The New England chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) created the Emerging Journalists Fellowship to send early-career journalists to the 2023 NAHJ national convention. The fellowship program is designed to mentor these fellows and inspire them through the life-changing support of NAHJ.
The chapter is using a portion of the funds it raised last year to send six amazing young journalists to the NAHJ International Training Convention & Expo in Miami July 12-16. After an application process, the winners of this competitive fellowship are:
- Natalia Pérez-González, a freelance journalist based in Worcester, Mass.
- Lau Guzmán, a reporter for the Meriden, CT, Record-Journal and a Report for America member.
- Ezekiel Telemaco, a journalist and producer for WEEI radio in Boston.
- Jacob Garcia, a Newsroom Fellow at WBUR in Boston.
- Ana Luque, a rising junior majoring in journalism at Emerson College in Boston.
- Jaeel Beato, a rising sophomore majoring in journalism at Emerson College
“Journalism is an intense industry and for young journalists to thrive, they need mentoring and to be able to network with people who look like them and share their culture and background,” said Cindy E. Rodriguez, the president of NAHJ New England. “They need to see that there are others like them who are making it in journalism. The workshops, panels and plenary sessions offered at the NAHJ convention are catered to Latinos and not offered at this scale anywhere else.”
“For many of our members, attending the conference may be cost prohibitive, and that is especially true of students, recent graduates and early-career professionals,” said Cristela Guerra, the vice president of NAHJ New England. “This is one huge way we can support these fantastic journalists.”
“We’re not just sending them -– we plan to mentor these young journalists and make sure they make the most out of their time there,” said Vanessa de la Torre, the financial officer of NAHJ New England. “We will also follow up with the fellows when we return from Miami to continue to support their promising journalism careers.”
NAHJ New England wants to thank the NAHJ staff and in particular Executive Director David Peña Jr., Senior Director of Training & Membership Yaneth Guillen-Diaz and Director of Next Gen. Initiatives Leslie-Anne Frank for their help in coordinating logistics, making it easier for us to book flights and pay for lodging using our chapter funds. We are especially grateful to our financial officer, Vanessa de la Torre, who helped the board raise more than $10,000 this past year through our #EnHoraBuena series.