Esther Cepeda is well versed in many fields of work she has been a publicist, marketing executive, and after two years of being a teacher realized she wanted to follow her dream and become a columnist. After getting a column in a small local paper she pitched to the Chicago Sun-Times and received a weekly column. Since then, Esther has moved on from the Chicago Sun Times which she still frequents with a column, but now publishes her own blog, 600 words.
Cepeda reports on many issues that are unheard by many and focuses much of her stories on the second generation Hispanics/Latinos in America who are not the focus in everyday media. Today Esther is also Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission as well as a blogger for the Huffington Post and frequents many television and radio programs in Chicago and around the United States.
I was given the opportunity to interview Esther Cepeda over the phone.
Q: How did you become such an influential columnist after being a publicist, marketing executive and teacher?
Cepeda: Well they weren't in that order. I did some marketing and publicity and decided it wasn't for me so i quit and became a teacher. I originally wanted to be a columnist and in my second full year of teaching I decided to become a columnist. I shopped around and started writing a column in a small local paper. I started to do some good reporting and then pitched for the Sun Times.
Q: How has journalism changed since you first started at the Sun Times?
Cepeda: It is like night and day. I started writing my first column in 2005 and back then the web site was a complete after thought. 9/11 basically brought the web portion onto the radar but besides that there wasn't this 24-hour news cycle nothing was constantly being updated. There wasn't all of these other voices in print and broadcast journalism, bloggers were around but they didn't come into the scene until 2007 then it really broke out. they started breaking news and reporting, when bloggers were allowed at the DNC blogging completely changed to this grassroots thing.
Q: Many people say that newspapers are dead and journalism is a dead field to go into, what do you think about this?
Cepeda: Newspapers may in fact be dying but journalism is not dead it will always be around. It will always live and mutate with whatever new technology is brought on. Newspapers, print and even magazines may die but there is always a need for storytelling.
Q: Nowadays most people have a Twitter and Facebook, how are these are can these be used journalistically ?
Cepeda: Absolutely, I get sources for stories and new story ideas all the time, people share many news articles with me. Its not a substitute for the shoe leather reporting that you should do, its a tool, much like a calculator its a great tool but you still need to know how to add.
Q: Why do you think people are so drawn to social networking sites?
Cepeda: It gives people an opportunity to form a community, I don't have time to get together with people I don't know very well, however having this virtual community opens up opportunities to interact with other peoples opinion and what they have to share without taking time out of your day and also being able to respond on your time within a comfortable community.
Q: What do you think about companies who are putting Twitter policies into effect?
Cepeda: You can have an opinion on whether it is right or wrong but they are employees of that corporation and they can limit how their employees speak about their products or services. If they work for someone and they tell you that you can't do that you don't have much of a choice.
Q: Has social networking had an effect on your career?
Cepeda: Absolutely my distribution network has grown a lot because of Facebook and Linkedin, people have been able to find me with free tools and give feedback and I can promote my work this way.
Q: What changes do you see in the near future for journalists?
Cepeda: The most important thing that any one can do is to learn to tell stories through multimedia through audio, video and pictures. Most journalists can put together a one dimensional story but to be successful one should be able to tell a story in many different ways. Journalists also need to market themselves and their stories, they have a cache that they need to maintain, and its critical for the reporters to show the value in what they do.
Q: Your "600 Words" blog is a very well known blog, what made you start this blog and where does your inspiration come from?
Cepeda: As a once a week columnist at the Sun Times I was constantly frustrated that I had 300 or 400 words in my column to talk about something when I had real topics to get into! When I got laid off there I realized that I can't not do this anymore and not talk about these issues. If everyones blogging why can't I be my own publisher too, thats why I started this blog.
Q: What has made you so focused on the Hispanic/ Latino community?
Cepeda: I'm Hispanic but I was born in the United States with a typical American upbringing. I'm a regular American girl who happens to be second generation Hispanic. The largest amount of Hispanics in the United States are second generation Hispanics but the media is so focused on immigrants legal and illegal. No one was speaking for the second generation Hispanics.
Q: What has made blogs like yours so succesful?
Cepeda: The information that I talk about, the viewpoints that I take you can't find anywhere else, people come to me because they will find relevant good information and they know they won't find it anywhere else. When you have an unfulfilled need and you fill it people notice.
Check out Esther Cepeda's 600 Words blog, read her column in the Chicago Sun Times, and check out her Huffington Post articles!
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