By Claudia Guerra

As a child, Cynthia Izaguirre grew up watching WFAA. She aspired to become a reporter and work at the same station she grew to love.
After graduating with a major in broadcast journalism and a double minor in political science and spanish, Izaguirre worked at small stations in Tyler and Abilene. Then she spent eight years working for KOAT-TV in New Mexico as a co-anchor. Finally, Izaguirre made it back to Dallas, where she is co-anchor of News 8 Daybreak.
Izaguirre shared her experiences at a Hispanic Heritage Month event on Oct. 31. The celebration focused on leadership.
“In my opinion, everyone is a leader. We are all natural-born leaders,” Izaguirre said. “Leaders are people who set an example, because people are always watching what you do.”
She passed along three suggestions of how to become a better leader.  First, don’t complain.
“Don’t be a whiner,” Izaguirre said. “Think about the people who you know who you hardly ever hear complain. Don’t you think highly of them?”
Second, she said, show compassion.
She shared a personal story about covering a murder in Tyler. Izaguirre’s job required her to speak with the victim’s family.
“The minute they saw me, they were like ‘We can’t believe you’re here,’ and they slammed the door,” Izaguirre said. “Could you blame them?”
She knocked again, paying her respects to the family and leaving a business card.
“That’s showing compassion,” she said. “And sure enough, a week later the young girl called me and said, ‘We’re ready to talk and we’re only talking to you because of all the reporters, you were the only one who showed any respect.’”
Her last piece of advice was to never present a problem without a solution.
Izaguirre then gathered four volunteers to report the news, an exercise to help aspiring journalists get a feel of a real newscast.
Broadcasting major Jose Cifuentes, who wants to be a news anchor, quickly volunteered.
“When the opportunity arose to get up on stage and experience what it feels like to be on camera, lights on you, I really wanted to take advantage of that experience,” he said.
Communications major Virginia Canizale was also inspired. “If you’re chasing a dream, then go for it,” she said.