Perla Paredes Hernandez

I am a psychology and sports media graduate from the University of Texas at Austin. During my time at UT, I was a sports reporter for The Daily Texan, where I covered both collegiate and recreational sports. I also served as the social media coordinator for the Texas Student Television sports department, worked as a baseball photographer for the Cactus yearbook, and was a videographer for the SEC Network.

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My goal is to cover sports through various forms of journalism, from print to social media, and eventually transition into television. My dream is to become a sideline reporter for Major League Baseball.

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I began my journalism career through the Sports Journalism Institute internship last summer with the Houston Chronicle. During that time, I covered the Houston Astros, Texans, Dynamo and SaberCats, among others. My goal was to bring what I learned back to UT and help improve the sports media field within the Student TV Sports Department, especially by creating content in Spanish. I achieved this with a segment dedicated to the MLB postseason.

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I was born and raised in Zacatecas, Mexico, where sports were always present as a form of entertainment, but a career in sports seemed far-fetched. Because of that, I originally wanted to become a human rights lawyer. That felt more realistic, which is why I pursued a degree in psychology.

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The first time I visited UT, I saw a burnt orange newspaper box, and I was hooked. I remember reading the bylines and feeling jealous while I studied all the ways the 14th Amendment could be interpreted.

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I joined the student newspaper to stay close to sports journalism, and once I started, I never wanted to stop. I finally let myself pursue what I had always secretly wanted to do. It is what I hope to do for the rest of my life.