NPR Esther Cepeda Obama and Romney Quit HispanderingPosted to NPR's website April 17, 2012
Click here to go NPR's website and listen.
Esther as subject
04/23/2012
03/26/2012
WTTW Chicago Tonight: "When She Chose Life" interview with Phil Ponce
Posted to WTTW Chicago 11's website on March 26th, 2012
"Esther Cepeda's syndicated column about a woman's right to choose was in response to Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's comments about prenatal testing."
CLICK HERE TO VIEW-> http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/03/26/when-she-chose-life
01/01/2012
Today's Chicago Woman: The Inner Warrior
This article appeared in the January edition of Today's Chicago Woman
Journalist Esther J. Cepeda discovers her latent super hero by training in Korean sword fighting.
To most, changing up our physical regimen means adding in a challenging Bikram yoga class or trying a trend like kettlebell workouts. But when Chicago Sun-Times and Washington Post Writers Group columnist Esther J. Cepeda wanted to test her limits, she decided to learn the way of the sword.
Initially, it was the sword-wielding techniques of Darth Maul from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace that turned the writer on to the martial art. “Then Kill Bill 1 and 2 came out, and I said, ‘Oh my God, I want to be a sword fighter!” she recalls.
But it wasn’t until her son came home from school with a flyer about a local martial arts studio offering sword fighting that she discovered she could find her inner warrior in her own neighborhood. “It’s just one of those things where I always wanted to be a badass,” she quips. “That’s pretty much what drives it all.” READ MORE...
12/09/2010
NPR Talk of the Nation segment: "Cepeda says shorthand term 'illegals' is an insult"
This segment was posted to NPR's website on December 9, 2010
Click here to go the the NPR website and listen to the segment.
10/13/2010
The Washington Post Writers Group 'Groupblog': "Welcome, Esther J. Cepeda"
posted to the Groupblog on Tuesday, October 12, 2010...
Welcome, Esther J. Cepeda
Posted by James Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
One of my weekly tasks here at The Writers Group is to go through a stack of manuscripts gathering in the in-box, looking for potential talent that could join our lineup of award-winning columnists.
On occasion, I'll write a personal letter asking the writer to submit more material. Other times I explain why a proposed column wouldn't be a good fit, and suggest the writer try another, more general-purpose syndicate than The Writers Group, which lives off of Washington's bread and butter -- politics and policy.
Yet a couple of years ago after reading a package of clips submitted by Esther J. Cepeda, I picked up the phone. Cepeda was one of several journalists let go in a round of cost-cutting at the Chicago Sun-Times, and I first wanted to know if she had other work lined up (she did). Then, because she was going to be employed by the state of Illinois, I wanted to know what she was going to do about her writing career. That's when I discovered that losing a newspaper job wasn't going to stop Esther Cepeda.
She had a lot of ideas she was going to pursue, including a blog to be called 600 Words, a weekly collection of her thoughts and comments, and she also hoped to place a column somewhere (she did, in the Sun-Times no less, in 2009).
I wished her good luck and said we would keep an eye on her work. We did, which was not too difficult since Cepeda added me to her e-mail list to receive the 600 Words blog each Thursday. I also began to notice links to it on various websites.
This past summer, editorial director Alan Shearer and I were thinking out loud about everything in general and new columnists in particular. We wondered if it wasn't time to approach Cepeda and see if she thought she was ready to write for a nationwide audience.
Don't need to tell you how long it took for that e-mail to come back.
Cepeda was already in the process of leaving her state job to devote full time to writing, and was eager for the chance to possibly join The Writers Group. But wanting to write a column twice a week and actually doing it are two very different things, so we asked her if she would be willing to go through an audition, in which she would file on deadline, we would edit and make suggestions, then clear changes with her (the same steps all of our columnists go through before publication).
During this trial period, Cepeda showed us that she could deliver columns on breaking news, hot-issue subjects such as education, and pieces that focused on the offbeat and the unpredictable. She was also a joy to work with.
One Sunday in August, Shearer visited Cepeda at a Starbucks outside Chicago and offered her a contract. Her column makes its debut next week and I, for one, think Cepeda can be a game-changer much as Ellen Goodman was when her column first went into national syndication back in the 1970s.
Esther is the daughter of immigrants (from Ecuador and Mexico) who took blue-collar jobs to raise their family with the hope for a better life. Her first language was Spanish, yet she self-taught herself English by watching "Sesame Street" and looking at the many newspapers her parents kept around the house.
Cepeda is a journalism graduate of Southern Illinois University, and has taken graduate courses at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, where she studied in the Integrated Marketing Communications program. She also spent two years as a public school teacher, and holds a master's degree in education.
