Mariana Atencio Explained

Mariana Atencio
Birth Name:Mariana del Carmen Atencio Cervoni
Birth Place:Caracas, Venezuela
Birth Date:2 April 1984
Nationality:American
Occupation:Journalist and Author
Spouse:José Antonio Torbay (m. 2015; div. 2020)
Awards:Peabody Award, Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, Gracie Award, National Association of Hispanic Journalists Presidential Award

Mariana Atencio (born April 2, 1984) is an American journalist, television host, author and speaker who was formerly a correspondent for NBC News. Atencio is a native of Venezuela and holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In 2020, Atencio cofounded GoLike, a multimedia production company.[1]

Early life and education

Mariana del Carmen Atencio Cervoni was born in Caracas, Venezuela to Álvaro Atencio and Diana Cervoni. She is the oldest of three children.

Atencio has a Bachelor's degree in Communications from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas. In 2008, she emigrated to the United States after being awarded a scholarship from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she graduated with a Master's degree.[2] [3] 10 years later, Atencio received the First Decade Award from Columbia University for her work as a journalist.[4]

Career

In 2009, Atencio started her journalism career as a reporter at Impremedia's El Diario/La Prensa in New York City.[2] She has also worked as an anchor for the Vme-TV network, the only Hispanic public service television station in the United States.

Univision and Fusion (2011-2016)

Atencio began working as a guest anchor and correspondent for Univision News in 2011. She covered the 2012 presidential election for the network’s morning program Despierta America and its evening newscast Noticiero Univision.[5]

In 2012, she began working as an investigative reporter at Univision.[2] Atencio was one of five reporters who worked on the Peabody Award winning documentary Rapido y Furioso (Fast & Furious) for which they received an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award.[6] [7] She also served as a reporter for the network’s Investigative Unit. In 2013 she was part of a five-person reporting team that won Univision's first Peabody Award for "Fast and Furious: Arming the Enemy," an hour-long investigation on the gun-walking scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious.[6]

In 2014, Atencio received a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media for her work on the Univision documentary, "Pressured: Freedom of the Press," which she reported on and wrote.[8]

Atencio became an anchor for the network’s The Morning Show, a two-hour program featuring a mix of news, feature stories and live interviews. She anchored The Morning Show on Fusion TV channel until its cancellation in 2014.[9] She was the reporter for Fusion's National Headliner Award-winning segment, "Unearthing the Tomb."[10] Her report entitled, “Mexico Massacres,” received recognition from The National Association of Hispanic Journalists.[11]

She has also served as a field correspondent. Atencio led the network’s on-the-ground coverage of the 2014 protests in Venezuela from where she also contributed to ABC News.[12] [13] She has covered the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong, and the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping, where 43 students went missing in Mexico.

In 2015, she was a reporter in McAllen, Texas for ABC News’ virtual town hall with Pope Francis ahead of his first visit to the United States.[14] She interacted with Pope Francis and translated on live television for recent immigrants who wanted to ask the pope questions.[15]

In March 2016, she was part of the anchor-team for Univision and The Washington Post’s debate between Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.[16]

NBC News (2016-2020)

Atencio made the crossover from Spanish to English-language network news in September 2016 when she became a correspondent for NBC. She was the only Latina correspondent on the cable network.[17]

Atencio specialized in covering the U.S. Latino community and immigration, and doing live on-air translations from Spanish.[18] She reported on notable stories such as the Central American migrant caravans, the child separation crisis at the border and the ICE raids across several Mississippi chicken plants that led to the arrest of 680 undocumented immigrants.

Atencio's live interviews with migrant mothers during the Trump administration's family separation policy and her coverage of the border were nominated for two national Emmy Awards.[19] [20]

During the 2020 presidential race, the 2018 midterms and the 2016 presidential campaign, she reported on Hispanic voters across the country.[21] In 2019, she was part of a team of NBC reporters, known as Road Warriors, who were awarded the First Amendment Clarity Award for their coverage of the 2018 midterm elections.[22]

Atencio covered major natural disasters including the earthquake in Mexico, as well as the aftermath of Hurricanes Maria,[23] Harvey, Florence,[24] Michael,[25] and Dorian.[26]

Other work (2020-present)

Atencio was a 2021 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.[27] In November 2021, she was named as an official spokesperson for the future National Museum of the American Latino in Washington D.C.[28]

In 2022, she released the true crime investigative podcast series Lost in Panama, which documented the disappearance of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, two Dutch tourists who went missing on a hiking trail.[29] During the investigation, Atencio discovered more than 50 additional cases of women disappearing in the same area.[30]

Publications

On June 11, 2019, HarperCollins published Atencio’s first book Perfectly You: Embracing the Power of Being Real, in English and Spanish. The book is self-help and part autobiography.[31]

Personal life

In 2020, Atencio became a U.S. citizen.[32] As of 2019, Atencio lives in Miami and New York City.[33]

