Regional Summits

Empowering Journalists. Strengthening Newsrooms.
Building the Future.

The NAHJ Regional Summit is a one-day professional development and networking event designed to connect Hispanic journalists, journalism students, newsroom leaders, educators, and media organizations around the country.

Join us this fall in Puerto Rico and Los Angeles for a day of workshops, networking, and career connections built for students and working journalists alike.

Register — Puerto rico
Register — Los angeles

Upcoming Regional Summits

Puerto Rico
Date: October 2, 2026
Audience: Students
Location: Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Bayamón Campus
Cost: Free

Los Angeles
Date: October 24, 2026
Audience: Students & Professionals
Location: University of Southern California
Cost: $10-$50

Register
Register

Career growth, close to home

NAHJ Regional Summits exist to bring the value of our national conference directly to your community. Each summit is designed for both students and professionals. Whether you’re breaking into the industry or advancing within it, you’ll find sessions built for where you are.

You’ll leave with practical tools to identify your strengths, sharpen how you market yourself, and connect directly with employers who are actively hiring. Regional Summits are also where NAHJ’s national network gets local: you’ll meet journalists, editors and recruiters from your own market, alongside peers from chapters across the country.

What to expect

Each Regional Summit is a full day built around three things: learning, connection and opportunity.

  • Breakout sessions for both students and professionals, running concurrently so you can choose the track that fits you
  • A career expo where you can meet recruiters and hiring managers face-to-face
  • Plenary sessions and a closing reception to network with the broader NAHJ community in your region

Registration includes access to all sessions, the career expo and event meals.

What to expect

Each Regional Summit is a full day built around three things: learning, connection and opportunity.

  • Breakout sessions for both students and professionals, running concurrently so you can choose the track that fits you
  • A career expo where you can meet recruiters and hiring managers face-to-face
  • Plenary sessions and a closing reception to network with the broader NAHJ community in your region

Registration includes access to all sessions, the career expo and event meals.

Summit Format

8:00-8:30 a.m. Registration & Breakfast

9:00-12:00 p.m. Breakout Sessions

12:00-1:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00-2:00 p.m. Plenary Session

2:00-4:00 p.m. Career Fair

Empower. Connect. Thrive.

NAHJ Regional Summits offer invaluable networking opportunities, connecting you with industry professionals, recruiters and fellow journalists. Through workshops, panels and hands-on training, you’ll sharpen your storytelling skills that will help you take the next step in your career.
Keynote Speakers
Student Career Fair
Panel Discussions
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About NAHJ

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is the leading organization supporting and advancing Latino journalists across the country.

Through our national conference, collegiate chapters, and now our Regional Summits, we’re building a stronger pipeline of Latino talent in journalism. We’re working towards having that support reach you wherever you are, not just once a year at our national event.

Spots are limited for each Regional Summit.

Reserve yours today.

Register now — Puerto rico
Register now — Los angeles

Los Angeles Summit Schedule

8:00-8:30 Registration & Breakfast
8:30-Opening Remarks
9:00-10:00-General Session with All attendees
10:00-10:50-Breakout Sessions
   • Student 1
   •Student 2
   •Professional 1
   •Professional 2
11:00-11:50-Breakout Sessions 
   •Student 1
   •Student 2
   •Professional 1
   •Professional 2
12:00-1:00-Sponsored Lunch
1:00-2:00-Breakout Session
   • Student 1
   •Professional 1
2:00-4:00-Career Fair

Register

FAQs​

Who should attend?
Reporters, editors, producers, and newsroom leaders.
Is the training customizable?
Yes. Each session is tailored to your newsroom’s needs and coverage areas.
How far in advance should we book?
We recommend reaching out early.

Support and Leadership

Our trainers who bring credibility, real-world insight, and a deep understanding of newsroom dynamics.

They are not consultants, but fellow peers who understand deadlines, editorial pressures, and the responsibility of getting stories right the first time around.

NAHJ is committed to elevating our trainers as expert voices and thought leaders in journalism. Trainers receive dedicated preparation and onboarding and are compensated fairly for their expertise and time.

Our Expert Trainers

Patricia Guadalupe

Patricia Guadalupe, raised in Puerto Rico, is a bilingual multimedia journalist based in Washington, D.C. She is the former co-managing editor of NAHJ's Palabra and has been covering the capital for both English- and Spanish-language media outlets since the mid-1990s. She previously worked as a reporter in New York City. She’s been an editor at Hispanic Link News Service, a reporter at WTOP Radio (CBS Washington affiliate), a contributing reporter for CBS Radio network, and has written for NBC News.com and Latino Magazine, among others. She is a graduate of Michigan State University and has a Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. She specializes in business news and politics, and cultural issues. She is the former president of the Washington, D.C. chapter of NAHJ and is an adjunct professor at American University in the nation’s capital and the Washington semester program of Florida International University.

