Guest Speakers
…..
Karen Ayres Smith
Assistant Managing Editor – Multimedia
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Karen Ayres Smith joined the the Office of Media Relations in April 2009 after four years at The Dallas Morning News and Dallasnews.com, where she served as an education reporter and later breaking news editor for online content. From 2001 to 2005 she was a reporter for the Trenton Times, covering education, government, and general assignments. She also taught a reporting class at The University of Texas at Arlington, preparing students to deliver news through a variety of forms, including video, blogs, and social media.
Royale Dá
Anchor/Reporter
KOAT Action 7 News – Albuquerque, NM
Royale Dá (pronounced “Day”) returned to her home of New Mexico in April 2008.
Royale is experienced in both broadcast and print journalism. Prior to joining the Action 7 News team, she worked as an anchor/reporter at KOLN-TV in Lincoln, Nebraska; anchor/reporter KBJR-TV in Duluth, Minnesota; and reporter at the The Miami Herald.
She graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a degree in professional journalism, and is a member of the NAHJ (National Association of Hispanic Journalists) and NAJA (Native American Journalists Association). Her outstanding work has also been recognized by the Associated Press; she earned a first place award in series reporting for “Help From the Heartland – Hurricane Katrina.”
One of her passions in life is supporting Special Olympics. She volunteered extensively for the organization before moving to New Mexico, and plans to continue doing so in New Mexico.
Royale is elated to be back home in the Land of Enchantment. Her father is from the San Ildefonso Pueblo (in Santa Fe County), her mother is from Pecos, and she has relatives across the state.
Whether she’s taking in the bright blue skies and mild weather or eating home-cooked food with family and friends, Royale is always enjoying her native New Mexico.
Anabelle Garay
Reporter/Translator
www.hispanosano.com
Anabelle Garay is an immigration and culture reporter for The Associated Press in Dallas. She has worked for The AP in Columbia, S.C.; Louisville, KY; Phoenix, Ariz. and Dallas since joining the news cooperative in 2001. Anabelle graduated cum laude from the University of Texas at Arlington and worked for the campus newspaper, The Shorthorn.
She was born in Panama and lived there until the age of 7. Anabelle grew up south of Fort Worth in the town of Keene. She has written about a Central Texas immigration facility that held families with children, traveled to Mexico for a feature detailing the faith and religious symbolism displayed by immigrants during their clandestine trek to the U.S., and covered numerous wildfires in Arizona.
Anabelle began her career writing for the Spanish language newspaper, Diario La Estrella, in Fort Worth.
Martha C. Kattan
News Director
Univisión – Dallas
Martha C. Kattan is Univision’s Dallas affiliate News Director. She was born and raised in Mexico City. She began her journalism career 26 years ago in radio. She joined Univision in 1999. During her 7- year tenure, Kattan’s News Team has achieved record performance in A.C Nielsen’s Survey of the Dallas-Fort Worth Television Market. Under her leadership and supervision, the News Department has grown sizably in professional staff, with the launch of the first weekend Spanish Newscasts in July 2000.
.
Among some of her accomplishments, In 2000, she was recognized for the Team’s Community Service, by receiving the DEA’s award for Community Service and nominated for the Attorney General’s Award in Washington DC. In 2005 she won her first Emmy for directing and producing a 30minute special about the importance of the Latino Vote.
In 2002, joined the Lone Star Emmy Chapter and was named to the Board of Governors, in representation of the Hispanic Media of Texas
In 1997 Kattan, experienced the joy and satisfaction of launching CNN En Español, 24 hour Spanish News Network, where as Supervising Producer, she had the fortune of working alongside experienced leaders and renowned Latin-American journalists.
Kattan is the proud and blessed mother of Yousef, Vianey and Nadia. She’s active in her church and enjoys going to the movies, the beach and spending time with her mother and father in San Antonio, Texas.
Carlos Támez
Executive Producer
Univisión – Dallas
Jim Wells
Enterprise Data Solutions Manager
Verizon Wireless
Jim Wells is an Enterprise Data Solutions Manager with Verizon Wireless. He is responsible for acting as a wireless data consultant to enterprise customers in the Industrial and Manufacturing space. He has worked for Verizon Wireless for over six years in various strategic sales roles, including supporting government sector customers. Mr. Wells has over thirteen years of diverse technology sales and marketing experience, including four years with Texas Instruments Semiconductor. Mr. Wells earned an Electrical Engineering degree from The University of Texas at Austin.
Jim Ryan
Reporter/Anchor
WBAP and ABC News Radio
Jim Ryan has held one full-time job in his life — as a reporter/anchor for WBAP and ABC News Radio.
In his 24-year career, Ryan has covered thousands of stories of local, national and international interest. He was embedded with the U.S. Navy in the spring of 2003 and watched as some of the opening salvos of Operation Iraqi Freedom were fired from a destroyer in the Persian Gulf. He covered the fury of the most destructive storm in American history as Katrina crashed ashore in Louisiana.
Ryan is a two-time recipient of the Radio and Television News Directors Association’s prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award. He also has received top national honors from Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists and was recently named Best Radio Reporter by the Headliners Club of Austin. Ryan has received numerous awards and commendations from the Houston Press Club, the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters and from the Press Club of Dallas.
Jim married former WBAP reporter Beth Godell in 1988; they have two children — Rebecca and James.
You can e-mail Jim at james.ryan@citcomm.com
Jim Wells Sr.
District Director
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Dallas Office
Jim Wells Sr. is the District Director of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Dallas Office.
He began his career with the FCC in the Houston field office, and after assignments in Atlanta and New York City, he was assigned to headquarters in Washington as Chief Investigations Branch for the field operations bureau where he directed enforcement throughout the country.
After his assignment in Washington, D.C., Jim became the District Director of the Dallas field office and continues in this position today. He also serves in the position of Mexican Affairs Manager for the enforcement bureau.
Chiapas Media Project
4834 N. Springfield, Chicago, IL 60625
Tel: 312-504-4144
For many people who live in the developed world use of video cameras, VCR’s, TV’s, and computers is a daily occurrence. But when one speaks with indigenous peoples about access to this technology they say it is only a dream. For centuries indigenous people and their cultures have been represented by people from the outside. Recently over the past few years there has been an effort to get new communication technology into the hands of indigenous people so that they can represent themselves, with their own words and images. This is what the Chiapas Media Project (CMP) is attempting to do in Southern Mexico.
In February of 1998, The CMP began as a result of conversations with autonomous Zapatista communities who were requesting access to video and computer technology. The Zapatista’s or Zapatista Army of National Liberation, are an indigenous movement made of up Tzotzil, Chol, Tojolabal, Mum and Tzeltal Mayan Indians. They became known to the world via the internet on January 1, 1994 when they staged an armed uprising and took over six towns in Chiapas demanding that indigenous rights be recognized in the Mexican constitution. Another demand was the formation of indigenous controlled TV and radio throughout Mexico.
Since 1998 the CMP has been working as a bi-national partnership to providing video and computer equipment and training to indigenous and campesino communities in Chiapas and Guerrero, Mexico. The emphasis has been in the area of video production. The Chiapas Media Project is currently distributing 16 indigenous productions worldwide.
