Meet Laura Castaneda of Press Pass International

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Castaneda.

Hi Laura, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am the proud product of Chicago Public Schools on the Northside of the city (Logan Square). I knew very little about journalism. My parents were not formally educated, but my dad was well-read. He watched the ten o’clock news every night, and “60 Minutes” was a must in our home on Sunday evenings. He walked in the door from work, with a Chicago Sun-Times or Chicago Tribune tucked under his arm. Sadly, our mostly Latino neighborhood was rarely in the news unless it involved crime, street gang warfare, or an accident.

It wasn’t until a crime unfolded at my High School that I realized how important journalism was to society. In my senior year, our principal, James Moffat, was indicted for sexually abusing students in his office. Moffatt made front-page news.

It wasn’t just that incident, but my city life experience that shaped me. It prepared me for being a great storyteller. We were one of the first Mexican-American families in a mixed ethnic neighborhood, which later became majority Puerto Rican. I learned how to dance to salsa music before I knew how to dance to Mexican rancheras.

Sadly, many of my friends were raised by single mothers, so kids my age ended up getting involved in street gangs. Knowing them allowed me to have a unique understanding of poverty, juvenile delinquency and gave me the grace later in life to interview mothers who’d lost children to gang violence and crime.

My older sister and I got involved in sports at Kelvyn Park High School, and truthfully, Volleyball saved my life. It kept me away from my troubled friends. I had to earn good grades to be an athlete.

I ended up at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, a Big Ten school, three hours away from home. It was the opposite of the world I knew. I felt like I didn’t belong. No one looked like me, not the students, not the professors, and not the staff. At the time, the student population was 42,000 students, and only 1 percent, Latino. Many of us, especially those from the inner-city neighborhoods in Chicago, routinely gathered at the cultural center, La Casa Cultural Latina, on campus. It was our lifeline. It was at the University of Illinois where my writing was my comfort. And while I decided my major was going to be journalism, the College of Communications turned me down because of my G.P.A. It was a blow, but I was determined to keep trying. So, I took classes that would help me become a better writer, and I started networking with other professional journalists who were willing to mentor me. I graduated in 1987 and earned my degree in English.

Against all odds and feeling like an imposter at times, I landed my first job at WLS-TV (now ABC7) in Chicago. My first role was an entry-level position, alongside the same professionals I had seen on television as a kid.. Journalists like Theresa Gutierrez, Linda Yu, Chuck Goudie, Russ Ewing, Diann Burns, Paul Meinke, Mary Ann Childers, Jay Levine, and John Drury. I studied them. And with each passing day, I learned, and I grew. As much as I loved Chicago, I had no choice but to leave if I wanted to pursue reporting on television news. I was fortunate to have mentors critique my demo reel (sometimes harshly), but when five of them gave me the green light, I mailed out 60 VHS tapes.

A year later, I received a call from a news director in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson looked like the Wild, Wild West. Mr. Ray Depa hired me at KGUN-TV, and it was my first exposure to life along the U.S.-Mexico border. I was hooked! I was often sent to Mexico to cover stories.

In 1995, I landed in San Diego to report for KGTV. It was a natural move to cover another border region. I planned to remain in San Diego for three years and head back home to Chicago. But life would take an interesting turn.

About that time, I started teaching a newswriting class at San Diego City College. When a long-time professor retired, I was recruited by the Radio, TV, and Film department to teach full-time. I was hesitant. Teaching was not in my career plan.

I was hired and spent the next 17 years mentoring and grooming the next generation of journalists. I enjoyed watching them grow. Many went on to successful media careers in English and Spanish. I still keep in touch with many of them today. Along the way, I also taught classes at Palomar College, San Diego State University, and Point Loma Nazarene University.

I never stopped working as a freelance journalist, doing video production projects, and formed my company, Press Pass International. I started producing documentaries such as “Maid in America”, “Little Tommy”, and my longest project, “The Devil’s Breath”, about the victims who perished in the 2007 wildfires. It was nominated for an Emmy Award and aired on UCSD-TV and several PBS stations around the country, and debuted at the San Diego Latino Film Festival. I also hosted and produced my own News Magazine show called “Stories de la Frontera.” It won two Emmy Awards.

