About palabra
The last word. Before a new narrative.
Through palabra, NAHJ freelance members cover stories and communities that have been disregarded in larger news outlets based on the ideology that ‘ethnic’ news is only an issue for marginalized communities, and not a human issue.
For years, NAHJ has advocated for more Latinos in newsrooms, and palabra, is bringing this mission statement to life by creating an opportunity for freelance journalists to share their local stories, perspectives, and an accurate and honest representation of the Latino community.
OUR MISSION
An initiative of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, palabra is a multimedia platform which delivers informative journalism, both within a designated platform and syndicated across other platforms to support NAHJ freelance journalist members. palabra provides a secure space for independent journalists to receive developmental support and share their voice.
OUR VISION
An industry where NAHJ freelance journalist members can achieve a sustainable future by sharing their local stories, perspectives, and an accurate and honest representation of the Latino community.
OUR PURPOSE
Its aim is to show that a site, powered by freelancers, can bring to light high-quality stories for and about Latino and other communities. Such stories are too often overlooked or ignored today by traditional media.
Most importantly, palabra’s goal is to pay competitive rates to freelancers for work that will not only resonate with audiences but attract the attention of pitch and hiring editors throughout the country.
Our Team
Valeria Fernández
Managing Editor
Valeria Fernández is an independent investigative journalist focused on amplifying voices of immigrant communities. She recently received a Nieman Visiting Fellowship at Harvard University to develop Comadres al Aire, a podcast in Spanish focused on immigrant women, trans and non-binary people’s health. Her most recent work can be found in The Guardian, California Sunday Magazine, Latino USA, 70 Million and the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. She has produced documentaries and reports for Discovery Spanish, CNN Español, Sky TV, Al Jazeera, and PBS, and co-directed the award-winning documentary, “Two Americans,” which follows the plight of a 9-year-old girl fighting to stop her parents’ deportations under the reign of notorious Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio.
Her reporting on abuses of incarcerated Central American youth in Mexico was published by PRI’s TheWorld and NPR’s Spanish-language podcast, Radio Ambulante. She was a 2020 National Health Fellow at the Center for Health Reporting at USC Annenberg. Her fellowship project led to the broadcast of a series of stories in Spanish for Radio Bilingue and in English for PRX’s The World on how immigrant communities and people of color in Arizona are organizing around healing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As an immigrant from Uruguay, she started her career at La Voz newspaper and later became a correspondent for CNN Spanish, and the Associated Press. She is a 2009 Feet in Two Worlds fellow where she received training to work on public radio and crossover to English media.
She was a finalist for the 2020 James Beard Award for investigative reporting. In 2018, Heising-Simons Foundation honored her with the $100,000 American Mosaic Journalism Prize for her freelance coverage of underrepresented communities. She is a former professor and director of Cronkite Noticias, a student-led Spanish news service at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. Early in her career she was recognized for her immigration coverage with multiple awards at the Arizona Press Club and the Arizona Newspaper Association. She lives in Phoenix with her husband and they are raising two curious toddlers.
Yunuen Bonaparte
Art Director
Yunuen is an award-winning photojournalist and visual editor based in New York. Her unwavering passion for giving a voice to the overlooked and underrepresented has been nurtured through the lens of her camera. As an immigrant herself, she remains dedicated to illuminating the often unheard stories, both through her photography and her role as a visual editor.
Alyssa Cruz
Editorial Intern
Alyssa Cruz is a junior at Ohio University studying journalism and Spanish. She is the culture editor for The Post, an independent, student-run newspaper. She has worked for two years as a coordinator for Altavoz Lab, a mentorship program for BIPOC reporters, and has completed a multimedia storytelling internship in Ecuador.
CONTRIBUTOR EDITORS
Nathalie Alonso
Iris Amador
Charles Bennett
Patricia Guadalupe
Ruxandra Guidi
Linda Jue
Barbara Kastelein
Ana Lissardy
Virginia Lora
Lygia Navarro
Mónica Ortiz
Wendy Selene Pérez
Katherine Reynolds Lewis
Sofia Sandoval
Ricardo Sandoval-Palos
Fernanda Santos
Julie Schwietert Collazo
Eileen Truax
Tina Vasquez
Our History
Alberto B. Mendoza
FOUNDING PUBLISHER
Alberto B. Mendoza is the visionary behind palabra, which in 2020 was named the #2 new outlet for Latinos ahead of NBC Latino, Univision and Telemundo.
Alberto is now managing director of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, where he leads the recruitment process and works to ensure the pool of candidates reflects the diversity needed in journalism. For JSK, Alberto designs programming and coaches fellows in career strategy as well as nonprofit fundraising. Alberto also serves on the advisory boards of The Pivot Fund and Trans Latina Coalition. He is an alum of the Poynter Institute’s Media Transformation Challenge Executive Fellowship Program and a graduate of California Polytechnic University in Pomona.
Before joining NAHJ, he served as the Western Regional Vice President with Jumpstart, an early childhood education non-profit organization. With a team of 50 regional staff, they worked together to serve over 3300 children from low-income communities in partnership with 1100 college students from 17 universities. Alberto's background in wealth management with his position as Vice President of Marketing and New Business Development for Floe Financial Partners has influenced his approach and success to his fundraising experience.
Ricardo Sandoval-Palos
FOUNDING MANAGING EDITOR
Ricardo Sandoval-Palos is palabra’s founding managing editor.
Today Ricardo is the Public Editor for PBS, an intermediary on ethics, integrity and standards between the broadcaster’s audiences and its creatives and journalists. He is also an advisor to organizations such as the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Journalism, the First Amendment Coalition, the Metcalf Institute for Environmental Journalism, and the San Francisco Public Press and Public Health Watch nonprofit newsrooms.
In more than 40 years of print and broadcast journalism, Ricardo built a career as an award-winning investigative reporter and editor. His work in Latin America for the Dallas Morning News and the San Jose Mercury News was recognized with top awards from the Overseas Press Club and the InterAmerican Press Association. Before that, Ricardo won accolades for his investigations into corrupt California bankers and politicians, and public utilities that misused customers' money.
In 1997 he co-authored “The Fight In The Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement,” a biography that remains a definitive history of the Latino civil rights movements of the 1960s and 70s.
A native of Mexico, Ricardo is a lifetime member of NAHJ who started his career as a member of the California Chicano News Media Association.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We look for stories that have a direct impact, or connection to the Latino community.
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You can submit pitches by emailing our managing editor at valeria-palabra@nahj.org.
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You must be a journalist and/or storyteller with an expertise in the area you want to write about, with confirmed sources and the ability to fact check your submission prior to publication.
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The managing editor and/or editorial committee will choose the stories.
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All work is paid, with highly experienced writers paid up to $1 per word, up to $350 (day-rate) for experienced photographers.
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Yes, as long as the quality of the work is high.
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We love to publish bilingual stories. You can file your story in Spanish and we will translate it.
EDITORIAL POLICY
We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News.
CODE OF ETHICS
We at palabra subscribe to the Society of Professional Journalism Code of Ethics.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY
CONTACT INFO
Valeria Fernández, Managing Editor
valeria-palabra@nahj.org
General Inquiries
info_palabra@nahj.org
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The palabra initiative was created with the generous support of the following national funders
