Patty Aleman-Chavarria
KVIA Art Director Patty Aleman-Chavarria came to ABC-7 knowing she had attained one of her dreams.
Patty made up her mind years ago to find a way to make a career out of designing. While she was pursuing that dream, she stumbled upon a job in television, and fell in love with the broadcast industry. She was at a crossroads. How could she be a designer, yet not give up on the invigorating environment of news, deadlines, and stress? (to be continued)
Patty was born in Ciudad Juarez Chih. Mexico and moved to El Paso with her family when she was a child. She dappled in the design arena as far back as she can remember.
While attending Socorro High School, Patty landed a job in television and put her interests in design on the back burner, temporarily. She learned to operate studio cameras; she trained to edit; she familiarized herself with broadcasting design equipment; and if those three areas weren’t enough, she decided she wanted to learn to direct news. She learned to direct news all right. Patty was a director for news at KTSM Channel 9 for four of the seven years she worked there.
“Paying your dues” is a standard montra for rookies in the news industry, and Patty was no exception. Patty pulled the early morning news shift for a while. Waking up at 3 a.m. presented her with a challenge. A breakfast challenge. A splash of coffee in a mug of hot chocolate that turned cold within minutes was the solution. Oh, and doughnuts.
Between newscasts, Patty found herself spending more and time shadowing her colleagues responsible for all the graphic elements in the newscasts. She discovered a need for graphic designers in the television industry.
According to Patty, “that’s when the light bulb went off in my head and I realized I could have a career in the field I love, graphic design, and not have to leave a new industry I had also grown to love.”
Patty stayed with KTSM for seven years and joined KVIA as Art Director in February of 2003. She is finished her degree in Graphic Design at UTEP with a minor in Painting. She is happy to be at KVIA, and we are very happy to have her.
