Profile of Denver Latino Pioneer Polly Baca

Profile of Polly Baca

Former Colorado State Senator Polly Baca, the first Latino to be elected to that institution in the state's history.

Polly Baca is a history maker in Denver’s Latino community. In addition to having been involved in NAHJ’s Parity Project, she also can lay claim to:

• Being the first Latina elected to the Colorado State Senate.
• Serving as Executive Director of Colorado’s Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA), a group that tracks trends and issues affecting Latinos in the Centennial State.
• The first Latino to serve as an Election Night (2006) analyst for Parity Project partner KCNC-TV CBS 4 in Denver.

And many other accomplishments, including having led cultural awareness sessions for the entire news staffs of the former Rocky Mountain News as well as KCNC-TV CBS 4 as part of the launch of the National Assoc. of Hispanic Journalists’ Parity Project in both newsrooms. She provided to these journalists a demographic glimpse into the history and influence of Latinos in Colorado to spur in their minds story ideas when it comes to Hispanics.

Polly also serves as a member of the Parity Project Hispanic Community Advisory Committee for KCNC-TV and did the same for the Rocky Mountain News before it folded in February 2009.

Check out this multimedia profile of Polly. It has been produced by University of Colorado-Boulder student and NAHJ student member Genesis Samayoa, who represents the excellent multimedia storytelling abilities that the next generation of Latino journalists possess. Genesis has been accepted as a participant in the 2010 NAHJ convention student media convergence project. She is set to graduate in 2011. Check out Genesis Samayoa’s resume:

Multimedia Journalist Genesis Samayoa of the University of Colorado-Boulder

Genesis Samayoa – ENG. – SPAN. ONLINE multimedia TV broadcast journ. – CO