Miami Proud: Alex Mena, Executive Editor of The Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald
MIAMI - The Miami Herald has a new Executive Editor and he's from right here in South Florida.
His own story is one of illegal immigration, working from the bottom and now rising to the top ranks of one of the nation's largest newspapers.
Thirty years ago, Alex Mena was answering phones and taking baseball scores. Now, he still answers phones but it's in his own office and as Executive Editor.
Alex Mena's Miami resume begins in Hialeah. His journey to get to South Florida started at 11 years old on his father's back as they fled Nicaragua to avoid being forced into the military.
Mena says, "My father and I don't know how to swim. But we needed to get across, you know, so my father told me to get on his back. And you know, we were crossing, you know, Rio Grande. It might I still remember the stories that my dad saved and you know, the water got up to his chin."
Along the way, the Mena's faced danger. But there was no turning back. "You know 11 years old, leaving everything behind. But that's when we, you know, we saw, you know, people in uniforms, who I can assume was Mexican police, or military that came in and took our query away. I mean, they beat him."
From the waters of the Rio Grande to Hialeah. Mena graduated from Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School to attend Miami-Dade College. It's there Mena says his love for journalism is sparked. "A professor David Mirvis was the advisor, the Falcon Times that's the Big North student newspaper at the time. He saw something in me he saw it as a drive, a willingness to work hard."
Three months later, in February of 1993, the Miami Herald needed a clerk. Mena is perfect for the job. "I'm answering phones and doing back scores for, you know, NFL games for baseball games for you know, golf scores, soccer results, I mean, all kinds of that's the work of a clerk, you know, to answer the phones and, and take high school results."
For thirty years, not including a two-year stint at the Sun Sentinel, Mena would climb while taking on various lead roles at the paper. "I got the opportunity to become the assistant sports editor for Broward high schools. And that's when I started saying, oh, you know, maybe I can be the deputy Sports Center someday, then I become deputy sports editor and I said, Well, maybe I can become the sports editor, or the one editor, you know, or the production chief, or the newsletter, and I became all of those things."
Today Alex Mena holds the highest position at the Miami Herald as its executive editor.
"I want to be known as the person who made sure that we profiled the people who make a difference, you know, in our communities, you know, from Little Haiti, Little Havana, Hialeah, Kendall, I want those folks to know that we cover them, and we care about them."
Mena says just being able to make it in Miami, makes him Miami proud. "That's my Miami story. You know, a Nicaraguan immigrant who marries a Cuban daughter of an exile family. It's, it's Miami."
Mena says he wants to continue the work of holding elected officials accountable and the hard news readers are used to.
The Miami Herald and CBS Miami are news partners.