Today we’d like to introduce you to Paola Bayron.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Paola. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Journalism was supposed to be a Plan B. I sincerely wanted to go through with becoming “Beyonce Jr.” or someone of that category and be able to spend a lifetime on stage.
I loved performing; I still do. I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do after high school, but during those years (now I see as one of the easiest years of my life), I spent it joining beauty pageants, musical theatre plays, taking art class and participating in national dance competitions and performing with a band as a color guard team member. It was summers of really bad farmer’s tan and huffing and puffing between dance practices. Additionally, I was taking nine classes per semester while all of that was going on.
It’s funny because I’ve never liked school… ever. Yet, I was really good at it. I was disciplined, great at multi-tasking and focused and able to get through my four years of educational torture. I made it. In my senior year of high school, by May, I had graduated with an associate’s degree before graduating with my high school diploma in June. I still had no clue what career would suit me best. My mom mentioned something about having a Plan B in case becoming a Broadway performer didn’t pan out. So I started my bachelor’s degree at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Florida International University. I continued performing in various showcases and prepared myself for the biggest beauty pageant I would ever face.
The beauty pageant was called “ Nuestra Belleza Latina”, it aired on national television, in Spanish (not my dominate language ironically), and I had to show my face and body to strangers for a chance to start my career as a Broadway star. It’s September 27th and my audition started at 4 a.m. I was mentally prepared and I knew I would be chosen and I was assertive that I had a chance to make it to the end and win the crown. I made the first round of the audition, I sang in front of the producers acapella. Then, the second round came and I performed with red, white and blue colors, singing and dancing, representing my Hispanic heritage and my parent’s country, Cuba. Before that day, it was a full two years of preparation; I had worked so hard to improve my Spanish speaking skills, trained my voice and my body.
By this time I look completely different because I’m 40 pounds lighter and I have lean muscles on display. At the end of my audition, the crew told me my audition was finished, they said “great job, we will let you know tomorrow if you’ve made it”, and before I knew it, it was already 7 p.m. My mom picked me up, we went to Chilis to eat; I was starving! I told her about my audition and on the way home, my mom asked me “if something were to happen to me, would you continue to pursue your dreams?”. I asked her “do you have cancer?” she said, “something like that… your dad died at 3 a.m. this morning in a car accident”. My world shattered. I cried rivers in that car seat. I got home and cried myself to sleep.
The next day, I woke up, got dressed, put on my makeup, my lashes and heels, and drove myself to where the second round of auditions was happening for those who made the first day. I asked to speak to a producer, a man came out from the curtains in the wide hallway, and said: “I’m sorry, no you did not make it”. I took my dad’s death as a sign that maybe, this wasn’t for me. After the funeral and dealing with all kinds of documents, being that I was next of kin, I went back to school and had a class titled: “News Reporting and Writing”.
I was stuck writing about a car accident, death reports, obituaries, etc. My professor knew my dad died, yet he told the whole class and no sympathy nor empathy was spared for me in the remainder of that semester. Regardless, I made it through. I was able to remain unbiased, professional and ethically sane for my career, the thing that was supposed to be my Plan B. I felt claustrophobic living in Miami, being reminded of my dad constantly. I looked for a way out and that’s when I found my internship in Washington, D.C. That internship became the closest thing to real-life journalism in the field and I fell in love with the adrenaline, being able to hear and share other’s stories and being informed about almost everything. Three months later, I came back to Miami and I was offered a position in Univision Network News. I’ve been in the company for four years now and I have had four different positions during that time frame.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Actually, when my dad died, the path to journalism just opened. I had a guardian angel by my side, guiding me through and helping me make the right choices for what I now call destiny. Economically, there was a lot of struggles, my mom was without a job, I almost thought I’d be left without one since I worked at the university and I was graduating. But, my mom all those years survived with little and provided more than enough for her three children and I think that’s always a reminder for me that there’s always an end to phases, even the worst moments.
I wouldn’t call these struggles, but losing a parent at 19 years old marked me for the rest of my life on how to view the world and everyday situations. I no longer stay bitter, I pick and choose my battles wisely, I apologize when I am wrong and I forgive when I am not wrong. I spend more time with my family and I wake up every morning grateful for a new day, a new start and do it with a smile, saying “you’re beautiful, go kick some butt today”. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but, it’s the whole looking at the bad moments as in “it was yesterday, tomorrow’s on its way” sort of thing, that really helps with the struggles, whatever they may be.
Univision Network News – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Univision Network News is the largest Spanish-language provider of news content to the Hispanic community in the nation. We cover international and national news related to the Hispanic community but also, breaking news when it impacts the nation and the world. Twice in the four years of my professional career, I have been assigned to be the first and leading assignment editor for two upcoming programs: “Edicion Digital” a newscast that airs on broadcast and digital simultaneously and “UNews”, Fusion and Univision’s first two-hour English newscast.
Some of my responsibilities include: investigate, write scripts, log interviews, produce content in long format and short format, cover breaking news, feature stories, biographies and other content across international and national grounds; field produce anchors and reporters for live shots during breaking news coverage and making editorial decisions for daily assignments for all shows across the Univision platform. The Assignment Desk is the “heart of the newsroom” as they say… No pressure there!
I think what sets me apart is that I’m young I guess, compared to others who are in the field. I graduated college at 20 and started my career a month before graduation and at 23 years old I won my first Emmy Award plaque as an Associate Producer and at 24 years I won my second Emmy Award statue as the only producer for a one-hour special program featured in Univision’s newsmagazine “Aqui y Ahora”.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I think success can be defined by the pursuit of happiness. I think it’s the small things that can bring joy to your life. The people who make your heart whole when you felt it might have shattered a bit. The job that gets you out of bed, ready to make something of your day. Happiness is success. If you’ve accomplished happiness in your life, it’s a life well-lived.
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