Palabra: Así Fue Así Fue

Journalists Michelle García and Fernanda Santos share a few things in common. They both have worked for legacy media institutions — the Washington Post and The New York Times, respectively. They have also endured profound losses that led them to search for their authentic selves. In the process, they discovered that there’s no standard roadmap to success. Instead, they learned to define success — or better yet, self-fulfillment — on their own terms.

Santos is now the editorial director at Futuro Media and García is working on a book about the U.S.-Mexico border for Viking Books.

Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Adriana Gallardo joins her long-time friend and producer Luis Gallo to explore how their immigrant experiences prepared them to become journalists and writers.

Adriana Gallardo’s love for storytelling was born inside the library where her parents worked as janitors and grew during her time working in community radio. Luis Gallo became a journalist by writing about subjects he felt passionate about, including urbanism, history and music. In this conversation, they share how some of their most meaningful work happened by allowing stories to find them—instead of the other way around.

Mónica Ortiz Uribe, a Mexican American journalist, has long been fascinated by the border - the place where two countries and cultures meet. Her reporting often amplifies the voices of underrepresented groups, including women, immigrants, minorities, and underpaid workers. In this episode, Mónica joins executive producer Valeria Fernández to discuss the creation of Así Fue, a platform that provides support and safety for journalists to share their experiences. The two freelancers delve into the realities of freelancing, including the challenges of being your own boss and finding balance after experiencing burnout. 

Covering business might cause a reporter to break out in a cold sweat or their eyes to glaze over. But not Jordyn Holman. She writes about business and the retail industry for the New York Times. Her personal experience pushes her coverage beyond the executive suites and into the lives of wage workers and the communities where they live. In this episode, Jordyn and host Mónica Ortiz Uribe delve into Jordyn’s experience as a Black journalist covering issues of race, class, and gender in corporate America.  

In conversation with each other, journalists Maye Primera and Maritza L. Felix discuss the hyper-local journalism projects they are part of in their communities. Maye shares the experience of moving from Venezuela to San Francisco’s Bay Area and the information and service El Tímpano provides. Led by Maye, El Tímpano  informs, engages, and amplifies the voices of the Bay Area’s Latino and Mayan immigrants. Maritza delves into being born and raised on the border and starting her own “news-you-can-use” platform, Conecta Arizona, to keep border migrant communities informed on the issues that affect them the most.

Emmy-nominated reporter Mariela Murdocco takes us behind the scenes with award-winning music pioneers, including Puerto Rico's Latin Grammy nominee Gale; Panamanian singer-songwriter Erika Ender; Colombian singer Fonseca; Mexican-American singer and activist Becky G; and Grammy nominee audio engineer Jeanne Montalvo, one of the few women working in her field. Despite their proven success, women are still vastly underrepresented in the music industry.