After 12 years of living in Halifax there are still barriers for a Hispanic woman in the media industry. “Here in the Maritimes my accent is an issue” says a Mexican journalist working at CTV.
Maria Marteli graduated from the NSCC College as a broadcast journalist. She started as an intern at CTV Atlantic and got hired almost three years ago in the technical area.
Marteli defines her position as “jack of all trades.” She does control room, studio, editing, shooting and more. Back in Mexico, she was the host of a show for Telemar, a regional Mexican TV channel.
“I like telling stories one way or another, whether I am a shooter or an editor. I don´t necessarily need to be on camera to do it.” She says.
Marteli says there are three immigrants working at CTV Atlantic, including her. For the three of them English is not their mother language.
According to the latest census, 92 per cent of the total population in Nova Scotia reported English as their mother tongue. Only 4.8 per cent reported an immigrant language.
Sandy Crocker is Regional Coordinator of the ESL and Literacy Program at Halifax Public Libraries, a program focused on helping newcomers to settle in the province. “The biggest barrier newcomers face when job hunting is language”, he says.
Marteli says the biggest barrier for her has been the accent.
“We do have an accent and we do have a little bit of harder time to make ourselves understand to other people… I tend to feel that we have to be proving ourselves over and over again, always proving that we can understand and that we can do what is expected of us.” She says.
Ute Fiedler is President of BTC Consulting- Intercultural and Growth Mindset. She has more than 10 years of experience working with immigrants, refugees, international students and local people “helping them increase effectiveness in their communication across cultures, working across cultures, and negotiating across cultures.“
“We tell people that having an accent is not a barrier, is just a confirmation than this person speaks more than one language and that´s a huge benefit for business development.” Fiedler says.
Marteli´s professional short term goals are to “get better in her craft and be the best of what she can possibly be” without changing who she is.
“I don´t want to lose my accent, I think that makes me unique, that makes me different and I know that I can bring something different to the table when it comes to story ideas. I can reach a demographic that other people can´t”. She says.