Kevin Olivas

Parity Project Director
Kevin Olivas

Mis gentes son mi orgullo. My people are my pride.

That is a motto I have always lived by. There is nothing more satisfying than helping others. That is one of the reasons why I became a journalist. It is also why I enjoy being the Parity Project Director for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ).

Through my current position, I get to help both veteran and student journalists to find jobs, stories and sources who come from diverse backgrounds. And I also get to work with diverse community leaders from throughout the United States.

Here’s how I got to where I am now.

I am a Los Angeles native. I am fortunate enough to say that I am conversant in three languages – English, Spanish and “dude.” Ha! Fer sure.

EDUCATION:

I am a graduate of California State University, Northridge, which had a very small number of Latino students in its journalism program when I was there in the late 1980s. That program is now dominated by Latinos and the new chair of the CSUN Journalism Dept. is NAHJ academic member Dr. José Luis Benavides.

JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE:

1989-90: News Reporter/Anchor/High School Sportscaster – KYCA News/Talk/Sports Radio in Prescott, Arizona. The place is literally next to nowhere. The village of Nothing, Arizona is not far away. There’s a popular sign in that town that reads, “Welcome to Nowhere.”

1990-93: News reporter at KVEN News/Talk Radio in the city of Ventura. Among the stories that I covered there were a toxic train derailment that shut down a major highway for a week, the opening of the Reagan Library and the criminal trial of four former Los Angeles police officers accused of the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney King.

1993-96: On-air news reporter at KSDO News/Talk Radio in San Diego. The format has since moved to another station and KSDO is now a Spanish-language music station. Among the stories I covered there were President Clinton’s visit to the area and the Chargers first-ever trip to the Super Bowl. Oh, and I got to interview Fernando Valenzuela while he was playing for the Padres.

1996-99: On-air news reporter at what was then known as KFWB News Radio in my hometown of L.A. Among the stories I got to cover there was the civil trial of O.J. Simpson.

1999 – 2001: Career Development Manager for the California Chicano News Media Association (CCNMA – now known as CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California, Inc.). NAHJ grew out of CCNMA. I helped to organize CCNMA’s annual Journalism Opportunities Conference and visited high schools and colleges statewide.

2002-Present: Started out as Educational Programs Manager for NAHJ, coordinating student convention opportunities, NAHJ’s scholarship programs and annual scholarship banquet, etc. Promoted to Parity Project Director in 2004.