CAREER
“Selymar is a visionary. We’ve worked together for years in different capacities and I have always admired her leadership skills and her permanent search for innovation. She is truly a pioneer in digital journalism and I am expecting more great things from her in the near future”.
- Jorge Ramos, Journalist & Anchor Noticiero Univision
"Sely led the Univision News Digital team and created dozens of successful projects for digital and broadcast platforms, two worlds that she seamlessly navigated. Beyond that, and perhaps more importantly, she was a generous mentor in times when I most needed guidance."
- Andrea Patiño, Visual Journalist
"Sometimes, working environments can be stressful and challenging, especially in newsrooms. Under Sely’s leadership we invited those moments because she not only made them bearable, but she gave us someone that we could look to to understand how to get the work done efficiently and to the best of our abilities. Sely, pushed us to do our best and we were able to deliver consistently, but best of all she cared and she showed us she cared every day, for us and for the work, which to me, is paramount in a leader."
- Javier Figueroa, Senior Infographics and Data Visualization Developer
Selymar Colón is an award-winning journalist currently as Executive Director of Digital at GFR Media in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In 2022, Colón joined the Center for Media Integrity for the Americas as a member of the Board of Advisors.
Colón spent the 2019-2020 academic year as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard where she took courses on leadership with a focus on diverse and inclusive teams and culture, successful business strategies and innovation.
Before her fellowship, she served as editor-in-chief of digital news at Univision, where she built a team of multimedia journalists and drove the network’s digital integration.
She rose up the ranks as producer for Univision’s Sunday public affairs show, Al Punto, hosted by Jorge Ramos, renowned journalist and co-anchor of Univision’s award-winning evening news program “Noticiero Univision.”
A digital pioneer, she championed the use of social media in the newsroom early on among producers and journalists, which then led her to be promoted to a newly-created position of director of digital integration. In this role she was charged with creating a team of multimedia producers to produce digital only videos liaising with the digital and broadcast newsroom.
Colón’s efforts contributed to Univision News winning awards including:
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Edward R. Murrow for Excellence in Video and Innovation
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News and Documentary Emmys for Outstanding Feature in Spanish
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The Gabo Prize for Image
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The World Press Photo Online Video of the Year
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The King of Spain International Journalism Award for Niños de la Frontera” (Children of the Border), its online in-depth coverage of the Humanitarian Crisis that played out at the U.S.-Mexican border.
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She was also part of the team that won the King of Spain award and the Latin Social TV award for the TV news special “El Gran Encuentro” (Meet the Candidates).
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Colón has field produced the following special coverages:
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Haiti earthquake (2010)
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FIFA World Cup (2010)
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President Barack Obama’s second inauguration
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Maria Elena Salinas’ interview with President Obama in 2012 during his reelection campaign
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An interview with the first Hispanic Supreme court Justice Sonia Sotomayor with Jorge Ramos;
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The digital special “The Hispanics of the President” (2015)
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Spanish-language network exclusive interview with Hillary Clinton in 2015, which was live-streamed making Univision News the first to Periscope an interview with a presidential candidate.
Named a 40 under 40 : Latinos in American Politics by the Huffington Post, Colón holds an M.S. in Investigative Journalism from Florida International University and a B.A. in Communications and Business from Lynn University.
Highlights
This short documentary takes us to the day Adayanci Pérez, reunited with her family in Guatemala. Yanci, was one of more than 2,500 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the 'Zero Tolerance' policy championed by President Trump in 2018. Yanci spent three months separated from her loved ones, upon her release, she was diagnosed with acute trauma and post traumatic stress disorder.
2019 World Press Photo Online Video of the Year. Edward R. Murrow Award winner.
The small town of Postville, Iowa witnessed one of the worst immigration raids in the last decade, when a poultry plant was raided by immigration enforcement officers. Ten years after the raid and at a moment where President Trump was bringing back this type of practice, Univision Noticias went back to Postville to witness the scars left by the raid in a working class town in America's heartland.
This digital special was published in partnership with The Intercept and the Knight Foundation. It was also broadcasted on PBS and Sedona Film Festival.
The documentary was recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Award and NPPA Best of Photojournalism.
Univision Noticias in partnership with Univision Deportes, produced this documentary filmed in Cuba and Florida that tells the story of José Fernández a major league baseball rising star pitcher who died in a tragic boating accident in Miami, Florida.
The documentary was broadcasted on Univision Deportes cable channel, as well as PBS Miami and Univision Miami.
Months before the 2012 election, President Obama sat down with María Elena Salinas in an exclusive one on one interview. From the Intel offices outside of Phoenix, Arizona, President Obama spoke to Salinas about the election, the economy and immigration.
I was the producer for this interview.
One year after deadly Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, a team of journalists from Univision Noticias visited the island to find out how the ongoing recovery efforts were impacting the community. The primary focus of the digital special Surviving Maria was the fragile state of the healthcare system in Puerto Rico.
As the producer of the first Spanish language interview of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, I worked on research, arranged logistics and supervised the camera, audio and lights setup at the Supreme Court, where the interview took place.
I also coordinated, as per Jorge Ramos request, to play salsa music for Justice Sotomayor which made for a very candid moment at the end of the interview.
My first digital special was this project called The Hispanics of the President. The interactive work was focused on 17 video stories of Latinxs that worked in the Obama White House. The profiles were mini documentary style profiles of each individual, which told a very unique individual and community story of what happened behind the scenes. This was published during Hispanic Heritage Month in 2014.
After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, I was among the journalists that arrived in the country to cover the aftermath of the natural disaster. During the two weeks working in Haiti, I produced dozens of stories for Al Punto, Despierta América, Network News, Don Francisco's telethon Unidos por Haití and one of many network news special like the video above.