among sports journalists of color. Limón Romero and Rodríguez as co-chairs will encourage enormous strides in creating a new standard of equity and inclusion across the industry.  As a team, these well-respected leaders take the stage to serve the Hispanic and Latinx sports media community.

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About the NAHJ

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States and dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. The mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latinos in the newsrooms and to work toward fair and accurate representation of Latinos in the news media. Established in April 1984, NAHJ created a national voice and unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. NAHJ has over 3,300 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals, and journalism educators. For more information please visit NAHJ.org or follow on Twitter @NAHJ. 

Media Contact: 

BA Snyder

Veritas Group for NAHJ

512.630.6337

BA@TheVeritasWay.com