Field Producer & Interviewer

What I Learned

Whenever I talk about my work at StoryCorps, I describe it as my masters program in audio editing, mixing, recording and storytelling.

As a facilitator (aka field producer), you’re responsible for setting up and recording the interviews, along with creating a comfortable space for the two guests who’ve come to StoryCorps to talk with each other, chiming in at the end if you have any questions or want to help fill in story gaps for future generations who will listen to their recording. 

This interview with Sylvia Mendez and Sandra Mendez Duran was different because it was one that myself and my fellow Latina colleague, Nadia Reiman, had pitched and booked as part of the Historias initiative, which gathers stories from Latin Americans in the U.S. for the Library of Congress archive. Growing up in Miami – which is made up largely of South American and Caribbean immigrants – I learned very little about the history of Mexicans in the U.S. and even less so about the discrimination and abuse that they faced here. This interview taught me the value that stories have in shaping history and moving change forward, and the responsibility that we as storytellers hold in sharing the stories of underrepresented voices.