We are delighted to announce that Jinitzail Hernández is joining us as a video journalist. She’ll use video to tell immersive stories about the lives and experiences of Texans through an accountability lens.

Jini was most recently a senior multimedia producer at CQ Roll Call, where for three years she produced articles, podcasts and videos on public policy, including defense and national security. She told stories about a former white supremacist in the Navy, Central American migrants affected by the “remain in Mexico” policy, families of military service members killed in vehicle rollovers, and reforms of the Pentagon bureaucracy. She produced podcast episodes on politics, fiscal policy and civil rights.

Previously, Jini worked in Jerusalem as a press and policy fellow at The Media Line, a nonprofit American news agency, and in Washington as a fellow at Military Times and Defense News.

Jini received a master’s degree in 2018 from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She is a 2011 graduate of the University of Illinois, where she was a communications major. Before attending graduate school, Jini was an intern and news coordinator at Telemundo Chicago and an assistant director at WGN-TV, where she helped produce “Adelante, Chicago,” a program focused on Chicago’s Latino communities.

A native Chicagoan, Jini is a native speaker of Spanish, which will equip her well to tell the stories of families and communities throughout Texas. Jini starts May 9.

Disclosure: Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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