From Ecuador to Philly- Michelle Myers shares her experience as ¡Presente! Media’s 1st Managing Editor Fellow
(Graphic by Ashley Ortega/ ¡Presente! Media)
BY MICHELLE MYERS ON JANUARY 30, 2024
As a kid growing up in the middle of the world —not self-centered, just Ecuadorean, my biggest dream was to be a journalist. Helping people tell their stories and living life as a watchdog fascinated my little brain and lit fire in my heart. But, as it often happens when too much passion isn’t properly nurtured, two years into the industry and a pandemic later, I burned out.
The journalist Michelle Myers was ¡Presente! Media’s first Managing Editor Fellow. (Courtesy of Michelle Myers)
While sorting out my mental fog —half questioning my identity beyond my career, half questioning if a place to do journalism that cares about the communities it reports on truly existed — I became ¡Presente!’s 2021 Managing Editor Fellow. And what was supposed to be a three-month commitment, quickly turned into seven months of meaningful and healing work.
As a Fellow, I helped polish bilingual stories about the Latinx identity, Afro-Latinx voices, immigration, LGBTQ+ resources, and the effect of the pandemic on communities of color. Simultaneously, I produced a series of videos called Cuentame historias de nuestra comunidad, which gave folks a space to discuss how community organizing and activism shaped their neighborhood.
We were a small crew, and there were many things to do. But, Gabriela, Melissa, and Kristal showed me that creating a very humane type of journalism is possible. The work isn’t just about being in and out of the story but looks to truly give people who aren’t usually heard a platform.
Smaller publications allow space for you to develop more skills. After all, fewer resources mean one must learn to run a one-woman show. But it often comes at the expense of your personal life.
That wasn’t the case at ¡Presente!
Gabriela, Melissa, and Kristal were always the first to ensure I wasn’t overworked and offered assistance when needed. I was given the space and support to become a better editor, to learn that the key to managing people is kindness, and to navigate situations that escape our control during production times.
¡Presente! might still be small, but it sure is mighty. It’s where people are seen as people, one can explore different story formats, and Latinx voices are given space. It’s the place that helped restore my faith in journalism and taught me what a healthy work-life balance looks like. And I will be forever grateful for their part in helping build my identity as a Latina and journalist.
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Since January of 2022, Michelle Myers has worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer, she is currently a General Assignment reporter. She continues to host her show El Cafe de la Tarde on Philatino’s radio every Monday at 6:15 pm (they are on break until the second week of January).
