Icons & Influencers
Veronica Albornoz
By: Haiting tan
VERONICA ALBORNOZ
B
londe, beautiful and bold is exactly how you would describe NBCUniversal Hispanic Group’s National Correspondent, Veronica Albornoz. The mother of two immigrated to the Big Apple in 2001 to realize her dreams of becoming a news reporter and threw herself into work ever since she stepped foot in the country. The reporter claims that it was heritage that tempted her into this line of work. With her father working as a journalist and lawyer, the beauty was exposed to cameras at a young age. Fearless of the camera, Albornoz made her on-screen debut at the age of 16 along with her sister when they starred in a news show featuring celebrities and aspiring politicians. The working mom had previously worked as a weather anchor at Telemundo media but chose to retire for the sake of her children. After giving birth to her second child, she realized that it was time to prioritize her young children instead of her career. However, the massive destruction that Hurricane Sandy brought upon the state lured Albornoz out of retirement. Situated in the midst of the chaos, Albornoz did what every tech-savvy journalist would do, whipped out her phone and started reporting. On her first post-retirement outing, she had the opportunity to interview doctors, family members and injured victims of the Boston Bombing. The Venezuelan beauty states that her show A New Day, a two-time Emmy winning program, which also happens to be nominated for a third Emmy this year, is different as compared to other news programs. Instead of covering trending stories, the Spanish-language program features the face behind the story whether they are boldfaced names such as the actors in Hamilton, or overlooked people from the community who have a compelling story. In the fast page of quick soundbites, Albornoz’s approach is different she digs deep, and tells the human side of their stories along with their ideas in a way that educates the viewer while leaving a lasting impression. The 3 hour program airs at 7am and is targeted at working moms similar to Albornoz. The news program which broadcasts in 20 other countries along with the US, is Albornoz’s gift back to the community. She says that it has given her 38 • Resident • May 2016
the opportunity to give back to society by standing up for her community. Regarding her success in the industry, it was push comes to shove for Albornoz, as she was fortunate with timing as everything simply fell into place when she arrived in the country. However, she states that being a journalist is not as glamorous as its all panned out to be. For her program, Albornoz rises at 6am and runs around the city glamorized from the waist up yet outfitted in sneakers. She wakes up anticipating a new challenge because a work of a journalist never ends, once a story is completed, there is always a new story around the corner. Who knows, her next big story could be on you! twitter.com/albornozvero www.instagram.com/albornozvero