A native of Argentina, Liza Gross (Bio) got her first full-time job in the media as editor of the Latin America Desk of The Associated Press in New York. Before that, she freelanced for “modest and not-so-modest publications on scintillating topics such as Christmas traditions in Latin America, or meatier subjects like a comparison of the real Eva Peron versus the character in the musical.”

Now the executive managing editor of El Nuevo Dia in Puerto Rico, Gross was publisher of Exito, the Spanish-language daily of the Chicago Tribune for four-and-a-half years. She says she could “fill a book” with roadblocks she has faced as a woman in her career.

Read the Q and A with Liza Gross.

IWMF Live

featuring

Liza Gross, El Nuevo Dia

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Welcome to IWMF Live. Today's host is Liza Gross. Liza is executive managing editor of El Nuevo Dia in Puerto Rico.

Eva Linden: Liza - Can you tell us what the current status is for women journalists in Puerto Rico? Are there a lot of women in management positions in the media? How about working as reporters? I'm also curious about the influence from Latin America. Thanks.

Liza Gross: The status of women journalists in PR is pretty consistent with the status of women journalists in the US mainland. You find a lot of women in mid level management in the newsrooms, but very few at the top. There are plenty of women at the reporter/photojournalist/copy editor level. As in the US mainland, more women than men are coming into the profession. Your question regarding Latin American influence is very insightful. Puerto Rico is a very atypical market. It mixes characteristics of the "American" environment and a "Latino" environment. A good example of this is the personal interaction in the newsroom.

Juliet Swanson: As a women with a top position in the media, how do you reach out to other women journalists in your newsroom or outside of the office? Do you encourage women on your staff to find mentors?

Liza Gross: Reaching out to other women journalists, both in networking and in mentoring roles, has always been a vital part of my professional life. I have frequent exchanges with colleagues at my level in the US mainland and in Latin America. But I particularly enjoy mentoring younger women. This can take the form of specific career advice (should I go for this open slot?), chats over existential issues (is journalism REALLY what I want to do?) to training (tomorrow I'm teaching a class on newsroom management to university students). And yes, I constantly encourage women in my staff to find mentors. The caveat here is to go about it the right way, not just pick somebody who has an influential position but will unable to fill your needs.

Rita K.: Liza, How have you managed to maintain such a great sense of humor as you've moved up? Also, have there been times when you've found that your sense of humor has worked against you?

Liza Gross: My dear Rita At the risk of disappointing you, I must confess that there have been a couple of occasions where my sense of humor has failed me. Fortunately, I am always able to get to the lost and found section and retrieve it. Humor is a VERY SERIOUS business. I cannot emphasize enough how helpful it can be to put matters in perspective and to identify alternatives. I wouldn't really say that my sense of humor has worked against me. I would say that sometimes it has led to misunderstandings that required repair. But, to paraphrase the Bard, you must be true to yourself.

Jennifer Ramos - San Francisco: I am very frustrated with working as an Hispanic woman in the Anglo media. Do you think I will have a better opportunity in the Hispanic Media? When you were at Exito, did you favor Hispanic journalists over Anglos?

Liza Gross: Jennifer, I can definitely relate to your feelings of frustration. I would be hard pressed to think of anybody I know in the professional world who hasn't had that experience. But try to take some distance and focus on some questions. When you say Anglo media, do you mean Anglo media at large or do you mean the company you work for specifically? Is there anything you can modify about yourself in terms of strategy of qualifications that can help you move forward? Have you identified and sought out a mentor? Maybe you've done all these things, or some, but do exhaust all options before you decide to bail out. Anglo media NEEDS our viewpoint. We can't give up. Hispanic media obviously does offer different options for a Spanish-language professional, and I am a great fan of Hispanic media, but it does present its own set of drawbacks (stereotyping, lower compensation, fewer opportunities). I wouldn't say I "favored" Hispanic journalists over Anglos at Exito. It was a matter of qualifications and interest. I'll be happy to talk some more about this topic with you.

Elise McGill: I am trying to survive as a freelancer. How do I get good assignments and manage to pay the rent? Also, how can I go from freelancing to a fulltime job? I can't get fulltime work.

Liza Gross: Dear Elise The first thing you must do is sit down with yourself and decide whether you want to be a freelancer or you want to be an FTE. This is very important, because this decision will determine your strategy. Sometimes freelancing turns into a fulltime position, but you can't have separate aims and one strategy for your career path. If you want to be a freelancer, you must invest at least 70% of your time marketing yourself, finding out what value added you can offer and how your work stands out from the crowd, networking with editors (this means investing in registration fees for conferences, workshops and seminars). The other 30% is the actual reporting and writing. If your goal is to get a fulltime job, then you must identify markets you are interested in and focus on the employment opportunities. Networking will also help here.

Amy Nunes: I would like to go to Latin America and learn Spanish well enough to become a foreign correspondent there. Do you have any suggestions about where I can go to learn Spanish? Will I be able to freelance from Latin American while I'm learning Spanish? What is the future for a foreign correspondent in Latin America? All I hear is that most media are closing their overseas offices.

