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HITN’s Intern Shines the Light on Hispanic Small Businesses

February 13, 2023

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HITN’s has designed a yearly program for interns who seek an in-depth training in the television field, in order to support talent development in the Hispanic community.

HITN’s has designed a yearly program for interns who seek an in-depth training in the television field, in order to support talent development in the Hispanic community.

Recently, one of HITN’s interns, Viviana Villalva, received praise for a TV segment developed as part of her Public Media and Journalism master’s program at Fordham University.

Together with her classmate, Maya Sargent, they visited the village of Nyack to craft a compelling story about the town’s small business community. They interviewed the owners of the Pickwick Bookshop, a prominent book seller and the unique Maria Luisa Boutique, in order to better understand their current business situations.

The piece made such a wonderful impression with the Mayor of Nyack that he added it to the town’s official website: visitnyack.com. “You were able to catch the unique qualities, values and culture that makes Nyack so special,” said Mayor Dan Hammond via an email sent to the students.

When asked about her experience with this project, Ms. Villalba replied that while “interning at HITN, I’ve seen how important it is to connect and build relationships with the community. Seeing how VOCES aims to spotlight the work and achievements of different individuals and community leaders has left a strong impression on me. I have infused these ideas into my personal course projects. With our Nyack video, we wanted to capture how two small businesses impact their customers. With additional audio/video assignments, I’ve chosen to interview Latino entrepreneurs and small business owners. Sadly, we don’t always get to see these stories in the mainstream media. What I am taking from this experience is to use my personal platform to shine a light on the Latino community.”

About HITN-TV

HITN-TV is the leading Spanish-language media company that offers educational and cultural programming for the whole family. It reaches more than 44 million homes in the US and Puerto Rico via DIRECTV, DIRECTV NOW, AT&T U-verse, AT&T TV, AT&T TV Now, DISH Network, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, Mediacom, CenturyLink Prism, and Altice. Edye users can learn more about the platform at www.edye.com and download the Edye app through the Apple App Store and Google Play. For more information visit www.hitn.org and follow @HITNtv on social platforms.