Dania Alexandrino’s dream was to be the first person in her mother’s family to attend college.  And then in high school, another dream emerged.

“I wanted to be an international lawyer and work in an embassy,” said Alexandrino, Spanish-language news manager in CJC’s Innovation News Center. “But after joining Junior Air Force ROTC in high school, I set my sights on flying first and then going to law school.”

Unfortunately, a lifelong battle with asthma and the constant medication it required disqualified her from the Air Force Academy.

Alexandrino, who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Boston, decided she wanted to stay in the Northeast to be near her family. She landed at Boston University with full paid tuition.  And, after participating in a youth program on a local cable channel, her dream of a law career morphed into a dream of being a journalist.  She graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism.

“After college, I started knocking on doors until I got an answer and landed a radio job. I liked radio because of the direct contact with the audience. I started as a DJ and three months later took over as the morning show co-host,” she said.

After working in radio, and a brief stint teaching  journalism at a public school in Boston, she pursued a television job. In 2003, she was hired by Spanish-language media giant Univision to cover entertainment news from Boston.

In 2010, she returned to her native Puerto Rico with her husband and decided to shift her focus to hard news. She put together a demo which gave her the break she needed. Susanne Ramirez de Arellano, news director for Univision Puerto Rico, gave her a chance, became her mentor, and provided the drive for Alexandrino to keep improving. “She thought I had the ability to humanize a story and to provide balance, like few journalists she had worked with before,” Alexandrino shared.

After reporting for Univision for a few years (financial issues forced the company to close their Puerto Rico bureau), she joined CNN en Español as a freelance reporter covering a range of topics including education, crime, politics, entertainment and sports.  After a few years, she picked up a freelance gig with her old employer and became Univision’s Puerto Rico correspondent.   Along the way, she also earned an online master’s degree from Kent State University in public relations.

De Arellano eventually convinced her it was time to advance her career and pursue a news anchor or news director position. When the opportunity at CJC emerged, her mentor strongly encouraged Alexandrino to go for it.

Her talent, experience and infectious enthusiasm provided an easy choice for the College.  She was hired as CJC’s first Spanish-language news manager in March 2017.

“At first, the job was challenging because it was slow, compared to being out and about covering news every day, but now the pace is quicker and the students are motivated,” she said.

Alexandrino has reshaped the department and created tests and exercises to find the best journalists who are also fluent in Spanish. Along with overseeing the Saturday broadcast of Noticias WUFT, she spearheaded the creation of live WUFT-TV 90-second broadcasts in Spanish as well as a new Facebook Live broadcast.

She also serves as the liaison for a partnership with Telemundo created in 2017. This collaboration includes a one-year fellowship for a student to work at Telemundo, as well as a television news production academy held twice each semester in the INC for Noticias WUFT students.

When she is not at work she enjoys spending time with her husband and their four dogs that joined them from Puerto Rico. She became a pit bull advocate after seeing the great relationship her brother, a Marine and Iraq War veteran, had with his dog. This solidified when she and her husband rescued Casper, their albino, half-deaf pit bull. Despite living a life of abuse and neglect, Casper was such a gentle and loving dog, she knew part of her mission was to speak for him and his breed.

Whether it’s pit bull reporters or pit bull dogs, Alexandrio has been a champion, eager to make a difference in both human and canine lives.

 

Posted: February 28, 2018
Category: Staff Profiles
Tagged as: Dania Alexandrio, Noticias WUFT, Telemundo