In everything she has done, Esther J. Cepeda exemplifies the American experience. She's got a great story to share with her readers, and I think she'll make quite the contribution -- in ways that surprise you -- to the great American debate. We're excited. Welcome aboard, Esther.
James Hill is managing editor of The Washington Post Writers Group
The Washingon Post Writer's Group includes George F. Will, David Broder, Richard Cohen, Michael Gerson, David Ignatius, Charles Krauthammer, Dana Milbank, Ruben Navarette, Fareed Zakaria, Kathleen Parker, and Eugene Robinson, among others.
Richard Prince's "Journal-isms" blog featured Esther this week http://mije.org/node/1252/cepeda
08/02/2009
'Stepping into the mainstream' - Crain's Chicago Business
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?articleId=32264
From this week's Focus
Stepping into the mainstream
By: Kevin Davis August 03, 2009
A new generation of young executives is redefining what it means to be a Hispanic in business in Chicago. In the past, Hispanic professionals and business owners largely were concentrated in ethnic niches — Spanish-language marketing, for instance, or producing foods crafted to Hispanic tastes.
But today, a wave of mostly second-generation children of immigrants is stepping outside those old cultural roles. While their community and ethnic roots remain a large part of their identity, these young people are seeking a foothold in professions where Hispanics are underrepresented: technology, engineering, finance and law.
"We can do something beyond the taco stand or grocery store," says Rick Rivera, the son of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants, who became a civil engineer and formed his own professional services company, R&G Engineering LLC, in Chicago. "This generation was given the opportunity to go to college and be exposed to the world."
Hispanics have made gains in many professional areas.
In 2003, for example, Hispanics made up 5.9% of all those employed in management, business and financial occupations, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics. In 2008, they constituted 7.5%. The percentage of Hispanics in chief executive positions rose to 4.8% from 3.3% in the same five-year period.
BIG GROWTH
Signs of change also can be seen in the increasing membership in the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which has grown by 1,000% in the last several years. Roberto Cornelio, 51, director of the chamber's Hispanic Entrepreneurship Center, says it's not just mom-and-pop businesses, either.
"Traditionally, the Hispanic business community focused on providing goods and services to the Hispanic community," Mr. Cornelio says. "That's changing. It's still an important part of our community, but people have been exposed to many other opportunities. We're seeing people go into technology, and a number of Hispanics have opened professional services business."
Juan Rangel remembers a time when a Latino who joined a white-shoe Loop law firm or took a job with a multinational company rather than working "in the community" would have been quietly, or not-so-quietly, scorned.
"We used to hear the term 'sellout'; 'they went downtown and they left the community,' " recalls Mr. Rangel, 43, president of the Metropolitan Leadership Institute of Chicago, a professional networking, training and civic organization.
Those attitudes are shifting, he notes. "Assimilation is not a bad word," he says. "Now it's every parent's dream to see their children succeed."
Even so, Hispanic professionals have a way to go before seeing that dream fulfilled on a wide scale.
In Illinois, Hispanics number about 1.9 million, or 15% of the state's population. The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Illinois has grown but still makes up only a sliver of the overall business count: In 2002, there were 39,539 Hispanic-owned businesses, about 4% of the 958,120 total businesses, according to the latest-available U.S. Census data.
Still, that growth is encouraging to people like Mr. Cornelio of the Hispanic Entrepreneurship Center, who believes that if the census were taken today, it would show that the number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Illinois topped 45,000. Hispanic entrepreneurs are "growing at a much faster pace than other businesses," he says. "They are reaching out to a broader community."
Meanwhile, more Hispanics are earning or seeking MBAs, as well. Freddy Flores, 38, president of the Chicago chapter of the National Hispanic MBA Assn., says membership in the chapter has grown to about 560 from a few hundred.
Mr. Flores, who came with his parents to the United States from Ecuador at age 10, has a management position with Otis Elevator Co. He pursued his MBA while working full time. "I thought it would open other doors for me," he says. Education has always been important to his family: His father was an engineer in Ecuador but worked in factories when he came to the United States.
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"The percentage of those who can go to college has jumped dramatically. Immigrants come here specifically for the education they can give to their children." — Esther Cepeda, columnist ERIK UNGER |
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In 2007, according to the association, 6,787 Hispanics earned master's degrees in business, including MBAs, making up 4.6% of all such degree-earners.
Yet in a metropolitan area that's about 20% Hispanic, many are unsatisfied with the level of representation — and recognition — that Hispanics receive in the broader community. Chicago-based syndicated columnist Esther Cepeda, for one, believes too many lists of local leaders are short on Hispanics.
In June, she released her first list of "10 Local Latinos Changing Chicago," which includes professionals recognized for their work, as well as for their commitment to the community.