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Patricia
Guadalupe

Bilingual Multimedia Journalist

Lori Montenegro

Lori Montenegro worked as a National Correspondent in Washington DC for the past 22 years covering National and International stories. While covering the White House and Capitol Hill, Lori covered a range of issues from politics, elections, immigration, health care, the economy, and in between all of that did many other stories highlighting the many accomplishments of Latinos in DC and around the Nation. She has been honored with numerous awards, including this March with the 2020 First Amendment Clarity Award presented by The Radio Television Digital News Foundation. As of last year, she took on a new role - she was named Bureau Chief for Telemundo’s Washington DC Office.

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Lori
Montenegro

National Correspondent

Romina Ruiz-Goiriena

Romina Ruiz-Goiriena is USA TODAY's first ever  Executive Editor for Investigations and Storytelling. Under this newly created role, she helps shape some of the biggest swings and spearhead strategic initiatives for the wider newsroom. Romina was most recently Managing Editor of Politics, White House and Storytelling in an election year that included the historic announcement by President Joe Biden to end his reelection bid and two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump. Previously, she was the first Latina in the role of White House Editor in USA TODAY’s history. She led her team to break news from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with a Main Street perspective. As editor, she was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist with the Austin-American Statesman, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, in public service for coverage of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas and a team Edward R. Murrow award for Florida’s fight over education. She joined USA TODAY as an enterprise reporter from the Miami Herald’s investigative team in 2020. She has worked in Paris, Cuba and Israel for France24, El Mundo and Haaretz. Romina was also a foreign correspondent out of Central America for CNN and The Associated Press, covering issues such as migration, corruption and drug trafficking. She’s fluent in English, Spanish, French and Hebrew. 

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Romina
Ruiz-Goiriena

Executive Editor, Investigations & Storytelling 

Monique O. Madame

Monique O. Madan is an award-winning investigative journalist, editor, and educator who has reported nationally for outlets including The Miami Herald, USA TODAY, and The Markup, with a focus on immigration, criminal justice, and government accountability. Her work has also appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, and The Boston Herald. She serves as a Lead Storytelling Advisor with the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, where she trains and mentors journalists across the country on investigative reporting, building trust, and inclusive, community-centered storytelling. Madan is a trauma-informed educator who has trained journalists and newsroom leaders across a range of organizations—from large legacy outlets to small and micro newsrooms—helping them strengthen sourcing, framing, and trust with the communities they cover. She is also the founder of Two Can Be True, a platform grounded in nearly two decades of newsroom experience that explores storytelling at the intersection of investigative reporting and lived experience.

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Madan

Lead Storytelling Advisor

Rodrigo Cervantes

Rodrigo Cervantes is a bilingual journalist and communications strategist with extensive experience across the U.S., Mexico, and beyond. He has contributed to outlets such as NPR, CNN, The Los Angeles Times, and the BBC. Cervantes led international coverage as Bureau Chief for KJZZ’s Mexico City bureau, where he launched the first offshore bureau for a U.S. public radio station. He later joined KPCC/LAist in Los Angeles as Senior Editor. He previously served as Business Editor-in-Chief for El Norte, part of Grupo Reforma, Mexico’s premier newspaper company. In Georgia, he led the newsroom of MundoHispánico, then the state’s oldest and largest Latino publication, under The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Rodrigo is a longtime member and former Secretary of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), as well as contributor editor for NAHJ's multimedia platform, Palabra. He holds an MBA from Universidad San Pablo CEU in Madrid, where he was a Fundación Carolina fellow. His work has been recognized with RTDNA Murrow Awards and José Martí Awards from the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP). In Arizona State University, he teaches journalism and leads the Howard G. Buffett Foundation Borderlands Project.

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Rodrigo
Cervantes

Bilingual Journalist

Stella M. Chávez

Stella M. Chávez is an award-winning journalist with more than two decades of experience telling deeply reported and intimate stories about diverse populations, from migrant farmworkers in Florida to refugees and asylum seekers in Texas. As the daughter of a Mexican immigrant father and a Mexican American mother, Stella believes strongly in accurately reporting on these communities and correcting misperceptions about them. During her career, she has also covered local government, education and national stories like the mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart and the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.  

Stella reported for daily newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, as well as KERA, the public radio station in Dallas. Her work has aired on NPR, BBC and CNN. She is a recipient of multiple awards, including from Investigative Reporters and Editors, Religion News Association, Public Media Journalists Association and Livingston Award for Young Journalists. Stella is a member of the Poynter Institute National Advisory Board and a regional judge for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. 

