I’m the daughter of Filipino immigrants. My father grew up in extreme poverty in the provinces of the Philippines. He worked hard to rise above his adversities. Through journalism, my father was able to get himself out of poverty. He became an accomplished journalist in the Philippines and was appointed by the president at the time as a diplomat the U.S. That’s how my family came to America. I was born in Los Angeles on the day before Independence Day. Growing up, I always watched my father reading the newspaper every morning and typing away on his typewriter and later, computer. I never wanted to become a journalist but I shared his love of writing. I wanted to become an archeologist when I was little like Indiana Jones, Rick O’ Connell (The Mummy), and Lara Croft. When I got older and realized that’s not how archeology really is so I decided to try my hand at newspaper writing. I joined my high school campus paper. I cranked out my first article and everything started clicking. I would crank out article after article. At times, half the newspaper was all articles written by me, and within a year, I became Managing Editor. That’s when I knew I wanted to pursue journalism. I went to Cal State University, Northridge and majored in broadcast journalism. In college, I interned at NBC Nightly News, FOX News Channel, FOX Sports Net, ABC 7 Los Angeles and at a cable access station called “Garden Grove TV3”. I was selected for the Meredith Cronkite Fellowship at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at KPHO CBS 5 Phoenix. I got my first job at KCOY KKFX (CBS 12/FOX11) in Santa Maria, CA. Then I got hired as a Reporter Development Associate in the NBC Reporter Development Program where I worked as a multimedia journalist at NBC 7 San Diego. I worked there for six years working my way up to become a Reporter, Weather Anchor and fill-in News Anchor. I am now a 4x-Emmy winning Reporter & Weather Anchor at FOX 5 San Diego. - Liberty Zabala @libertyzabala Check out the rest of Liberty's story on SDVoyager.com Image credits: ROESINK PHOTOGRAPHY