Ms. Cepeda, 34, felt it was important to identify a cross section of people in business and civic life. "I wanted to find unsung heroes," she says. Her list includes an accountant, attorney, funeral director, college professor, fundraiser and community activist. In the more than 120 nominations, she saw many people who blazed their own trails. "Some people go into the family business, and others have branched into careers that many of their family members never envisioned for them," she says.
Ms. Cepeda attributes these career successes to greater opportunities. "The percentage of those who can go to college has jumped dramatically," she says. "Immigrants come here specifically for the education they can give to their children."
Moreover, Ms. Cepeda believes that young Hispanics in Chicago don't assume that being Hispanic is any kind of negative label or barrier. "The younger they are, the lesser the issue."
While many Hispanics are creating their own businesses and starting their own professional services firms, others are working their way into mainstream corporate positions. Largely underrepresented at the highest levels, they nonetheless are finding companies that seem more Hispanic-friendly.
Poder Magazine, a national publication for Hispanic professionals, identified the nation's top companies for Hispanics: those with strong diversity policies, training programs and open-mindedness. Among local companies on the list are Allstate Corp., Exelon Corp., Hyatt Hotels Inc., McDonald's Corp. and State Farm Insurance Cos.
And there are organizations helping Hispanics connect and build their careers. The Chicago-based Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement organizes career fairs and offers programs that target the recruitment and retention of Latinos. Its corporate members include Abbott Laboratories, Walgreen Co., Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., Allstate, United Airlines and others.
Yet while companies may proudly proclaim their diversity efforts and minority recruiting, the other side of the story is that many Hispanics do not stay long or climb high in these organizations.
According to the Hispanic Assn. on Corporate Responsibility, Hispanics hold just 234 seats on Fortune 1,000 corporate boards, about 2.3% of all seats. There are just six Hispanic CEOs, or 1.2% of the total, in the Fortune 500, and 71% of those companies have no Hispanics on their boards.
Leopoldo Lastre, president of the Hispanic Lawyers Assn. of Illinois, has worked in both the public and private sectors and currently is with the Cook County state's attorney's office. He believes many Hispanics choose to work in government or non-profits because they face less discrimination there due to government-mandated diversity efforts.
But he still believes Hispanics should and will seek to build their own businesses, ascend the ladder of major corporations and continue to strive for their own success. Even though more doors are open, many of those doors have to be pushed.
"There is a perception that they have arrived. That's dangerous," Mr. Lastre says. "That creates a false sense of security for those who come afterward. We will see more gains as long as there are opportunities. We're not looking for the bar to be lowered."
©2009 by Crain Communications Inc.
07/31/2009
'Highs and Lows in Mid-Summer Headlines'- WBEZ' "Eight Forty-Eight"
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=35891
'Highs and Lows in Mid-Summer Headlines'- WBEZ' "Eight Forty-Eight"
During July we saw budget battles in Springfield and pink slips at City Hall. The garbage piled up in Indiana and beer steins just clinked at the White House. Still the biggest and most troubling headlines came from six-feet-under. Esther Cepeda of the 600 words blog, Phil Kadner, a columnist for The Southtown Star, and Ramsin Canon, a political writer for Gapers Block, debate what stood out and what should have stood out.
07/28/2009
Blogger in the Spotlight – Esther J. Cepeda of ‘600 Words’
Blogger in the Spotlight – Esther J. Cepeda of ‘600 Words’
July 27, 2009
The July 2009 Blogger in the Spotlight is Esther J. Cepeda of 600 Words.
Blogger in the Spotlight is a monthly series where Newstex turns the spotlight on our publishers with in-depth interviews that give you a glimpse into the stories, tips and secrets of successful bloggers and content producers.
This month’s interview is with Esther J. Cepeda who is an opinion journalist and expert on the issues of U.S. Hispanics/Latinos. She writes about that and much, much more on www.600words.com.
Newstex: How did you get started writing your current blog?
Esther J. Cepeda: I was a columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times when the print media industry started to melt down because of the migration of advertising dollars to the internet.
When the newspaper had its second round of mass layoffs I was let go and the city lost the only metro columnist who regularly wrote about Hispanic and Latino issues, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from reporting and opining on news, sports, and culture. So instead of mourning the loss of my printed perch, I decided to keep writing on-line where all the action is anyway.
Newstex: What makes your blog unique?
Esther J. Cepeda: “600 Words” is unique because its foundation is laid on first-hand reporting of stories that are unique and relevant to a mainstream audience – news, politics, sports – yet also focused on Chicago and on Hispanics, who comprise such a large share of the internet traffic these days.
My readers – who write to me from all over the country and are young, old, black, white, Hispanic, male and female – honor me with comments such as “you tell it like it is,” “you’re never boring,” and “why isn’t everyone talking about this?”
