Telemundo's Dynamic Force for Change in Hispanic Communities of Colorado and Utah: Meet Tatiana Argüello

As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, GlobalMindED encourages our readers to explore the inspiring stories of Hispanic men and women. Join us in honoring their achievements and contributions by sharing their stories and supporting initiatives that promote inclusivity and diversity.

Meet Tatiana Arguello , President and General Manager of Telemundo Colorado and Telemundo Utah - NBCUniversal Local .

Before I tell you about my professional journey, I’d like to tell you who I am as it plays an important role in what I do.

I consider myself a proud “200 percenter” – 100 percent American and 100 percent Latina! My dad is Costa Rican and my mom is of Mexican descent, born in the United States. As a Hispanic, I am part of the fastest-growing segment of the U.S., representing nearly 20 percent of the population and $3.4 trillion in purchasing power. I also embody a dynamic community that can navigate through English and Spanish-speaking crowds, environments, and content with ease and cultural awareness. I feel and connect en Espa?ol; and no, I am not an exception to the rule! I grew up in the beautiful foothills of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains surrounded by nature, horses, “dually” trucks, rock n’ roll, and the voices of Julio Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Linda Ronstadt, and Willie Nelson. Like many Hispanics and Latinos in the United States, my story is similar to some, but it is uniquely my own.

While there were not many Hispanics in my neighborhood as a child, I was raised in a home where language, people, and cultures from all over the world were celebrated. Like many Hispanic families, my grandmother,

who was born in Mexico and emigrated to the United States as a young girl, lived with us. Everyone loved her tamales, especially at Christmas. They were famous; at least to us! I slept in her room while holding her hand until I was 15 years old. I had my own room. It was beautiful, but Grandma let me stay up late to watch TV. We memorized all the commercials!

More than anything, I loved our late-night conversations about her family, time in Mexico, children, journey to the U.S., and countless experiences of triumph. Grandma’s words were thoughtful, concise, and meant to have a lasting effect. She always reminded my two older sisters, younger brother, and me to be proud of our roots, remember where we came from, and never give up, especially in the face of adversity. She lost her loving husband, and the father of their nine children, when my mom was merely 10 years old. Despite not having a formal education, she picked herself up, held her head high, and immediately went to work as a seamstress to support her family. She never complained and she never cried. My sisters, brother, and I did not need to be told how lucky we were to be born into privilege, we simply knew it, and with that came tremendous responsibility.

Growing up, we felt a lot of pressure from our parents to succeed academically and professionally. They had come so far! My dad studied medicine and was among the top of his class at the University of Salamanca in Spain, thanks to the many sacrifices made by his parents in Costa Rica to send him there. It was there that he met my mom who was studying Spanish-language literature at the time. My mom was born and raised in East Los Angeles, and from a young age vowed to get herself and her mother out of the “barrio” and make her family proud. With tenacity, grit, the support of her teachers, community, and a few academic scholarships, she became a highly educated Spanish and French teacher and professor. Our parents taught us to position ourselves for success through education and by embracing the world and its wonder. They taught us the value of exploration and independence and to invest our time in the community. We were continually reminded that opportunity does not always knock; and that most of the time, we needed to look, work, fight, and knock down the door to get it.

The lessons I cherish most from my childhood are those of humility, generosity, and, most importantly, remembering to treat everyone with the same level of respect. I remember very fondly going on post-surgery “rounds” with my dad at the hospital. We sometimes even visited his patients in their homes. As a general thoracic, vascular, and trauma surgeon, he was there to treat and heal; and, in the very end, provide comfort to his patients and their families. It didn’t matter who was lying in front of him – race, ethnicity, gender, religion, country of origin, identity, and socioeconomic status were inconsequential. Sometimes my dad spoke to his patients in English, other times in Spanish, and always with his beautiful, expressive, and caring eyes. He showed up for each of them with compassion, determination, and a joke or two, and treated each with the same level of dignity.

Little did I know growing up how much my heritage and upbringing would impact my career, the rest of my life, and how I raise my own wonderful, curious, bi-lingual, and bi-cultural children alongside my incredibly supportive husband, who is from Colombia. It reminds me every day that our Spanish-speaking community needs and deserves best-in-class journalism, and that is our mission at NBCUniversal Local. The information my team delivers helps to empower the communities we serve to make decisions that will have a lasting effect on themselves and their families.

