Catherine
Hernandez-Blades,
Success with
Purpose
By Melissa Barrera
Growing up on the bayou just outside of New
Orleans, Catherine Hernandez-Blades had
one dream – to be a broadcast journalist. In
fact, while all the other girls her age were dressing
up in plastic tiaras and ball gowns, she was
interviewing whomever she could, with fake
microphone in hand and wearing a fedora with
PRESS written on it like comic strip reporter Brenda
Starr. That dream provided the drive she needed to
earn a full ride scholarship to college so that she
could pursue a degree in journalism.
By the time she was a junior in college,
Hernandez-Blades was waking up at 3 a.m. every
weekday to produce a television program called
“Good Morning, Acadiana,” in addition to taking a
21-hour course load. She realized that in order to
reach the top of her field, she would have to live a life
with no holidays and no days off, but these were
sacrifices she was more than willing to make in
pursuit of her goal.
All of that changed, however, after she witnessed
a burned-out news director go off on an offensive rant
that resulted in a very public and unpleasant situation.
Hernandez-Blades had an epiphany: she realized that
she did not want to find herself in a similar situation
10 or 15 years down the line.
“That was the catalyst for me to give up pursuing
this dream I had my entire life and move into something
that would allow me to thrive, not just survive,” she shares.
This “God-whisper” changed the trajectory of her
life and led to her career in public relations.
Catherine Hernandez-Blades,
SVP, Marketing and Communications, SAIC.
Photo credit: Allemond Studio.
8 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle V ol. 28, No. 1 , 2022
/www.latinastyle.com
