Life lessons drive studio exec
Elizabeth Herrera doesn’t shy away from asking the tough questions. It’s the way she gets to the heart of a story. For more than two decades, Herrera has stayed true to herself while working in TV news and documentary film by being inquisitive, one part of her character she developed growing up in a bilingual household in the Borderland.
The 2001 New Mexico State University alum has a new challenge ahead of her as executive for development for Latin America at Amazon Studios, one of the biggest streaming services. The territories include Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Chile.
It’s an assignment she’s excited about and knows there is a lot of responsibility when it comes to representation.
“My job consists of really thinking about the type of content that we will put out in those regions,” she says. “Because my roots are Mexican and it’s the biggest region I represent, I want to hold onto the cultural roots when it comes to the programming.”
Herrera starts her days with a slate full of scheduled meetings — most workdays easily surpass 12 hours.
She will hop on and off pitch and production meetings throughout the day. The majority of those will be in Spanish but she often finds herself switching languages to accommodate various meetings.
She says this versatility wouldn’t have been possible for her if she hadn’t been raised in the Borderland.
“If I didn’t grow up in that region, I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I have,” she says. “Las Cruces and El Paso are two places that fully embrace the culture and tradition. It’s a humble way of life and people accept others for who they are. I’ve been able to really embrace that and the voice that I have. Growing up on the border helped me embrace both sides of me.”
Herrera was originally hired months ago to oversee Mexico content development.
With a shift in leadership came the expanded territories .
“I thought to myself, ‘Can I do this?,’ ” she says. “I’m living in Miami and I work with every single type of Latino and I felt confident that I could use all my experience to bring value and storytelling to the viewers in the territories.”
Herrera began her career at KRWG in Las Cruces while a student at NMSU. She worked at the station for three years.
During her final year at the university, she was hired by KVIA in El Paso as the weekend reporter and was pulling double duty at both stations. It was there she broke the story on Baby Brianna, whose death in 2002 at the hands of family members led to the improvement of child abuse laws in New Mexico.
She would stay with KVIA two years before moving onto bigger markets and documentary filmmaking. She would jump onto productions at MTV, VH1, Biography Channel and Discovery en Español along the way.
Yet, whether she is reporting for news or making films, Herrera continues to be pulled towards storytelling.
“I’m drawn to the real and why things occur,” she says. “I have a natural curiosity of understanding human beings. This is what has led me to the different realms of television. What happens when humans are found in profound situations or things they aren’t used to? And I’m always looking for a glorious story to tell.”
Herrera also credits her background in journalism for her successful venture into docuseries.
“Having that background turned into a natural progression to documentary and docuseries,” she says. “After all the work, it boils down to the story and transparency. That’s the fun part of the job.”
She wants to make sure programming is diverse.
“I always think about that,” she says. “I also want to represent all the regions. Take Mexico, for example. The more southern you go, the darker the skin. As you go more north, you have lighter skin. Within all of this, you are going to have different representations of skin and class. I want to seek out the people from different regions. I think the story is going to overshadow the color of skin and class. I want skin color to become more of a norm for the viewer.”
Herrera is one of six children raised in the Borderland. Her parents are Mexican immigrants.
“They literally learned from us,” she says. “We went to school and both my parents picked up English from us. We grew up in a Spanish-speaking household. I grew up on telenovelas and so did all of my friends. We’d go to school where we had to learn everything in English, but our lives at home were in Spanish.”
She said this experience growing up will play a role in her new position: “I think about how I’m one of the people that decide what content people are going to see and learn from.”