A Health & Wellness Initiative
Journalism is demanding—and Latino journalists face even greater pressure. NAHJ’s new initiative puts member well-being first, promoting physical and mental health to build resilience and sustain careers.
Through this initiative, NAHJ will offer a variety of resources, events, and tools to address key areas of health + wellness for journalists, such as:
Mental Health
& Resilience
Digital Safety
& Security
Legal Resources
Nutrition,
Food & Culture
Mindfulness & Meditation
Financial Freedom
Vision

Prioritize physical and mental well-being of Latino journalists

Empower members with self-care tools and resources

Foster sustainability and resilience in journalism careers
NAHJ Cares support + leadership
NAHJ recognizes the urgent need to support its members in balancing their demanding work with self-care. By championing wellness, the organization aims to ensure that Hispanic journalists can continue to serve their communities while maintaining their health and vitality. The initiative is guided by dedicated wellness advocates and supported by a network of Health & Fit Ambassadors across the U.S., who will promote wellness activities within their local chapters.
Health & Fit Ambassadors
Simone De Alba

Simone
De Alba
Washington D.C.
Geraldine Cols Azócar

Geraldine Cols Azócar
New York
Juan Francisco Garcia

Juan Francisco Garcia
New Orleans
Diana Gutierrez

Diana
Gutierrez
Milwaukee
Zully Ramirez

Zully
Ramirez
Chicago
Samantha Rivera

Samantha Rivera
Miami
Marla Tellez
Marla Tellez is an anchor for FOX 11 in Los Angeles. She’s an Emmy, Golden Mike, and LA Press Club award recipient, including earning the 2023 LA Press Club "Anchor/Host of the Year.
Tellez is a Bay Area native who began her television news career as a writer and producer.
In 2008, Tellez left California for her first anchoring opportunity in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That's where she got the chance to appear in the hit AMC show, "Breaking Bad." She made her return to the Bay Area in 2011 as an anchor/reporter at KNTV in San Jose. Tellez landed in Los Angeles at KTTV in 2014.
Tellez has been a morning, afternoon, and prime-time anchor. She's interviewed high-ranking politicians, celebrities, local dignitaries and her favorite, local residents. Her passion lies in holding the powerful accountable and giving a voice to the voiceless.
Tellez earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Sonoma State University, graduating magna cum laude.

Marla
Tellez
Los Angeles
Nick Valencia
Nick Valencia is a correspondent for CNN.
As Georgia has rocketed into the center of the political universe, Nick has been CNN's lead correspondent in Atlanta. From Donald Trump's historic indictment in Fulton County, to his surrender at the county jail, Nick was there.
Nick has a reputation for bringing empathy and humanity to stories.
In 2025, he was given a civil rights award in Montgomery by the Bob and Jean Graetz Foundation at Alabama State Univeristy for his reporting on race and reconciliation. A year earlier he was named one of the most influential Georgians by the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In 2021, he and his team won a national Emmy for coverage of the Death of George Floyd. Previously, he's been nominated twice and won three Peabody Awards.
In 2020, the Atlanta Press Club named him "TV Reporter of the Year.” They also awarded him for his coverage of family separation along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2019. He was among a small group selected to tour border patrol facilities housing caged children. His reporting on the treatment of migrants in Border Patrol custody sparked internal government investigations.
A correspondent since 2013, he is deeply sourced and breaks exclusive reporting.
In 2013 the National Association of Hispanic Journalists awarded him its inaugural "Sí Se Puede Excellence in Leadership Award." From 2018-2019, he was Vice President of the 2,800 member organization.
A courageous journalist specializing in crisis zones, he's reported from tornadoes, floods, fires, hurricanes, tropical storms, and while growing up in LA, lived through mudslides, earthquakes and gang violence. The Huffington Post says Valencia is one of the most influential Latino journalists in America and one of the "Top 50 Latinos" on social media.
Valencia began reporting at 14 for his high school newspaper in Northeast LA. He later worked for FOX Sports Net. A graduate of USC's Annenberg School of Journalism, he was the documentary filmmaker for the National Champion football team. He currently lives in Atlanta, where he serves as President of NAHJ Atlanta.
He is the founder of the Latino Media All Stars, a 750 member national run club for media professionals to focus on their physical and mental well-being.

