Jorge Ramos: 1958—: Journalist, Author

Born in Mexico City on March 16, 1958, Ramos loved athletics in boyhood and enjoyed track and field with a Mexican team until a back injury ended his participation. Still competitive, he turned to soccer and tennis as hobbies. According to an article in Mas, in high school, Ramos summarized his aims in a two-sentence comprehensive life plan: "There are men who struggle for one day and achieve a goal; there are men who struggle for many years and are very brave; and then there are men who struggle all of their lives and are indispensable. I wish to become one of the latter." When he returned to Mexico for a tenth year high school reunion, his classmates reminded him how rapidly he fulfilled the prophecy.

Ramos gave up on his home-land at age 24 when he was reporting news for Televisa, Mexico's largest media conglomerate. When editors tagged his third story on a social issue for rewriting according to station policy, Ramos became angry with Mexico's censorship. The face-off that followed was a defining moment in his professional career. To find true freedom of speech, he sold his guitar and Volkswagen beetle and emigrated alone to the West Coast of the United States in 1983. Ramos enrolled at University of California Los Angeles; he earned his way by waiting tables and making change at a restaurant.

A year after Ramos's arrival in California, media magnate Jaime Davila hired him to report the news at KMEX-Channel 14 in Los Angeles, an affiliate station of the Spanish International Network (now called Univisión). By 1986 Ramos had moved on to Miami, Florida, to deliver the morning news and an interview segment called Mundo Latino (Latin World). Within months, he advanced to anchor evening news for Noticiero Univisión. The promotion made him one of the youngest national TV anchors in American media history.