LILIANA SOTO

MULTI-AWARD WINNING JOURNALIST

Liliana Soto is an award-winning journalist with over 10 years of experience in broadcast news. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU, and was one of the founders of the Central Texas chapter for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Her passion for investigative journalism, her deep knowledge in the Latino community, and her determination to amplify the voices of marginalized communities through her reporting, won her the highest level of recognition by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with nine Emmys and a national recognition by the Online Journalism Awards in 2016.

Liliana was the station’s first multimedia journalist to report in both English and Spanish.

Her unceasing advocacy for the Spanish speakers includes creating a Spanish language section of ABC15’s website with most of her English stories translated into Spanish.

During the pandemic, Liliana also produced a web-based PSA detailing Spanish language resources to deal with COVID. She was nominated by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for her continuing coverage about the impacts of COVID-19 on the underserved and underrepresented communities in Arizona.

Liliana’s passion for reporting on diverse issues that affect communities of color is reflected throughout her powerful storytelling. Her news judgement led her to become ABC15’s expert on immigration, border issues, and Mexican-centric Latin Culture. Prior to joining ABC15, Liliana was a multimedia journalist and weekend news anchor for Univision in Phoenix, Arizona and Austin,Texas.

In 2017, Liliana won an Emmy as an investigative journalist for exposing a case of abuse of authority and discrimination by officers in the Phoenix police department against a Hispanic woman. She was also honored as a reporter for her continued coverage live in the middle of a mob scene while tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets were deployed to dispersed anti-Trump protesters during confrontations with Phoenix police officers.

Liliana was also recognized with an Emmy for leading a special investigative project about the deaths of homeless people in Austin, Texas.

In 2018, she took a Communications Specialist position for Mayo Clinic, a recognized world leader in patient care, education and research. She also worked for NBC Universal as a freelance journalist for Telemundo Network.

This same year, during her spare time and while off-air, Liliana continued reporting on important issues in the Latino community for her blog. She broke the story about sexual abuses against migrant children housed at a Southwest Key facility in Mesa, Arizona. In 2019, a worker from that facility was sentenced to 19 years’ imprisonment for sexually abusing migrant children.

In 2020, Liliana won an Emmy as an investigative journalist for exposing a potential serial sexual predator who went unnoticed for many years. Liliana not only brought to light his alleged sexual crimes, but also revealed the issues Spanish-speaking women face when reporting sexual assault to Phoenix PD. The story was produced in both English and Spanish. This is the first time an English language station has won a Rocky Mountain Emmy for an investigative report in Spanish.

Liliana also freelances as a bilingual multimedia journalist and as a news anchor and is a member of the German-American network of broadcast journalists as a RIAS Berlin fellow. Liliana is also an IRE fellow, a member of the RTDNA, SPJ and NAHJ. Liliana is currently collaborating as a mentor of the The Latino Reporter program, as an advisor for Water Whys, and sits at the advisory board of the Radio/audio production program at EVIT. She also served on the advisory board for WINN (Women in the News Network),