In the late 1990s, Adriana Aristizábal was one of the most-recognized faces in Colombia, providing live coverage of the war between the FARC, the paramilitaries and the Colombian government from the front lines. 

In 2004, however, she received death threats from the FARC terrorist group. It was then that Adriana decided to leave her country for New York City, where she had the opportunity to work for the Colombian Consulate. Through this position she had close contact with the Latino market and launch her own businesses for nine years. She also had time to publish a book: Caught in the Storm of War: Memoirs of a War Reporter, a fascinating insider's account from a TV war reporter, who survived death threats, bullets on the battled field and kidnaping from the oldest guerrilla group in the world. 

In her book, originally published in 2017, Aristizábal recounts her personal experience and contributes a female point of view to what she witnessed from the trenches of the FARC, the paramilitaries, and the government at the turn of the 20th century. 

Aristizábal's words seek to pay homage to the victims of the conflict.

"It is a book that also seeks to pay homage to the journalists murdered in Colombia," she said in a press release. 

The Spanish edition of book, En Fuego Cruzado: Memorias de una Reportera de Guerra, published by Intermedio Editores, was launched last Saturday, April 30 at the International Book Fair of Bogota (FILBo) — Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá (FILBo) — in an event that included a conversation with the Minister of Culture Angélica Mayolo about the new roles and challenges that exemplary women have assumed in the cultural, social and political fields.

 

 

 

 

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Currently, the renowned journalist is the CEO and founder of  iVoice Communications, a global public relations agency she started in 2013.

Aristizábal holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, a master's degree in Administrative Science, and a master's degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. In 2020, HOLA! Magazine selected her as one of the 100 most influential Latinas in the United States.

Through her company, and since 2017, Aristizábal has served as spokesperson for NYC & Company, the organization that promotes New York City worldwide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, her work for New York City was vital. Adriana was one of the key Hispanic voices supporting the reopening of the tourism industry, a sector that, in 2019, received 66.6 million visitors, created 400,000 jobs, and generated $70 billion-revenue for New York City.

"Definitely, Latinos are the largest minority in the United States, a minority that continues to grow, that has a spending power of $1.7 trillion, we are 61 million Hispanics in the United States and all these people consume, buy, spend, invest, it is a community that is eager to participate, a very important community in the tourism sector and we are a fundamental part of this great organism called the United States," she told LatinGlam magazine, for which she was on the cover of the April edition.

Adriana has been a news anchor for NY1 Noticias, a flagship TV station in the Big Apple, as well as a guest columnist for the Huffington Post, Thrive Global and a lecturer at various universities in the United States. In 2017, she joined the 50 Latinas Más Poderosas (50 Most Powerful Latinas) event as a panelist at Columbia University, chosen by Fortune Magazine and ALPFA. Last March, Forbes also invited her to the first international women's summit held in the United Arab Emirates, where Adriana had the opportunity to share her life lessons learned during her career.

According to Aritizábal: 

"We Latin Americans in the U.S. lack unity, we have a lot of division within our own communities, we are always looking at whether they are Colombians working with Colombians, or Venezuelans, etc," she told LatinGlam.

She added that there are sectors that have managed to advance because there is unity among them, "but we must unite as Latinos, I think we need more political representation by Hispanics in the United States, new figures and people who take the risk of running for elected office to represent us and also have the general support of the Latino community because the demographic shows that we are also very important for voting, this is failing, we need as Latinos to love each other more, have more connection with our businesses, give more support to each other, also be happy about the successes of others."