Nick
Valencia
Atlanta
Wellness Advocates
Bertha Coombs
Bertha Coombs is CNBC’s senior health care reporter, covering health care services and policy, as well as financial markets and business news stories throughout the business day.
Her health care coverage at CNBC has ranged from covering the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the evolution of health care technology like telehealth and AI to help doctors with patient care, and the launch of Medicare drug price negotiations.
She has been with CNBC for more than twenty years. Before joining the network, she reported for the pioneering streaming business network, Yahoo Finance Vision. Prior to that, she served as a reporter for ABC News One and a substitute anchor for “World News Now,” after reporting positions at WABC-TC in News York and WTVJ-TV in Miami. She began her reporting career in local news as a Leo Beranek Fellow at WCVB-TV in Boston.
She is a former NAHJ Board Member and helped lead El Noticiero in the early days of the on-air news program.
Coombs is a graduate of Yale University. Born in Havana, Cuba, she speaks fluent Spanish.

Bertha
Coombs
Lead Committee Member
Ysabel Duron
Ysabel Duron is a pioneering, award-winning Latina journalist, a cancer survivor, and for the past 25 years, a leading patient activist around Latino community engagement. Her encore career as a cancer patient advocate and non-profit agency builder commenced when she was diagnosed with cancer in 1999.
In February 2023, President Joe Biden appointed Duron to the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB), which advises the Director of the National Cancer Institute. She serves as one of the few patient advocates on the Board.
Duron describes her “work in and with community,” as a learning classroom and credits the experience with preparing her for her advocacy role. Among other things, her former agency developed programs for low income, Spanish-speaking and immigrant communities to address gaps along the cancer continuum including cancer awareness education, navigation into screening, psychosocial support groups and a lay community navigator program to support and guide low income, Spanish-speaking cancer patients in the public health care system in Santa Clara County (San Jose), California.
Between 2008 and 2016, under her leadership at Latinas Contra Cancer (LCC), Duron convened 5 unique National Latino Cancer Summits, turning its lens on cancer issues in the Latino community, collaborating with advocacy groups, researchers and health care providers to investigate, and address cancer-related impacts.
LCC also created linguistically and culturally appropriate education tools using a bingo game model to dispel myth and misinformation, promote healthy eating and exercise as well as screening and early detection; training up to 200 promotores, aka community health workers, to use these tools to raise awareness and navigate eligible participants into screenings. This bingo concept was adapted for the African American and Pacific Islander communities, and cited by the NIEHS – IBCERCC Committee, on which Duron served, in the 2012 Breast Cancer and the Environment, Prioritizing Prevention Report.
In 2017, Ms. Duron launched her third and current agency, The Latino Cancer Institute (TLCI), to amplify Latino voices about the cancer burden – acting as a force multiplier through a nationwide network of stakeholders; dedicated to promote the work of Latino community service agencies; to provide collaboration with the global cancer research community; and to drive policy to improve health outcomes and diminish disproportionate Latino cancer mortality.
The Institute has since convened 5 National TLCI Forums as Duron continues to bring together researchers, clinicians, advocates, government and industry officials across the cancer landscape. The 5th annual Forum, “The Turbulent Ecosystem: Climate Change’s Impact on the Latino Cancer Burden,” was held virtually on October 27, 2023.
TLCI’s collaborations include engagements with academic partners such as the Stanford Cancer Institute, Universities of California at San Francisco and Davis, Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, George Washington Cancer Center, the California Primary Care Association (FQHCs), San Diego and San Jose State Universities. Duron is a published co-author in over 10 research papers, including a 2023 publication titled “Critical Reflections on This Historical Moment for Community-engaged and Participatory Research” in Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action.
TLCI’s robust engagement has resulted in two invitations to the White House, once for a re-launch (Feb 2022) of President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative to drive cancer screenings and decrease cancer mortality by 50% in 25 years. The 2nd White House event (Oct 2022) spotlighted the American Cancer Society launch of the newly formed National Breast Cancer Roundtable (NBCRT) on which Duron was invited to serve. NBCRT aims, among other policy initiatives, to address disparities in cancer screening and access, advanced diagnostics and quality treatment impacting racial and ethnic populations.
Duron also serves on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the All of Us Research Program at the National Institutes of Health; invited to join in 2016 by former NIH Director Francis Collins, as a patient advocate.
Duron served as a member of the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine Advisory Council (CIAPM) until 2024, which advised the Governor on the direction of Precision Medicine issues in the state.
As a member of the Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee (since 2019) of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), a tax-payer funded stem cell research program, Duron successfully drove a motion that requires research proposals to include a plan on recruiting a proportionate number of racial and ethnic minorities into newly funded COVID Clinical Trials. The expansion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has since been incorporated into the majority of Requests for Proposals funded by the Institute and drives frameworks for internal organizational operations. CIRM CEO, Maria Millan, said that the “culture,” has changed amongst CIRM scientific reviewers who now more vigorously question the quality of the DEI plan in the research proposals, which are also scored by patient advocates and can be returned to applicants for improvements.
As a member of the National Rapid Research Coalition, for the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security between 2020 and 2022, Duron advised on the community’s role in an equitable and effective Covid vaccination rollout (titled CommuniVax), supported the research site team in California (one of five sites around the country), consulted on and assisted in editing the three CommuniVax national reports.
Duron was also elected in 2021 to the University of California Center for Data Drive Insights and Innovation (UCCDI2) which engages in a collaborative approach with UC Health to build a pre-eminent data-driven learning healthcare system that improves the human condition.
In recent years, Duron has been invited to speak at numerous high-profile events. In 2023, she was the keynote speaker at the Latino Community Health Equity Conference in Southern Arizona, providing insights on cancer disparities affecting the Latino community. She also participated in a virtual conversation with The Hill’s Editor in Chief on “Geographic and Equity Roadblocks to Cancer Care.” In 2024, Duron joined a panel at SXSW discussing “Cancer Innovations and Those Who Are Left Behind,” moderated a panel at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 2024 Issues Summit, and participated in a panel on AI, privacy, and safety in healthcare at the Health Data Leadership Institute conference.
A broadcast journalist for 43 years, Duron was inducted into the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame in 2009. A 1970 graduate of San Jose State University with a B.A. in Journalism, Duron distinguished herself in both the journalism and non-profit worlds winning a number of prestigious awards. These include two Emmys, a Radio-TV News Director Award, the Girl Scouts Juliette Gordon Award for her Trouble with Teacher Series, the Silicon Valley NAACP Chapter W.E.B. Dubois Award, as well as the Living Legacy Award from the Chicana- Latina Foundation, the 2005 Bay Area Most Influential Latino from the SF Business Times, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Association, and the 2011 Latino Spirit Award from the Latino Caucus of the California Legislature.
Duron’s non-profit work garnered her the 150-thousand dollar Purpose Prize (2013) from ENCORE, and won her the Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Psychosocial Oncology Society among others. More recently, she was named one of MM&M’s 2024 Healthcare Influencers and honored as an Individual Honoree at the 2024 Latinx Business Leadership Awards by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Currently, Duron is focused on producing and hosting a 6-part all virtual Friday Forum Series titled “Talking about cancer won’t kill us, the silence will!” This series underscores her ongoing commitment to breaking the silence around cancer in the Latino community and fostering open dialogue about prevention, treatment, and support.
In addition to this series, Duron continues to be actively involved in high-profile cancer awareness and advocacy events. She is set to join as a panelist during the upcoming FDA Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) Conversation on Cancer public panel discussion, which kicks off the National Hispanic Family Cancer Awareness Week. Notably, on September 20, 2024, Duron will participate in this important panel discussion before rushing to host the first forum of her series on the same day, showcasing her dedication and busy schedule in cancer advocacy. Furthermore, Duron is slated to be a speaker at the Advancing Precision Medicine (APM) conference in November 2024, exemplifying her tireless commitment and indomitable spirit in advancing cancer research and patient advocacy.

