local storiesMay 31, 2024

Meet Lissete Lanuza

Local Stories

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Lissete Lanuza. Lissete was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Brittany Frederick.

Hi Lissete, we’re so thrilled to have you sharing your story with us today. Maybe we can kick things off by having you introduce yourself to our readers? We’d love to have you go into your story and how you got to where you are today.
I got started in the most contradictory way possible, I went to law school. I wanted to be a journalist, but you know Latino parents and expectations, so I did what was expected of me and went to law school. And I didn’t actually hate it, at least not the work. I did hate being a woman, being in a male-dominated industry, and being expected to dress in one particular way and smile at my male bosses, go to dinner with them, and pretend I didn’t mind if they leered at me. I minded that. I minded being expected to work till 10 pm and get to the office at 9 am every day. I minded the expectation that work was my life. Then the pandemic came and the possibility to do entertainment journalism came, not so much on the side, but as a full-time job and I jumped at it. So I took every bit of the discipline and hard work I’d put into my previous career and put it into this.

Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
I do entertainment and sports journalism, mostly. I’ve worked as a Senior Editor at CBR and currently write for sites like Remezcla, Latina Media and Primertimer. I also co-own the entertainment website Fangirlish. IT’s a lot of work and I’m proud of all of it. I think what sets me apart is that I’m also a fan of what I do. I never want to be one of those “just do your research and go” journalists. I want to be doing things I’m passionate about and that I love, because I did a job for a while that I got through just doing researching and getting through and I don’t want to go back to that. This one I just want to enjoy. I enjoy talking to people, discussing the last movie I watched, the last episode of a TV show, or even that goal we both can’t believe was scored.

Brittany Frederick has been a great friend to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Brittany and your experience with them.
Brittany was a delight to work with. She’s sort of the ideal worker to build a team around. She’s straightforward and diligent and will communicate clearly with you on what she can do and what she needs. From the moment she came into my team and I had my first meeting with her I realized that she could be someone that, with clear communication, could be a lynchpin for what I wanted to create, and my instincts were correct.

She’s very organized, and she can be trusted to take over organizational tasks. She’s good at communication and got along well with me and with all the other editors on the team, as well as with the writers she was overseeing. Though these were her strengths, Brittany didn’t struggle with the more creative parts of the work, either. With guidance, she was able to skillfully complete the ideation parts and was an asset to the team in that way.

This is one of the reasons why I’m glad to be working with her again. I’d choose to work with her anywhere I am.