Atencio's father died in February 2018 due to complications from pneumonia after contracting the flu. She chronicled his health crisis in the hospital in Caracas and the lack of basic medical supplies in Venezuela as a result of the humanitarian crisis.[34] [35]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Mariana Atencio Leaves NBC News to Launch Her Own Media Empire . People En Español . January 3, 2020 . 2020-04-03.
  2. Web site: Mariana Atencio. Univision. 27 September 2012.
  3. News: La periodista Mariana Atencio comienza un nuevo capítulo en su vida (FOTOS). PeopleenEspanol.com. 2016-11-19.
  4. https://journalism.columbia.edu/alumni-winners-2019#:~:text=Mariana%20Atencio%20'09%20is%20the,language%20and%20English%2Dlanguage%20media. Columbia Journalism Names Winners of 2019 Alumni Awards
  5. Web site: Mariana Atencio . Univision Noticias . 2020-04-03.
  6. Web site: Behind the Peabody Award-Winning Univision Investigation of 'Fast and Furious" - ABC News . Abcnews.go.com . 2013-03-30 . 2013-09-02.
  7. Web site: IRE Award Winners: Spring 2013 . PDF . Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. . 8 January 2018 . 30 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190430171815/https://www.ire.org/publications/ire-journal/search-journal-archives/2206/ . dead .
  8. Web site: Fusion's Mariana Atencio Recognized with Gracie Award. Fusion. 28 February 2014.
  9. Web site: "Fusion Live" cancelled, Javier Guzmán leaves network. 2014-12-12. Media Moves. en-US. 2016-12-27.
  10. Web site: FUSION Recognized with National Headliner Award. FUSION. April 2016 .
  11. Web site: Tumblr. wearefusion.tumblr.com.
  12. Web site: Venezuelan Opposition Leader's Arrest Intensifies Protests . Abcnews.go.com . 2020-04-03.
  13. Web site: Fusion CEO Says Network's Partnerships Shone During International Coverage . Huffington Post . 2014-02-24 . 2020-04-03.
  14. Web site: Pope holds 'virtual town hall' with ABC and Catholics in 3 cities . Today's Catholic . September 4, 2015 . 2020-04-03.
  15. Web site: Passion and Purpose . Emmys.com . 2020-04-03.
  16. Web site: Univision Noticias: un menú digital para seguir el debate demócrata de Miami . Univision . 2016-03-09 . 2020-04-03.
  17. Web site: Mariana Atencio's Next Career Step Is A Book That Challenges Latinas To Live Their Full Potential . Forbes . May 31, 2019 . 2020-04-03.
  18. Web site: Interview with Award Winning TV Personality on Diversity & Activism Mariana Atencio . Naluda Magazine . February 27, 2019 . 2020-04-03.
  19. Web site: Nominees for the 40th Annual News & Document Emmy Awards . Emmyonline.org . July 25, 2019 . 2020-04-03 . 2019-10-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191017091329/http://cdn.emmyonline.org/news-doc-40th-emmys-nominations-v03.pdf . dead .
  20. https://theemmys.tv/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/news-41st-nominations-v01.pdf Nominees Announced for the 41st Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards
  21. Web site: Suburban Detroit voters speak on key election issues . MSNBC . Nov 6, 2018 . 2020-04-03.
  22. Web site: First Amendment Clarity Award . firstamendmentawards.org . 2018 . 2020-04-03.
  23. News: Outside San Juan, Puerto Ricans plea for supplies (video). 7 October 2017.
  24. Web site: Reporter battered by Hurricane Florence as she walks through 'ghost town' Oak Island, NC . globalnews.ca . September 14, 2018 . 2020-04-03.
  25. Web site: Florida CFO on Hurricane Michael recovery . MSNBC . Oct 16, 2018 . 2020-04-03.
  26. Web site: A harrowing story of survival from Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas . MSNBC . Sep 5, 2019 . 2020-04-03.
  27. News: Programs - Henry Crown - Class XXIV . 11 March 2024 . Aspen Global Leadership Network . en.
  28. News: Crocker . Charlie . FNMAL Names Award-Winning Journalist Mariana Atencio, Founder of Golike Productions, as An Official Spokesperson and Media Partner . 11 March 2024 . American Latino Museum . 8 November 2021 . en.
  29. News: How this journalist found herself in the middle of a Panamanian true crime story . 11 March 2024 . MSNBC.com . 4 November 2022 . en.
  30. News: "Lost in Panama" podcast digs into mysterious 2014 disappearance of two Dutch women . 11 March 2024 . MSNBC.com . en.
  31. Web site: From MSNBC award-winning news journalist Mariana Atencio . Thomas Nelson . 2020-04-03.
  32. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/opinion/venezuelan-american-vote.html The Venezuelan-American Vote, From a First-Timer in Florida
  33. Web site: Award Winning Journalist Mariana Atencio . Diversity MBA Magazine . 16 January 2019 . 26 January 2020.
  34. Web site: In the chaos of Venezuela, a daughter fights for her father's life . NBC News . Apr 25, 2018 . 2020-04-03.
  35. Web site: MSNBC Journalist Mourns Father's Death and Sheds Light on Humanitarian Crisis in Venezuela . People . February 22, 2018 . 2020-04-03.