Not everything was easy. Despite having a healthy family structure, her parents had to work hard to overcome the adversities they faced. (Naibe Reynoso)
The extensive list of accomplishments that Naibe Reynoso has on her resume are impressive. From being a reporter, producer, writer, publisher, editor to being an entrepreneur, she has engaged in each one of her ventures with a strong social conscience, striving to make a social impact with each of her endeavors.
Naibe was born in Los Angeles; her parents are originally from Zacatecas, Mexico. Since childhood, she has shown aptitude for on stage performance.
“I’m not an actress but a journalist, but since childhood, I’ve always been predisposed to being a storyteller and being aware of reality,” says Naibe Reynoso, CEO of Con Todo Press and host, producer, and reporter for LA County Channel, and co-founder of LatinaFest.
Where she found an immediate way to create impact has been with Con Todo Press, where she has published various bilingual children’s books that narrate the lives of exemplary Latino figures.
“When the previous (Donald) Trump campaign for the presidency began, and the central theme of his discourse was immigration and Latinos, the idea of starting my own publishing house and publishing about the value of our culture and the talent of countless Latinos came to me. We are not that demonize community he tried to depict,” she adds.
“When I was six years old, my mom always asked me to sing the song ‘El Macho Panzón’ by Beatriz Adriana for my dad. There was no gathering or party where I didn’t sing it; I was fascinated by it,” she recalls.
Her dad’s family always dreamed of being artists, but it never happened. Naibe doesn’t know where that fondness began.
She was also a very playful girl. she remembers when they would return to Zacateas for visits, she loved riding horses and playing with her friends.
Not everything was easy. Despite having a healthy family structure, her parents had to work hard to overcome the adversities they faced.
“We were poor, lived in a one-bedroom apartment. My dad worked in the fields, and my mom was a seamstress. I remember that when we started school, my mom sewed my backpack with left over material. At that time, she made things for planes, so I was embarrassed,” she adds.
Despite all these circumstances, she and her three sisters managed to have professional lives.
“My mom always told us that the most important thing was to do our homework,” she says.
Naibe always knew that she would not be a woman dedicated only to her home. She always felt she would have a different role.
“I have always thought that we are born with a specific interest. Some cultivate it, while others do not,” she emphasizes.
Since childhood, she has always loved reading and writing. She enjoyed fantasy, making up stories, something that perhaps had an impact later as an author of children’s books.
One of her favorite characters was Pippi Longstocking.
“She was a rebellious, independent girl, a superhero, and… she was a girl. I aspired to be that,” she says.
At the age of 10, she had to return to Zacatecas for a period of three years. She immediately realized the differences. In Mexico, she was the girl who came from the United States, with different clothes, different shoes.
“I did a lot of mischief. On one occasion, a friend and I went door-to-door asking for money to buy candles for the church. I hardly had any money. So, we collected like two bags full of coins. Our eyes opened wide when we saw so many coins and decided to keep the money. It didn’t take long before my grandma found out; they had a store, and some customers praised us for the good work we were doing. She took away the money and gave it to the church,” she says, laughing.
This stay in Mexico also instilled in her a love for the country’s culture.
Later, she started high school, an experience that changed her life. She got a job, could buy the things she needed, and in school, the diversity of students nourished her.
“I discovered my personal power, making decisions. I got involved in leadership organizations and took advanced English classes, there I wrote a story that earned me great recognition.
“I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. Before entering UCLA, I was reviewing the enrollment forms and decided to circle all the topics that interested me. That led me to the decision to -study sociology, and at the end, my last clasess were in film, something that I found facinating. It drove me crazy that I discovered it at the end of my studies,” she says.
Those sociology studies helped her later in her work as a journalist; they helped her better evaluate the incidents she covered as a journalist and put them in a social context.
Shortly after leaving university, Naibe Reynoso began her career in journalism, first at Warner Bros, where she worked as an assistant producer. This was followed by a long journey at Channel 22, a station in Arizona, Univision, CNN en Español, among other stations.
In 2019, Naibe Reynoso published “Be Bold! Be Brave! 11 Latinas who made U.S. History,” a children’s book that became a success. It was well-received and can be found in various distribution channels.
“It was an impressive success; thousands and thousands of copies have been sold,” she says.
To that edition, other books were added that positioned her as an important author in the market.
Those childhood stories and that entrepreneurial spirit finally found a space in her desire to have an impact on society.
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