Newstex: To what do you attribute your blog’s success?
Esther J. Cepeda: Recently, the Chicago Community Trust commissioned the Community Media Workshop to rank local on-line news publications (exclusive of the web sites of major mainstream media outlets) and named “600 Words” number 19 on a list of 60 Chicago-based news, information, and opinion providers.
“600 Words” has enjoyed such success in a relatively short timeframe. People read me because I’m a trusted journalist and media personality who delivers unique, compelling and entertaining content that many times is completely ignored in the mainstream media.
Also, I stay visible by promoting each blog post through various social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook, and by sending out a weekly email to approximately 7,000 media types, community organizations, and fans.
Newstex: What are the top 3 tips you can give to bloggers looking to develop successful blogs?
Esther J. Cepeda: Developing a successful blog requires a long-term commitment of passion, time, and financial resources.
- You have to be inspired and pour your passion out in your content frequently and on a schedule your readers can learn and then rely on year in and year out.
- You have to put the time into really researching your content, making it engaging, and then polishing it by letting others edit or react to it before publishing it live. This level of professionalism requires a sizeable time commitment and the responsibility to never cut corners.
- To make a blog look and feel professional, invest in paid professionals who can help you attain a unique design for your site while still using common blogging software, and professionals who can help you with both aligning your visual brand to other social media tools and executing search engine optimization for your blog posts.
Newstex: What is the best thing that has happened to you as a result of your work on your blog?
Esther J. Cepeda: I’ve been on TV, on the radio, featured in magazine and newspaper articles, had my columns reprinted and re-posted across the country, been offered speaking engagements and had publishers express interest in me writing a book.
Newstex: What inspires you to keep blogging?
Esther J. Cepeda: My inspiration comes from the satisfaction I get when I tell a person’s story, or throw light on an otherwise ignored subject, and the subject subsequently gets the attention it deserves in the mainstream media.
Newstex: What are your favorite blogs and why?
Esther J. Cepeda: I love Chicago’s “Beachwood Reporter” because of the biting media analysis the editor Steve Rhodes delivers daily.
I love “Taking a Second Look” by Jack Spatafora because of the homespun, folksy observations.
And I love “Back Garage” (“a virtual museum dedicated to all things beautiful on a budget”) because of the gorgeously curated garage sale finds.
Newstex: What effects do you think blogging will have on traditional media? How about on your industry?
Esther J. Cepeda: Blogging has already changed traditional media by forcing reporters to write in more engaging and reader-centric styles, and to be accountable to readers by providing them with a forum to react to their stories.
Blogs will continue to change media by raising the bar on content written by true experts in their fields, rather than content provided by someone whose professional training is in the reporting of information. This is not to say that the solid foundation of journalism is not a requirement of good news, but we are entering an era of authors who bring authentic expertise to their content.
Newstex: At what point did you decide to syndicate your blog with Newstex and why?
Esther J. Cepeda: I decided to syndicate “600 Words” with Newstex immediately after launch because it was important to me that my content be vetted and that I could differentiate my work as professional journalism. I also wanted to ensure that my work could be indexed to news databases and also distributed to news websites across the country.
I feel the Newstex credential has really given me a stamp of approval as a trusted news source to those who might not have known me from my previous work at the Chicago Sun-Times.
Newstex: What’s next for you and your blog?
Esther J. Cepeda: In the next year I’d like to see “600 Words” be featured in more print publications. On-line, I’d like to add more audio and video features to the content. Off-line, I’d love for a book deal to come through. No matter what, I’m going to continue bringing passion and fun to all I do.
Esther J. Cepeda’s Bio:
With a diverse background in journalism, education, and marketing Esther J. Cepeda is one of Chicago’s most prominent and thought-provoking media personalities, as well as an esteemed public figure within the Hispanic community. After joining the Chicago Sun-Times in 2006, Ms. Cepeda became Chicago’s first Latino metro columnist where she covered news, politics and sports. Prior to this, she reported on political and social issues at a local and national level, for various Illinois newspapers and magazines across the country. Currently serving as the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Cepeda writes the ‘600 Words’ column (www.600words.com), which is distributed nationally through NewsTex, a news content provider, and syndicated on HuffingtonPost.com, as well as translated and posted on the “Migrantes” blog of El Universal, Mexico’s national newspaper. Ms. Cepeda has been a frequent radio and television contributor on local and national outlets including Fox News Channel, The O’Reilly Factor, CNN Headline News, Chicago Public Radio, the nationally syndicated Jerry Doyle Show, Chicago Tonight, Telemundo and has been published as a guest op-ed columnist in newspapers across the country, including the Sacramento Bee, the Orlando Sentinel and the Chicago Tribune.
