The Unity convention only comes around every four years. I’ve been going to them ever since they started. This time the convention is in Las Vegas in August, and I’m hoping to persuade dozens of journalists to make Unity 2012 their summer destination.
Meet members of NAHJ, NAJA, AAJA, and NLGJA at Mandalay Bay.
I’m not kidding! The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is offering a 14 month membership for $75. Ok, it sounds like a big chunk of change, but when you think about it; that’s only around $5.35 a month. If you’re like me, that means sacrificing one fast food meal. There goes my Big Mac!
I’ve been a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) for 25 years. It’s been the organization I have depended on during good and not so good times in my career. Just about every television reporting job I’ve had in my 29 years in the business had some kind of connection to NAHJ.
The news director who hired me to work at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles found me at a NAHJ convention in New Mexico. The news director who hired me to work at a Dallas station in 1994, happened to meet me at the NAHJ convention in Dallas a few years earlier.
Through NAHJ I have met hundreds of contacts in the journalism world, and also made some long lasting friendships. I’ve also grown as a reporter thanks to workshops that NAHJ provided me in my early years. Now I’m the one on the NAHJ panels sharing my knowledge with other journalists.
Along the way, I’ve won a few NAHJ awards. They look rather nice on my resume. In 2007, I was honored to win the NAHJ Broadcast Journalist of the Year Award.
Even today as a freelance reporter, NAHJ continues to give me something to add to my career “success” kit. There’s webinars, workshops, more networking and the annual NAHJ convention.
How has NAHJ impacted the lives of other reporters? NAHJ member and print journalist, Rebecca Rivas tell us in this video.
