Compelling conversations have always been at the heart of the University of Houston-Downtown’s Gator Grit Speaker Series. This month, UHD will feature "Gators in the Media” at 12 p.m., Feb 24.

The event will be conducted as a Zoom webinar. Attendees must register to attend. Moderated by Dr. Creshema Murray, Special Assistant to the President & Associate Professor of Corporate Communication, the event will feature a panel of esteemed UHD alumni to speak about their experience working in the media.

Speakers include:

• Brian Mendoza, News Reporter, NBC10/Telemundo62 Philadelphia: Mendoza is a reporter covering South Jersey news for Telemundo62. Prior to joining Telemundo62, he worked as a multi-media journalist and fill-in anchor at Spanish-language station WUNI in Boston and as an anchor and producer at Telemundo affiliate station in Abilene.
   
• Mary Flood, Legal Media Consultant, previous Houston Chronicle Reporter: Flood is a 30-year veteran of newspaper reporting, a lawyer and a media relations consultant. She previously worked as a legal reporter for The Wall Street Journal’s Texas Journal before joining the Houston Chronicle where she was a legal reporter for 10 years. She’s won more than 50 awards for excellence in reporting and writing.
   
• Margaret Barrientos, Data Reporter, Houston Business Journal: Barrientos researches and creates "The Lists" for the Houston Business Journal. She regularly performs data analysis, research, and writes articles on industry changes for the publication. Her previous experience includes newsletter editing, marketing, creating book reviews and technical writing.
   
• Victoria De Leon, KUSA-TV, 9NEWS: DeLeon is a multi-skilled journalist at 9NEWS in Denver. She joined the 9NEWS team from TEGNA sister station KBMT-TV in Beaumont. Before then, she spent a year as an intern and then associate producer at KENS in San Antonio.

This is the fifth year UHD has hosted the Gator Grit series which highlights leaders who showcase examples of grit that inspire courage, resolve and tenacity within both UHD, the Houston community and beyond.