Liza Gross: Two countries in Central America come to mind: Costa Rica and Guatemala. Both have a thriving Spanish language schools industry.I cannot personally vouch for the quality of those in Costa Rica, but I would recommend San Jose El Viejo in Antigua, Guatemala. I was quite familiar with their operation a couple of years back and it was very impressive. Of course you'll be able to freelance, but you must depart US mainland with your contacts already established. This is not exactly my area at present, but I would speculate that the prospects for a foreign correspondent in Latin America are what they have always been: iffy. If you happen to be at the right place at the right time (say, Salvador in the 80s) you can hit the jackpot. By the same token, US editors have short attention spans when it comes to Latin America. The bottom line is: the experience can be grand and the money can be lousy. But don't miss it if that's what you want.

Tommie D.: I've been thinking about returning to school but feel I'm making good progress in my career without the degree. Was that decision difficult for you? If so how did you make it? And how much do you think you've benefitted from getting your masters?

Liza Gross: Dear Tommie Someone said that all great questions are still unanswered, and in my opinion this one falls into that category. There are just too many variables that influence the progress of a career, and so I would hesitate to tell you that going back to school will improve your chances of getting ahead. I will say, though, that an advanced degree is useful in one instance: if you are interested in management. I had a hiatus of five or six years or so between my undergrad and my grad experiences. I went back because I simply love to study. And it was a difficult choice. My husband was supportive when I applied for the fellowship, but substantially less supportive when I got it. My master's allowed me to stick many new tools in my tool kit, which proved useful down the line. But I can't draw a foolproof correlation between advanced degree and improved compensation, for example.

Kat Menendez: Dear Liza, As a Latina woman who has experience working in the American press, how much have cultural differences affected communication in your workplace? In addition to hitting some roadblocks as a woman in my career, I've often wondered how many of my miscommunications can also be attributed to cultural differences. I am also often picked to cover "minority-related" pieces for my all-American-staffed publication, which emphasizes for me we have a long way before getting past cultural boundaries.

Liza Gross: Dear Kat Culture is an extremely wide concept. Don't forget that, besides the "minority" and "majority" cultures (meaning your ethnic and educational background) there is also the organizational culture. Some behaviors that are perfectly acceptable at El Nuevo Dia, for example, would have been anathema at Tribune Co., and viceversa. So in terms of communication in the workplace, I would encourage you to look for the characteristics of the organizational culture and see how these fit with your own personal cultural values. If the fit is good, you are likely to encounter fewer interpersonal issues of communication. That was the first part of your question, I believe. The second part has to do with being assigned to "minority-related" stories. My answer to that was: "Fine, I'll be Miss Latino reporter and I'll do the best job I can at these stories." But, at the same time I was being assigned that "minority story", I would IMMEDIATELY negotiate something less conventional. It's a matter of education.

Maria Luisa Fernandez: Como afecta la cultura del machismo que es tan prevalente en Latinoámerica al ambiente laboral en los medios de comunicación y de que forma también afecta las noticias que se presentan? Es distinto este ambiente en Puerto Rico, como resultado de la influencia estadunidense?

Liza Gross: Mi estimada Maria Luisa No presumas, te lo ruego, que no existe machismo en Estados Unidos. Lo que si ocurre es que adopta caracteristicas diferentes a la cultura del machismo latinoamericano. En el ambito latinoamericano, el punto de vista dominante es masculino. Uno de mis deportes favoritos en mis viajes por Latinoamerica era ir pagina por pagina de un periodico cualquiera y ver cuanto tiempo me tomaba llegar a un articulo ilustrado con la foto de una mujer o que tomara a una mujer en cuenta como una fuente. O sea que, la respuesta corta es que efectivamente, la cobertura en America Latina podria ser mas rica y relevante si se tomaran mas en cuenta otros puntos de vista (no solo el femenino). En honor a la verdad, debo tambien agregar que ese no es el caso de El Nuevo Dia. No se si atribuirlo a la influencia estadounidense o mas bien al hecho de que las mujeres de la familia propietaria juegan un papel importantisimo en la operacion de nuestra empresa. Esa fue una de las razones que me impulsaron a aceptar esta oferta de empleo.

Andrea Martinez: Soy una estudiande de medios de comunicación y quería saber que debo de responder cuando me dicen, que no debo de interesarme en el lado técnico de los medios o en algunos temas, porque no es un trabajo adecuado para una mujer. Como se manejan situaciones similares a esta? Es comun este problema en otras universidades también?

Liza Gross: Estimada Andrea NUNCA, NUNCA, NUNCA, NUNCA, NUNCA dejes de considerar una especializacion profesional simplemente porque te digan que ese "no es trabajo de mujeres". Es mas, tomar rutas poco convencionales puede ayudarte a avanzar mas rapido en tu carrera. En mi caso, por ejemplo, me incline hacia la estrategia operacional porque es algo que naturalmente no atrae a los periodistas, pero todo periodico necesita una redaccion que funcione adecuadamente. Tambien tenemos muchas mujeres que trabajan en el area de computadoras en El Nuevo Dia. En resumen: si te interesa el tema, dedicate a ello.

Thanks to Liza Gross for joining us today on IWMF Live.

Join us tomorrow at 1 p.m. EST (17:00 GMT) when we will be chatting with Carole Simpson of ABC News.

You can submit questions to Carole ahead of time.