Chat - Jose Escobedo

10:14 AM me: Jose are you there?

10:15 AM joseescobedo73: yes

me: Great - thanks for taking part in another Fresh Talk Chat. First of all, tell us something about your hometown

10:16 AM joseescobedo73: I come from Mexico City, considered the second largest city in the world with over 20 million people

10:18 AM me: What was it like when you grew up there, compared with how it is now - if you can make that comparison..

10:21 AM joseescobedo73: I lived in Mexico City until I was 10 years old. I grew up with my mom and two siblings. I went to the Swiss school in Mexico City, and my first foreign language was German, funny eh? In 1983 We moved to San Diego, California, and grew up next to the beach, and went to schools in America. That's is when I began learning English, I was in a special class for foreign students that lasted about two years. Getting used to the new culture and food wasn't to difficult because I had an opened mind about things, and I guess when you are 10 years old, everything is much easier and you learn much faster

10:22 AM me: Where did you go to university and what was your first job out of school?

10:27 AM joseescobedo73: I studied communications with a Marketing major in Mexico City's Anahuac University. I studied there for 5 years and wrote a 300 page thesis in order to graduate. During that time, I had all kinds of jobs. I worked for Televisa, the largest Spanish speaking network in the world. I worked for various entertainment programs, so I was a TV reporter for celebrities. I would go to New York City and Los Angeles and interview the famous movie stars. I started doing that when I was 18 and kept that job till I was 23. I also worked for the AP in San Diego, I was a translater for official news stories, so I would go to Tijuana and translate many stories. I later went to Texas A&M University and got an MS in Science and Technology-Journalism. I graduated in 2004. I also lived in Paris, France and worked as a full time English teacher in 2002

10:29 AM me: That's impressive. For our readers, describe what attracted you to The Packer and what you are doing for the publication.

6 minutes

10:35 AM joseescobedo73: I am the assistant editor for www.thepackerenespanol.com, the Spanish version of The Packer. What really attracted me to the job was that it was a brand new project. I really like to be part of something new. I saw a lot of potential, and our editor Lance Jungmeyer has this vision that he passed on to me and really excited me. There is a huge potential market for readers in Latin America that would benefit so much from news written in Spanish, and many of them have expressed their appreciation for a web site that is able to deliver news in a timely manner, especially news that caters Latin America. My job is basically to write and translate many stories that have relation to the countries in Latin America. Like Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Costa Rica, it is a huge market full of opportunities. I decide what is news and how to deliver that news that would best suit our readers interest. I also have a lot of in put as far as the design of the website and the functionality.

10:36 AM For me it is an honor to be working for such a prestigious publication and to have it in Spanish is just amazing.

10:37 AM me: Jose, thanks for your time. You have really added a great new element to The Packer's value and readership. Thanks again for making time....

10:39 AM joseescobedo73: Thank you, I also want to let our readers know that if they have any Spanish speaking friends to check out www.thepackerenespanol.com, any feedback is more than welcomed.

me: Great..we'll pass that along

joseescobedo73: Muchas gracias!