As President and General Manager of Telemundo Colorado and Telemundo Utah , I am responsible for my station’s overall operation including news, technology, marketing, community engagement, finance, sales, research, and human resources. What that looks like on any given day varies so much!

Across the country, NBCUniversal owns 11 local NBC stations and 31 local Telemundo stations. How each of our stations connects with audiences is continually evolving. When I started at Telemundo in 2001, it was primarily a broadcast TV business – meaning you only needed a TV and antenna to watch your favorite shows. Today, thanks to advanced technology and connectivity, you can get your news and entertainment on so many different screens and devices over-the-air, on-cable, satellite, broadband, social media, and streaming, like Peacock. It is an exciting time for the media industry! Stations like mine are transforming the way we do business to keep audiences informed and entertained anywhere they go, at any time of day, and on any screen and device.

My introduction to Telemundo came thanks to an internship while I was studying at the University of Colorado Boulder - Leeds School of Business and, after gaining some additional international business experience in Europe, I accepted a full-time marketing coordinator position with our station, KDEN (then KMAS). Within my first year, I began working closely with advertisers to further connect them with audiences both on and off-air at grassroots community events through integrated sales marketing plans that helped many grow their businesses. Therein came my introduction to the NBCU/Telemundo local sales division, where I spent a total of 18 years (seven in Denver and eleven in New York City) in various roles.

Finding creative solutions with the advertising community to help brands tap into the thriving Hispanic audience through unique, culturally relevant, targeted, and data-driven messaging was a challenge that I loved and where I made an impact. My experience with the sales division was incredible and it just kept getting better the more our portfolio grew, and the more Telemundo aligned with NBCUniversal.

I was having a lot of fun in my role while working in New York City and never dreamed of leaving to become a General Manager. I am not sure if anyone ever really says to themselves: “I want to run a TV station.” Maybe they do. When I first saw the opportunity to come back to Colorado as President and General Manager in 2019, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to. My husband had a great job, and my two children, now 8 and 11, were thriving in their environment. We loved New York and were very comfortable. I was living what I considered my dream life and the thought of becoming a General Manager made me uncomfortable.

I was hesitant to leave a market that had become home to me and my family, but a voice inside my head reminded me that growth, at times, takes “guts”. Opportunity was presenting itself, but I was going to need to knock down the door to not only get it but to succeed. I did not have all the qualifications for the position at the time and was going to need to face some fears, invest a lot of time in learning new things, and move my family more than halfway across the country.

One of my mentors said to me at the time “You may not have all the skills listed in the job description yet, but you know the market, you know what it needs to succeed, you build strong teams, and a lot of your skills are transferable; if you believe you can make an impact, go for it.” So, I did, and I got the job!

Now, after five years in the role, I learn something new every day and am committed to keep learning as the media industry continues to evolve. I am very fortunate to work for a company that believes that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company is a more effective company, allowing each of us to bring our full identities to the work that we do is critically important because it fosters dialogue that helps business leaders make decisions that help make a meaningful difference in people’s lives and positively impacts the communities we serve.

When I first started working with Telemundo in 2001, I quickly realized that this was a place where my interests, skills, and values aligned with the company’s. I have now been here for nearly 24 years, and it has been an amazing journey thus far. I did not realize early on in my career how much my heritage, upbringing, and life experiences would serve as a daily reminder to me in this role that my community depends on Telemundo for the timely journalism that we provide in each of our newscasts, our world-class sports coverage, and the exciting and innovative scripted and unscripted entertainment of our Network.

As a Latina professional who has worked her way up through NBCUniversal, and held several leadership positions, I believe organizations like GlobalMindED that connect students to role models, mentors, internships, and jobs are critically important to future generations of professionals. It is so important to be proud of who you are and where you came from and to get involved in the conversation. GlobalMindED reminds us of this through the meaningful work they do every day.

Tatiana’s grandmother, María De Miranda, surrounded by the Argüello De Miranda Family while holding Christmas Tamales - December 1983??

Tatiana’s children volunteering at the Mile High United Way Annual Children’s Holiday Party - December 2023.?

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