Featured Mija!

  The Forecast For Success by Roberta M. Rosa

  When I first heard about Ericka Pino, I was told that she is one of the hardest working women out in television today. 
  There was only one phrase that came to mind.  “I want to interview her. What’s her number?” And I GOT IT!

  At the age of nine, Ericka and her family came to the U.S. via Peru.  She did not know any English. From Peru, to Flushing
  Queens, to North Bergen, New Jersey, Ericka learned America’s first language, Ingles. You can just say she had a yearning
  for learning. Ericka’s sister, Zadith moved on to higher learnings, while Ericka kept on receiving decline letters from various
  colleges.  Soon after, Ericka started to attend Rider University, where she needed an internship credit.  And this is where the
  story begins.

  Ericka figured she would apply in two places, Univision and Telemundo in New York City.  Both networks were not even
  offering internships at the time. So she did what most people that want to get into media would do....she submitted her
  resume and called the station religiously. “I would set the alarm to go off at 8-8:30 A.M. while I was in college to leave a
  message for them  everyday.” said Ericka.  After a while, she was just discouraged and ready to give up, until her mom kept
  on asking her to call again.  Finally, one day she gets a call from a representative from Univision saying, “For one, I am sick of
  your messages. Two, either you come in for an interview tomorrow or I am putting a restraining order on you.”  The next day,
  Ericka went and was told that she wasn’t the most qualified for the non-existent job, but she was the most persistent.  This is
  how she got her foot in the door with Univision.

  As an intern at Univision, Ericka decided to be a “super intern”.  She was the first one in and last one out of the office.  Her
  hunger grew everyday that passed.  She knew she wanted more and never realized that she wanted to be on television.  She
  then auditioned to get into the Raul Julia Training Unit, which is a school that offers acting, dance, improvisation, audition
  techniques, singing and speech classes.

  After her 2^nd internship, Ericka was offered a job, but she chose to finish school instead.  The day after she graduated college,
  she became the Assistant Entertainment Producer at Univision. Three months later, she became the Entertainment Producer
  and the amazing thing about all this; is Ericka was making big moves at 21 years old!! WOW and WOW!

  Ericka contributed as a writer for shows such as "Sabado al Medio Dia" and "Onda Latina".  She auditioned for various jobs on
  air.  The powers that be said she was either “too fat” or her voice was “too squeaky”.   She then took a mentorship with
  traffic reporter, Mary Joel Duran.  “Mary told me, “I will take you under my wing as long as you are here everyday at 3 A.M.”
  said Ericka.  All those long hard hours paid off because she became the back-up of the back-up OF THE BACK-UP in traffic. 
  Later, Mary was bumped up to street reporter.  The station calls Ericka to finish up the week as a traffic reporter. The week
  turned into a month and from then grew to two years!

  After two years, they offered her weather anchor only for the weekends. She kept doing traffic, and then kept doing weather
  on the weekends.  (Mind you Mijas; she went non-stop, seven days a week...for FOUR YEARS!!  Can you imagine no weekends
  off?)  When you work consistently for that long your body starts to take its toll.  Ericka found herself not getting enough rest
  and at times not even sleeping.  She was feeling fatigued and started to get bad acne.

  One day she got a call from Fox 5 news director, Neil Goldstein.  He extended a job offer to her on “Good Day New York” and
  since she wasn’t under contract with Univision, she accepted the offer.  The station was sad to see her go, but her departure
  with Univision was all on good terms.   Her run on Fox 5 didn’t go quite well as the station was receiving complaints on her
  accent and also was brought in when the station was having a hectic time. (Can you believe a station in the melting pot of all
  melting pots, New York City would have viewers complaining about an accent?!)

  After Fox 5, she moved to Miami to do weather for WSVN. She returned back to New York and then got hired in to Telemundo. 
  Now she is living in Los Angeles working the morning shift for Telemundo 52...and LOVES it! “I feel that Telemundo is the right
  place for me now.” said Ericka. 

  Every morning she looks into the camera and directs her focus on a make-belief friend she calls, “Juana”.  At almost every
  event, Ericka always has certain type of woman that would approach her.  These women are different types of people, but are
  the same person.  “Juana is a person that doesn’t know me, but appreciates a smile. I am going to talk to my Juana every
  single time.” said Ericka.  Ericka has a true passion for weather.  You can tell by her tenacity, you can tell by her energy and
  you can definitely tell by her smile every morning on Telemundo 52.

  Before I end this story, I wanted to tell all my readers that Ericka’s story is the most influential, inspiring and invigorating
  story I have ever heard.  I never in this life would have ever thought of speaking or even meeting someone that has the drive
  to work for four years straight with NO days off!!  Ericka you are an inspiration to Mija Magazine and to its readers, thank you! 
  In closing, here is some words of wisdom and advice from Ericka Pino. 

  Advice from Ericka Pino: 
  Prepare yourself. Study. When done studying, study more. The best attention you can ever get is being smart.  If you graduated
  from school, go back and pick up something else. Never give up and be persistent. The one that gets the job, is the one that
  gets the most attention. Don’t make decisions without enough thought. Get advice and think about it. Have your plan A and
  plan B just in case it backfires.

  For more information on Ericka Pino you can reach her at http://www.telemundo52.com/noticias/5868721/detail.html
  Or on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/erickapino