A five-year journalist with experience as a reporter, investigative journalist, editorial director and election-caller, Diego joins the 50CAN team with a desire to succeed and help further the team’s goal of improving education in New Mexico. Having grown up in rural New Mexico, Diego had the unique opportunity of experiencing education in a community surrounded by indigenous American tribal communities. His experience living in and covering these communities with local newspapers led him to see a need for economic development and better education. It did not take long for him to realize economic activity improves when the community is better educated. He understood that a better educated workforce would open economic doors for these communities, doors which cannot exist without education. Diego understands that New Mexico’s education system can – and he believes it should – be better. For the children of New Mexico, for the future of the Land of Enchantment, Diego is excited to join New MexicoKidsCAN and 50CAN.
I aspire to be like:
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a man with a knack for communication. He was able to bridge divides and worked hard for all the people he governed. I aspire to be like this great leader.
I love my job:
I love my job because telling stories is important. Everyone has a unique story, just as every “thing” has its own story. Whether it is the story of one’s birth, some “thing’s” manufacturing; someone’s childhood, some “thing’s” marketing process; or someone’s adulthood and death, some “thing’s” use and discard; each story deserves the right to be told. With 50CAN, I get the ability to tell the story of education. The story of education is perhaps the most important story I’ve ever had the privilege of reporting on, because it is a story about what is happening today, and it will have major impacts on the future.
My connection to public schools:
I attended public school through my early education, my mother was a Pre-K instructor most of her career but always worked in early childhood development. My sisters each attended public schools and now their children do too.
What I’m bad at:
Singing! But I will do it anyway! I may not be a good singer, but that will not stop me from expressing myself!
This image represents why I work at 50CAN:
The New Mexico State Flag and the Zia Symbol are incredibly important to me. New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment; it has so many amazing features like Mount Taylor in Cibola County, White Sands in Otero and Doña Ana counties and too many more to mention. This land, and the amazing people who live here, with all of its history is worth fighting for.