Hey everybody, welcome back to Latina to Latina.

On this podcast, I talk with Latinas about how they got to be so amazing.

How do you introduce a legend?

For more than 30 years, Marielena Salinas was one of the most recognizable faces of Univision.

She came into our homes via the nightly newscast and brought us reports from around the country

and around the world.

Not only did her work inform and empower Latinos, it inspired an entire generation of Latinos

like me to become journalists.

Then, last year, Marilena announced that she was leaving the network to pursue new opportunities.

On one of the rare days when we were both in Miami, we sat down to talk about the sacrifices she made along the way, how she knew when to leave, and what it has taken to reinvent herself.

Thanks for doing this. How exciting to do it in Miami. I know.

I've been watching you on Instagram, and it's what I like to call the emancipation of Maria Elena Salinas. It's like you have a different life than you did a few months ago, and I wonder what that feels like to you.

It's nice. It is a different life. There's a lot of good parts to it and there's some awkward parts to it. I say awkward because especially in the beginning, I told

myself, you're on vacation. But when January came along, every day around noon, I would look

at my watch and think, it's time for me to get ready to go to work. Oh, no, I don't have to go to work. But there is a sense of freedom where I'm happy and proud of the decision that I made. I own my own time. I can basically do what I want. And I try to do all the things that I was never able to do. Like what? Yeah. Well, the frivolous things that I always said is, What did I want to do? I want. And I try to do all the things that I was never able to do.

Like what?

Yeah. Well, the frivolous things that I always said is, what did I want to do? I want to go to

a happy hour. It's been nine months and I've been to one happy hour. That was scheduled by someone

else. But, you know, I spend more time with my daughters. I'm taking care of myself a little

bit more than I used to. I'm taking care of myself a little bit more than I used to.

I'm traveling not only for work, but also for pleasure.

And I am going around the country doing a lot of these speeches that I used to be invited to,

...