Image
Valeria Fernandez
Independent journalist
Valeria Fernández is an investigative independent journalist focused on amplifying voices of immigrant communities. She has produced documentaries for Discovery Spanish, CNN Español, and PBS, and co-directed the award-winning documentary, “Two Americans,” which follows the plight of a 9-year-old girl fighting to stop her parents’ deportations under the reign of notorious Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Her reporting on abuses of incarcerated Central American youth in Mexico was published by PRI’s The World, and NPR’s Spanish-language podcast, Radio Ambulante. Her most recent writing can be found in The Guardian, California Sunday Magazine, and the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. She is a finalist for investigative reporting on the 2020 James Beard Award. In 2018, Heising-Simons Foundation honored Fernández with the American Mosaic Journalism Prize. Fernández holds a B.A. in Political Science from Arizona State University where she now teaches bilingual students at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, their baby, and a mischievous cat.
