Success Stories

Sonia Salas

Sonia’s passion for delivering messages to her community started with the Hispanic Media Initiative at UTA. As Brand Communications Manager at Davis Elen Advertising, Sonia credits the hands-on experience she received at UTA for helping her achieve her goal of working in the Dallas market.

“This program is ideal to get hands-on experience,” says Salas. Upon joining UTA News en Español her junior year, Sonia was able to take her classroom education and get the valuable experience that she needed to build her skill set. Sonia gained experience in almost all the facets of broadcast media, from being behind the camera to being in front of the camera, and even to working with audio and technical production. Sonia’s big-picture image of the industry gave her the tools she needed to succeed.

Through her classroom education and work experience, Sonia has also developed a great deal of interest in writing and creative initiatives, an interest that resulted in her first three Lone Star Emmys for her work with Univision-Dallas. Today, Sonia has amassed fourteen Lone Star Emmys… She is an illustration of the great things that UTA alumni are accomplishing, and it all started with HMI.

Arian Hernandez

Arian Hernandez is a clear example of what happens when a student takes advantage of all that the Hispanic Media Initiative offers. Arian, when attending UTA, was the technical director for UTA News En Español, UTA’s Spanish-language television news production. He helped build UTA News en Español into what it is today – an initiative to cement a Hispanic presence in the media communications world. Arian received his Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Communication and a minor in Business in 2015, adding up to an impressive combination of education and experience. He started his career as Technical Director/APC Operator at Telemundo-Denver and currently works as APC Operator at NBC5/Telemundo39 in Dallas, TX.

Vladimir Flores

Vladimir Flores first found success in television news broadcasting through the help of the UTA Hispanic Media Initiative. It was through the experiential learning process of the program that he was able to become one of the best young professionals in the Texas broadcast media industry. Since graduating from UTA in 2015, Vladimir has received seven Lone Star Emmys with the first two awarded for this outstanding work as a digital content producer at Telemundo39 in Dallas, TX. He currently works as an anchor/reporter at Telemundo60 in San Antonio, TX.