Dunia Elvir

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Dunia Elvir (born June 9, 1973 in La Ceiba, Honduras) is a television journalist and producer.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Recognitions 4 References

[edit] Early life

Dunia has 2 brothers Orlando and Carlos Elvir. She is the oldest, Orlando is 30 years old and Carlitos (as Dunia calls her younger brother) is 26. Her mother took under her care two of her cousins; Claudia and Maricela who became the sisters Dunia always wanted to have. Growing up in Barrio La Isla in La Ceiba, Dunia used to play soccer and "bate" (baseball)in the street. When she was 15 years old Dunia was sent to Los Angeles, California to live with her maternal grandmother. She went to Jordan High School in Los Angeles and earned her high school diploma as an ESL (English as a Second Language)student. Later on she earned her broadcast degree in American Communication Institute in Hollywood in 1991.Like many other immigrants, Dunia faced many challenges while trying to excel in her career. One year later her first son, Jesus was born. Jesus is Autistic, this disability made her chose home life in order to take care of him. In 1995 she went to Mexico to marry her boyfriend Eduardo whom she lived with since 1991. In 1997 Dunia's second son Lalo (Eduardo) was born. A few years later this first marriage had a rocky patch and the couple divorced in July 2001, when Dunia left the house with her two children. On April 12, 2003 Dunia married Carl Procida (whom she calls the love of her life). Now she has 2 more children, Adrianna and Josieanna.

[edit] Career

Elvir started her career in California in Mexican Radio in 1989. She later moved to KRCA Channel 62 in Los Angeles as reporter and TV news presenter ^[1][2].

Since 2000, she has worked for Telemundo in Los Angeles ^[3]. She is also a correspondent on the TV program Cada día con Maria Antonieta (Every day with Maria Antonieta Collins)^[4]. Elvir also reports for Al Rojo Vivo, Noticiero Telemundo and Cotorreando.

She has interviewed Salma Hayek, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vicente Fox, Tony Saca, former US treasurer Rosario Marin, former President of Honduras Ricardo Maduro and his ex-wife Aguas Santas Ocaña Navarro, current Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales and first Lady Xiomara de Zelaya, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

On 2006, she travelled to Central America to work on various special reports on El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. She also covered el Cucuy de la Mañana's "Votos por America" tour.

[edit] Recognitions

Elvir has received many recognitions because of her reports on human interest stories. ^[5]

She was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Best Investigative Report in Los Angeles in 2001. She also won the "Golden Mike" with her report Corners of Sin as the Best Investigative Report of the year.

Elvir has received various special recognitions from the Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County, the California State Senate, and members of the US Congress.

She also won the GLAAD Award in 2005.

She was invited as a special guest to visit the White House by The National Association of Latina Leaders (NALL)^[6].

In 2006, she received the "Distinguished Award Visitor" from the city of La Ceiba, where the 2006 Miss Honduras beauty pageant took place. Up until that point, she was virtually unknown in her own country. ^[7]

In August 2007, she received the "Journalist of the Year" Award in Toronto, Canada at the "Toni Reyes Summer Festival" where over 70 thousand Hispanics from different nationalities gathered to celebrate.

On September 20, 2007 she received from the Camara de Comercio e Industria de Tegucigalpa (Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce and Industry) the "Orgullo Hondureño en el Extranjero" Award for her community service and the positive impact to other Hondurans in the United States.

[edit] References