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Chávez

Journalist

Alfredo Corchado

Alfredo Corchado is the Executive Editor and Correspondent for the award-winning Puente News Collaborative. He is formerly the Mexico Border correspondent for The Dallas Morning News and author of Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter’s Journey Through a Country’s Descent into Darkness (Penguin Press) and Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration (Bloomsbury).

Corchado began his career in journalism at the El Paso Herald-Post, before working for the Wall Street Journal in 1987. He is a 2009 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, Woodrow Wilson, Rockefeller, Lannan, USMEX, and IOP fellow. He’s also the winner of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize and Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award for Courage in Journalism. In 2026, he received the I.F. Stone Award for independent journalism from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard.

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Alfredo
Corchado

Executive Editor

Alfredo Corchado

Ray Suarez is host of the PBS television series, Wisdom Keepers, on air and online on PBS. He is the author of the recent book on the modern era of American immigration, We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century, published by Little, Brown.  
He was host of the public radio program and podcast On Shifting Ground, for seven years. The program was produced by Commonwealth Club-World Affairs and KQED-FM, and broadcast on public radio stations nationwide.

He is also the author of Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation (Penguin, 2013), The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America (Harper, 2005), and The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration (Free Press, 1999).

He has been a visiting professor of Political Science at NYU Shanghai, and the John McCloy Visiting Professor of American Studies at Amherst College. He is a graduate of New York University and the University of Chicago.

Earlier in his career, Suarez was the host of the daily news program Inside Story from Al Jazeera America, Chief National Correspondent for The PBS NewsHour, and the host of Talk of the Nation from NPR. His recent podcast productions include two seasons of Going for Broke, produced with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and The Things I Thought About When My Body Was Trying to Kill Me, from Evergreen Podcasts, about cancer, treatment and recovery. 

Suarez’ journalism has been recognized with two DuPont-Columbia Awards, an Overseas Press Club Award, two Webby Awards, the Ruben Salazar Award from UNIDOS-US, and UCLA’s Public Policy Leadership Award for his reporting on urban America, among others.

Cultural Competence Photos-10-Michelle Higgins

Ray
Suarez

PBS Host

Dunia Elvir

Dunia Elvir is the News Anchor for Telemundo 52’s weekday primetime NoticieroTelemundo 52 at 5:00 p.m. 6:00 pm & 11:00 p.m. Elvir is an Award-winning journalist with more than three decades of a successful career in journalism, including radio, print and television. She began her journalistic career in 1990 at Telemundo 52 Los Angeles, she joined Telemundo Network in 2002 and returned to KVEA in 2008.

In 2023, Elvir was one of seven Latina journalists featured in “¡De última hora! Latinas Report Breaking News,” a bilingual exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History showcasing the work of Latina journalists and how they wrote the first draft of history for major U.S. events for the Spanish-language communities they report on and for. Elvir’s storytelling has earned her prestigious awards, including 13 Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, three Golden Mikes from the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California, 13 Los Angeles Area and a GLAAD Media Award, among others. In 2004, she was named one of the 13 most outstanding Latinas in the United States by the National Association of Latina Leaders (NALL).

Elvir serves as a volunteer teacher for InsideOUT Writers, an organization whose mission is to reduce the juvenile recidivism rate of formerly incarcerated youth and young adults, she is a Girl Scout Troop Leader and serves as the station’s ambassador for March of Dimes’ “March for Babies Walk.” Elvir earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Management and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. Elvir also completed a journalism fellowship with the University of Southern California (USC).

Dunia Elvir CARES

Ray
Suarez

NAHJ President

Webinars

Protect What Matters: The Shifts in Health Coverage You Can’t Ignore

Sept. 30, 2025 at 2:30PM PST/5:30PM EST

Learn how to make the most of your health coverage — whether you’re on an employer plan or an individual marketplace plan — in this NAHJ Cares webinar designed to help you prepare for major shifts coming in 2026.

How to Set Goals, Build a Budget and Save (Sponsored by JPMorganChase)

Oct. 2, 2025 at 2:00PM PST/5:00PM EST

In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn how to set goals based on your values, build a budget that works for you and save for the future.

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Upcoming Webinar Topics

May

Topic: Mental Health & Resilience

June

Topic: Legal Resources & Support

August

Topic: Money Management, Retirement & Financial Freedom

September

Topic: Nutrition, Food & Culture

October

Topic: Local Physical Activities

November

Topic: Mindfulness, Meditation, and Joy

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