Fairy tales in careers are not found, they are made. Lorena Lim's career might seem like a fairy tale but it is very real and the result of her determined journey to leverage every opportunity as it was presented.

As a girl growing up in Havana Cuba, Lorena's career path is definitely an anomaly. Getting into a STEM program at the only Cuban university to offer one is not the typical track of a Weather Channel on-camera meteorologist. Especially a young female student of Asian descendants in Havana. 

Lorena's early inspiration came from her Grandfather who had an insatiable appetite for news, and weather in particular. Her family, like many families in Havana, was pushing her to explore liberal arts programs and degrees but Lorena had caught the science bug from her Grandpa. She was determined to be a weather forecaster and she went on to do that for Cuba's equivalent of the NWS, INMET.

At 26 years old, Lorena jumped at the opportunity to immigrate to Florida and put her blossoming career on the launch pad. First, Oklahoma doing Spanish language weather forecasting/reporting in Tulsa and Oklahoma. Then came the same role in Salt Lake City. Think for a moment about that, an Asian-Hispanic meteorologist from Havana Cuba reporting Spanish language weather in Utah.

Then it happen. The Weather Channel Español came calling. Less than five years after leaving her native Cuba, Lorena finds herself living in a Top 10 DMA and an on-camera meteorologist at one of America's most trusted national networks. When I asked her what the biggest surprises were since she joined TWG, she offered two things, examples of her incredible humility:

1. How opportunistic the chance to do remote corresponding during Ian was and how soon it came in her new role. That's a demonstration of trust in her ability but also a leadership team that stretches and give talent room to grow.

2. How welcoming the team at The Weather Channel is and how resources are shared across the different platforms. They are a team that sees the merger of heritage and languages as external growth, not internal competition.

As we come to the final week of Hispanic Heritage Month, I think it's important to recognize what incredible perspective our peers of Hispanic heritage offer to the diversity of our culture and businesses. I believe that Lorena Lim is a terrific representation of what each of our own career fairy tales could be.

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