Ysabel
Duron
Committee Member
Evelyn Hernández
As Chief of Public Affairs and Community Relations at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, Evelyn Hernández is responsible for internal communications for staff and patients and external communications for the community, stakeholders and media. She has been responsible for crisis communications during major events including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ebola emergency.
Prior to joining NYC Health + Hospitals, Hernández was an award-winning journalist who worked in mainstream, Spanish-language and online media, including El Diario/La Prensa, ImpreMedia, New York Newsday, The Miami Herald and the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram. In 2006-2007, she was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Hernández has advocated for the hiring and advancement of Latino journalists throughout her career. She is a founding member, a former board member and the first female president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ).
She also is a founder of the professional journalism organization Hispanic Communicators DFW in Dallas-Fort Worth.
She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University and a Master’s Degree from New York University.
NYC Health + Hospitals has a robust Helping Healers Heal (H3) program to enhance wellness by addressing the emotional and psychological needs of all staff. Hernández looks forward to sharing that experience and resources as NAHJ moves forward with its own Health and Wellness Initiative.

Evelyn Hernández
Lead Committee Member
Alyssa Méndez Batista
Alyssa Méndez Batista is an award-winning Digital and Social Media Producer for Telemundo Chicago. She is a proud alumnus of NAHJ’s Student Campus and Student Projects programs that helped her shape the media professional she is today. She firmly believes that prioritizing health and wellness in journalism not only enhances life quality but also improves work performance.

Alyssa
Mendez
Committee Member
Vanessa Flory

Vanessa
Flory
Communications Consultant
Dunia Elvir

Dunia
Elvir
NAHJ President