‘That’s your superpower’: Tom Llamas inspires the future of Hispanic journalists
With no more room to contain their pride, Hispanic journalists from across the country stood on their feet, clapped and hollered to welcome the first Latino to lead NBC News’ primetime newscast, Tom Llamas.
Luis Castañeda, a Colombian student at Northwestern University, showed up to the NBCU Academy, a workshop offered for journalist at any stage of their career looking to develop new skills. It was already beyond capacity, with rows of people standing on the sides. But an organizer spotted an open seat. It was close to Llamas.
After almost 20 years of being a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) Llamas comes back with a new responsibility on his shoulders.
“I can still remember workshops that I went to for any NAHJ ” Llamas later told the Latino Reporter, describing what the organization means to him. “I owe a lot to NAHJ.”
During the session, Llamas found himself on the other side, this time leading the workshop.
He started by sharing how having a Hispanic background helped him better tell the full story of immigrants, his early-career journey in journalism, and all the ups and downs he went through to get where he is now.
“Everyone who speaks Spanish, that’s your superpower” Llamas said when talking about being a bilingual reporter, and how he was able to cover more stories or interview more people because he knew the language.
Castañeda said he was encouraged to hear Llamas talk about making mistakes on the job, even at his level of experience, and learning from them.
“I don’t think those mistakes define you, I think what defines you is what you do after,” he said.
But early career journalists are not the only ones that look look up to Llamas.
Alvaro Castro has a career spanning three decades in journalism. He said one of his takeaways was Llamas talking about the multiple possibilities that speaking two languages opens in news.
“You can communicate in English with the authorities, and in Spanish with the victims,“ Castro said.
Other members missed the opportunity to see him during the session, but still were happy that NAHJ featured him in the conference.
“I knew it was going to be a big event,” Ilvea Lezama Melendez, a master student at the Craig Newmark School of Journalism.
She couldn’t get in because it was full, but said she wished the session would have happened in a larger ballroom so more members could attend.
Oriana Torre is a bilingual journalism student at the University of Florida, specializing in Broadcast Journalism with a minor in Latin American Studies. She is also the Executive Producer for the university’s Spanish-language broadcast news show and is currently completing an internship with NBC Telemundo Boston. You can reach her at ori8torre [at] gmail [dot] com or on Instagram @Ori_Torre.
