Hinojosa has worked for PBS, CNN, CBS radio and NPR, and last year launched her own Futuro Media Group.
PBS "Frontline" correspondent Maria Hinojosa speaks at the Sheraton Hotel in Springfield on Tuesday.SPRINGFIELD - Award-winning public radio and TV correspondent Maria Hinojosa was the keynote speaker when the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts held its annual conference at the Sheraton Springfield yesterday.
Hinojosa addressed a crowd of 450, the biggest turnout yet for the conference, according to Women’s Fund Executive Director Carla Oleska.
Author of two books, Hinojosa is the first Latina correspondent for the PBS program Frontline. She has worked for CNN, CBS radio and NPR, and last year launched her own Futuro Media Group.
Though she is the daughter of a doctor, a graduate of a Seven Sisters college - Barnard - and comes from a family of high achievers, Hinojosa chooses to focus on the disadvantaged members of society in her TV and radio shows.
The title of the Women’s Fund conference was “Leaders Among Us: Women Redefining What’s Possible.” Hinojosa, sometimes slipping into Spanish, told women to get in touch with their power and “trust their gut.”
She said that as a woman and a Latina, she could relate to the struggles of the marginalized. “Every day, as a woman in the U.S.A., we will face a challenge - every single day,” she said. “And if you’re a recent immigrant - every hour. It’s the ‘U.S. Mambo.’ Three steps forward and two steps back.”
The mother of two, said women often grow up with the idea that power is a negative thing, but she talks herself into feel powerful to do her job.
“When I walk into a room, I am representing not just myself, but other women,” she said.
She is tiny, with a towering presence. “I’m Mrs. High Heels,” she admitted. “I wear four-, five-, six-inch heels.” She used to be a dancer. Now she’s a kickboxer. After her talk, she proudly showed off bruises on her shins.
Hinojosa spoke without notes, moving from politics (the U.S. invaded her husband’s country, the Dominican Republic, in 1965) and history (this is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire, in which many female sweatshop workers died) to anecdotes from her work and family life, often recited with accents and theatrical flourishes.
She told a story about her mother that she said defined women’s power for her.
Her father had left Mexico to accept work as a medical researcher at the University of Chicago. Later her mother followed with four children under age 7 in tow.
Hinojosa was the youngest. The immigration officer told the mother that the three older children could enter the country with her. The baby, who had a rash, had to stay behind. She would have to be quarantined.
Hinojosa’s mother drew herself up to her four feet 11 inches and let loose with a reply that settled the matter. The baby got in. “It was the first moment when I understood how powerful my mom was,” said Hinojosa.
Women came from all over for the conference. “I’ve seen many of her shows,” said Ileana Cintron, who works for the Community Training and Assistance Center in Boston, “and now I want to see more.”
“It was a thrill to hear her,” said Dee Ward, program director of the Step Forward Program at Elms College in Chicopee.