Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Ana Belaval

For over twenty-five years, Ana Belaval has been breaking news (and boundaries) in the world of journalism. The four-time Emmy Award winner has worked her way up the ranks from her first internship as a teenager to a feature reporter at WGN Morning News in Chicago, bringing diverse stories to life and representing a culture that wants to see themselves in mainstream television. Pop Culturalist caught up with Ana to learn more about her journey and about paving the path for the next generation.

PC: Take us back to the beginning. How did you discover your passion for broadcasting and journalism?
Ana: I always say that I was born kind of old. When I was fourteen, my dad said that I had to get a summer job. I grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I always knew that I was a performer. In my house, we are all good storytellers. I remember that when my dad said, “You have to go get a summer job,” and threatened me with working at my uncle’s insurance company, I said, “No, wait a minute. I did a project with the news director of WAPA in San Juan,” which is one of our national newscasts. I said, “I want to see if they’ll give me an internship because I want to check out what happens in a newsroom.” When I did that project, I was fascinated by the vibe in the newsroom and the fact that you get to tell the story first and tell stories that matter and paint a picture with images and perform on camera. I wanted to be in there as soon as I discovered that I loved it. I was an early bloomer but very odd for that age.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Ana: Internships gave me my first job right out of college as a reporter. That and being bilingual. Being able to speak Spanish was key because I was able to get a job as a reporter at the number-three news station in the country at twenty-two. They needed a bilingual reporter. As much as I wanted to speak in English on TV and be successful in the general market, it’s what gave me the career that I have. All the women that have been part of my career have been my mentors. Thankfully my mentor in college, Lori Montenegro, who is the head of the DC Bureau for Telemundo, was my mentor for my college internship in DC. She connected me with my first job in Chicago.

My news director in Chicago basically raised me, if you will, because I was twenty-one—the first news director at WGN that gave me my chance without even knowing if I spoke English because he saw something on my Spanish demos. All those people that gave me those chances are still part of my life. I can always call and ask for advice.

PC: Having been a part of this industry for twenty-five years, what is one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
Ana: You have to be flexible, adjust, embrace change, reinvent yourself, and understand that the field has changed. There’s no direct path anymore. Before you did an internship, you got your job at a small market. You worked your way up. I tell people who want to go into this industry right now, airtime is airtime. If you can start on YouTube, you can edit your stories and put them on social media. If your goal is to work at one of the major networks, that could be the way to go. I think they have a better opportunity than we did to have a chance to polish their chops on air. Also, knowing how to write is super important. You need to have content and know how to express it. Finding both sides of the story is crucial.

I’ve worked in this business for twenty-five years. We’ve never sat down in a meeting, at least at the local level, and said, “What is the message we want to send with this story?” You have to change with times and embrace technology because if not, you’re going to be left behind.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success in your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Ana: Recently, I think it’s winning an Emmy for my coverage of Hurricane Maria and the aftermath in Puerto Rico. I’ve won four Emmys, but this one was the most important. I’ve been doing feature stories for about fifteen years. I improvise every morning. I’m funny. I’m witty. The word that I hear the most is “adorable.” But when the hurricane hit Puerto Rico, I dusted my serious journalism chops and started informing people what was going on from the point of telling them that Puerto Rico is part of the US and trying to connect my community with my family that was disconnected there. My management put a lot of trust in me to tell the stories of Hurricane Maria because it’s really not my beat.

I even asked them, “Are you sure that you want me to do this?” They said, “Yes, because people are interested in your personal connection. We know that you’ll be able to find all these great stories.” It was a full-circle moment. It was like an award for my versatility and my honesty on camera. I’ve been preparing for that moment my entire life.

PC: In addition to broadcasting and journalism, you’re also a stand-up comedian. How has your experience in broadcasting prepared you for stand-up and vice versa?
Ana: Oh my goodness. Stand-up comedy is the hardest professional thing that I’ve ever done. You have no one to bounce off of. You can’t interview them. There’s no ensemble. It’s just you. My job has been the perfect preparation because I improvise constantly on the air. That helps me with the crowd. I don’t work with an audience, so that eerie feeling when people are silent, I can handle it. When I’m broadcasting, I don’t hear anything in my ear. There’s no reaction except for my anchors. That’s helped a lot with stand-up. I had a name by the time that I started doing stand-up comedy ten years ago. I was already established as a journalist in Chicago. So people were more excited to see me. Stand-up has really helped me do my job because I am not as self-conscious when I go on the air anymore. I trust what I’m going to say.

PC: You’re somebody that has always championed the next generation of voices, especially for people of color. Have you always known you wanted to use your platform in that way?
Ana: Absolutely. It’s the number-one reason I wanted to switch to English TV. I wanted the mainstream media to see a different kind of Latina that they weren’t going to see in the general market, at least when I started. I wear my culture like a badge of honor. We have more things in common than what makes us different. The more you expose people to your culture and who you are, it challenges stereotypes. It challenges preconceived notions of us as a people. It’s an honor, every morning, to represent my community on the air. It’s my duty as a Latinx, and it’s my honor.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Ana: Dateline

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Ana: Any rom-com.

PC: Favorite book?
Ana: I’ve read so many good books. The last one I read that I love is Ta-Nehishi Coates’ first novel, The Water Dancer. It was one of those few novels that I can see the movie in my brain where I’m like, “This is so vivid.” Then he had magical realism. It was fantastic. It was such a good novel.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Ana: I’m Puerto Rican, so I have to say Hamilton and In the Heights. But I really, really love Chicago. Oh, as a kid, I had the record, and I love Bob Fosse.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Ana: U2

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
Ana: My father-in-law used to say that I look like Ashley Judd or Winona Ryder, and then people think I sound like Sofía Vergara, but neither Sofía or I have the thicker accent that everyone thinks we have. So yeah. I would say one of those two.

To keep up with Ana, follow her on Twitter and Instagram.