In 2020, I made the personal decision to return to the media industry. I was hired at the San Diego Union-Tribune as a member of the Editorial Board and Community Opinion Editor. I spent the next five years giving people a voice and helping the community publish commentaries. At first, it was a fulfilling role. I was promoted to Deputy Editor and praised by my bosses and colleagues. Then, the paper was sold in 2023 to Alden Global Capital and run by Southern California News Group. Half the staff took buyouts or quit. Within a few months, the new owners disbanded the Spanish Language Section of the U-T, firing the entire staff with zero notice. They started restricting our endorsements, and on June 13, 2025, when two of my colleagues and I authored an editorial on the ICE raids in Los Angeles, the Publisher, Ron Hasse, refused to publish it. Four hours later, I was cut off from my computer and told that my position had been eliminated.

For the past five months, I have been freelancing and working on my sixth documentary. This one is very dear to my heart. It’s titled “Nash’s Journey: From El Barrio to Union Victory. It tells the story of my dad from his upbringing in El Paso. Texas to his presidency as a union leader with UAW, and how he spearheaded a federal lawsuit on behalf of thousands of workers at Greyhound Bus Lines in the 1980s and won.

My husband is from Oaxaca, Mexico. We have four grown children and grandchildren. Knowing him has exposed me to more of my Mexican heritage and the environment, specifically the ocean.

I’m blessed to have my parents alive and both living in Sterling-Rock Falls, Illinois. I have two sisters and three nieces and nephews in the Chicago area. They always remind me how my career has kept me away from family celebrations.

My journey has not been an easy one, but I would not trade it for the world. San Diego has been so good to me. I am grateful for my life here and how this community allowed me to share deep and personal stories. I hope to continue to pass on my knowledge and wisdom to younger journalists. I volunteer as president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists for the San Diego/Tijuana chapter, and I am a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors. and I serve on several national boards.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey has not always been easy, especially being away from my family and lifelong friends. As a young journalist, I was willing to pack my bags and go where work took me. But the older I got, the older my parents got. And I had to watch my niece and nephews grow up long-distance. I try to get home more often now, but home is 1400 miles away.

Being a bilingual, bicultural journalist has been a blessing and a curse. Too often, I have been one of a handful of Latino journalists in my newsroom. It’s easy to get pigeonholed if you allow it. I didn’t. I spoke up and covered all types of stories. Also, most readers and viewers have no idea that bilingual journalists often do their work in two languages with no extra pay.

Latino communities in Tucson and San Diego were proud to see me on TV telling their stories, but it was a big responsibility. When they called me, urging me to cover certain stories, I had to convince producers sometimes who didn’t think the stories were worthy. I did my best, and I often hear from community leaders even today who appreciate it.

As you know, we’re big fans of Press Pass International . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I founded Press Pass International in 2000. I was an independent journalist, and I liked the name because I could focus on many things. Initially was hired by many publications to write freelance articles, both locally and nationally. I was also summoned by various community organizations that wanted to hire me to produce videos that would be shown at their gala celebrations. I did work for UCSD-TV and KPBS-TV.

In addition to that work, I also do media consulting and media coaching, teaching professionals how to respond to on-camera interviews.

Although I have been approached to do Public Relations work, I have not. The only organization I have worked for in that capacity is the Media Arts Center San Diego, which produces the San Diego Latino Film Festival.

Once I left academia, many of my former students were seeking representation by talent agents and could not afford them. So I expanded the company to include finding journalists permanent full-time jobs in the media. That only lasted a few years, then along came the pandemic, so I temporarily shut the company down. Very few stations were hiring, and my conscience would not allow me to take money from clients when I saw what the salaries were out there.

To date, I have revamped my website, and I’m focusing on documentary work right now. www.presspassinternational.com

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Sometimes you go into a career thinking that’s all you can do. But after I was let go from KGTV when my contract was not renewed, it opened many doors I did not know were possible. Had that not happened, I never would have started my own show, produced any documentaries, or started teaching.

You heard the saying, “When one door closes, another one opens.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.presspassinternational.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/presspassinternational/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presspassint/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracasta%C3%B1eda/
• Twitter: @presspasslc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@presspassinternational2667

Image Credits
For the 4th photo (Laura in olive green blouse) please credit Daniel Hernandez

For the last photo, please credit Shannon Bradley

All others get credit of Laura Castañeda