CLEAR SKIES AHEAD

“AccuWeather was looking for a bilingual weather broadcaster, but I did not have the weather background and had not until that point considered utilizing my native language, Spanish, as a career tool. So, that sparked my interest right away and I decided to go for it. I think a lot of young people think that you can only be good at science and math or communication and the arts, not both, and I was one of those people. But in retrospect I wonder if there was an accessibility issue that I simply was not exposed to people working in this field. I don't remember ever hearing about weather, meteorology, careers in meteorology, and certainly not Black or Brown women being involved in it. So, that's something I still think about and feel like my path was born from an opportunity I took by stepping outside of my comfort zone.”

— Violeta Yas, meteorologist for NBC New York at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, on her path toward her current career. For more, listen to the Clear Skies Ahead podcast, with new episodes released every other Tuesday.