I don't want to be on 'American Idol'

I want to be a reporter

As a child, the thought of becoming a famous singer on television or astronaut never occurred to me. Sure, I could be on "American Idol" or go on a mission to Mars, why not? But my real passion, the dream I have had ever since I was a little girl, was to become a reporter.

Around age seven, I first started to sense that journalism was what I wanted to do. My first inspiration came from watching anchors and reporters on television or reading the bylines of reporters in my local New York City newspapers – the The Daily News or El Diario, La Prensa, the first Spanish-language paper that I ever read. “I want to be a reporter, I want to be in the streets, and tell the news,” I told my mother.

“Mi’ja esta bien,” she would tell me. I was only a child then.

As I grew older and continued my education, I became more serious about becoming a journalist and my mother’s attitude changed. “Mi’ja esa carrera esa muy peligrosa.” (“That career is very dangerous”).

My father took more ambivalent position. “Oh, y porque esa carrera? A muchos los matan. Ser reportero es fuerte, pero ha de ser bonito si te gusta,” he said. (“Oh, why that career? A lot of them get kill and being a reporter is hard, but it can be nice if you really like it.”)

I told him: “I like to interview people. I like the fact that I can inform and be helpful (contribute) to my community.”

Indeed, journalism is hard work and challenging, but ultimately it is rewarding. Many journalists, including women, have risk their lives in order to inform their community about what is happening around the world.

I believe that it is important for the Hispanic community that Latinos grow in numbers and influence in the field of journalism, first to provide unique insights into coverage and second to diversify newsrooms. Moreover, we need to be not only in Spanish-language newsrooms, but also in the English-language newsrooms as well.

Being part of my community is important to me, and I believe that as a women, I have so many options in my life. I can choose to be a housewife to stay at home and cook or go out into the workplace and become an independent, successful woman. It is important that I make the decisions that will make me happy, as everyone should.

So for me, the feeling of satisfaction I get because I am contributing to informing my community is encouraging. My parents have been very supportive in my decision making and I will make sure that no matter what I decide to choose as a career, I have to love it and feel passionate about it.

My childhood dream may be the career of a lifetime.