Speakers
Public Media: Monica Medina's career in public broadcasting has spanned more than three decades, starting in 1980 at KCTS/Seattle where she was assistant director of communications, followed by a three-year stint at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Station Relations department.
Medina joined KPBS/San Diego in 1995. As Director of Diversity, Engagement and Grants for the station, Medina has been responsible for spearheading major outreach campaigns in San Diego, focusing on issues such as mental health, aging, military re-integration, early-attachment, children’s literacy and the annual One Book, One San Diego initiative, now in its tenth year. Medina is a blogger and has written profiles on San Diego’s diverse Local Heroes for the KPBS blog, Hey Neighbor. She also creates and fosters community partnerships through KPBS’ community engagement efforts.
Medina has traveled to Brazil on behalf of the Jim Henson Company to train public elementary school educators on how to teach science to their students. She also has served as project director for numerous national outreach campaigns, including Anyone and Everyone, a documentary about how parents cope when a son or daughter comes out as gay; American Family, the first ever drama on PBS depicting the ups and downs of a Latino family; The New Americans, a documentary about the experiences of new immigrants when they first arrive in America; as well as My City Now, Race is the Place and Aging Out. She has also served as the outreach project director for Latino Public Broadcasting’s acclaimed series, VOCES, and for Equal Voice. Medina also helped launch the national outreach efforts for V-me, a Spanish language educational channel, and served as an advisor on the acclaimed series, The Latino Americans, a WETA/Washington, D.C. production.
Awards include the San Diego State University President’s Top 25 Leadership award; the National Center for Outreach Community Partnership of the Year award and the Outreach Professional of the Year award; and the Puzzle Place Diversity Outreach award.
In 2010, Medina began blogging personal stories and humorous observations on her site, Monica’s Tangled Web (www.monicastangledweb.com). She is also a blogger for the Huffington Post.
Education:Medina has a B.A. from Brandeis University, and a Master’s in Journalism from the University of Maryland. Monica Medina Email: [email protected] Twitter: @monicastangled