Civil Rights Pioneer, Emmy Award®-Winning Broadcast Journalist, Columnist, Community Leader, Women's Rights Activist, Educator, Author, and much more.
Yolanda has devoted her life to using her voice to teach, inspire and lead.
In front of a classroom, behind a TV anchor desk, on stage, as a board member, or through the written word, Yolanda reaches and connects with diverse audiences.
As a result of her sudden blindness, Yolanda spends her energy living a life changed, but hasn’t slowed down. Her spirituality and sense of clarity in purpose allow her to focus on her enduring goal of making a difference in people’s lives through her storytelling skills and generous spirit.
The first Mexican American woman to report for a network in Los Angeles, Yolanda earned a coveted Emmy® award for her field reporting in the aftermath of the 1987 earthquake. She was also known for her compassionate reporting on the AIDS epidemic and the federal government’s amnesty program. Ms. Nava continued her broadcast career in Sacramento as a Capitol Correspondent and anchor. She returned to Los Angeles where she rounded out her broadcast career on KNBC’s “Sunday,” KCBS’s 2-the-Point,” and as the West Coast Producer and host of the nationally-syndicated Hispanic television magazine, “Latin Tempo,” which aired on NBC affiliated in 20 US markets, and won an “Entertainer of the Year” award.
As an anchor on Cable News Channel 40 in Sacramento, Yolanda appeared nightly in 40 markets from California to the Continental Divide, garnering her an “Entertainer of the Year” Award. Yolanda was co-Founder of KCMY/TV, channel 29, in Sacramento, which was the first TV station in the nation owned and operated by Mexican American women, and co-founder of Los Angeles Plaza de Cultura y Artes which celebrates the contributions of Latinos and Mexicanos to the City of Angels.
Yolanda’s strong advocacy on behalf of women has been recognized since she was in her 20s.
She’s served on the California Highway Patrol’s Women Traffic Officer Project and the Attorney General’s Task Force on Women’s Rights. She was a founding member of Comision Feminil Mexicana Nacional, Los Angeles Chapter, and a founder of Centro de Niños, a multi-cultural child development center for multi-cultural working families. The Los Angeles Times named her as one of five Outstanding Women of Achievement (1986).
Along with internationally renowned author Isabel Allende, she was part of the “Remarkable Women: Latinas on the Move” exhibit at the California Museum of Women, History and the Arts in Sacramento.
Yolanda joined the Judicial Evaluation Commission of the California State Bar as a public member. She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum, Southern California Chapter.
Starting her career as a high school teacher in Los Angeles’ inner-city, Yolanda honed her skills as a United Way-Neighborhood Youth Corps counselor and director for at-risk youth, a community college instructor, and a staffing coordinator for the California State University system’s 19 campuses. She also was a communications consultant to LAUSD, the nation’s second largest school district.
It was during her tenure as director of development for a family literacy program called “Strengthening Family Ties” that she gained firsthand knowledge of the challenges facing US-born welfare families who regularly “fell through the cracks” into a cycle of poverty and hopelessness. Their experiences were in stark contrast to the quick upward mobility of recent Mexican immigrants who often arrived in the US with – literally – only the shirts on their backs but participated in the Amnesty program, attended school, obtained a high school diploma and availed themselves of training programs offered to all adults. These cases informed her later work and writings.
The people she met in the barrio of East Los Angeles inspired her to explore these differences in upward mobility and inspired her to write her first book, It’s All in the Frijoles, a book of virtues and dichos (wise sayings) based on interviews with dozens of famous Latinos, as well as wisdom culled from her mother’s teaching. Frijoles received a Best Self-help Book Award from the Latino Literary Hall of Fame.
She served as a member of Governor Bill Richardson’s team, in the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs in executive positions within the Museums and Monuments of New Mexico and the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
Yolanda has also authored Good Food, Good Health – and its Spanish edition “Buena Comida, Buena Salud, a labor of love to help readers prevent heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
Yolanda is a sought-after motivational speaker and has addressed local and national organizations, colleges and universities.