The road from Palermo to Philadelphia, which included work stays in New York, Denver, Houston and Albuquerque, ended with more than one award: 9 Emmys, the statuette made of nickel, silver and bronze, fitted with 18 -carat gold, representing a woman holding an atom.

Belén Smole is the Argentine journalist who has lifted two kilograms of muse nine times. At 32 years old -and with less than a decade of residence in the United States -he is the face of the news at NBC Philadelphia and owner of a portfolio that includes intense coverage, such as the 2021 winter storm in Texas, which leaving 246 dead and five million people without electricity.

In 2020, for example, his research was baptized “Bulletproof backpacks in the back” it achieved one of those distinctions from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the “best school report” category. Together with the Univisión team, he tested backpacks for public sale containing projectiles at the school shooting event. He is already accustomed to leading applauded investigative teams in the north. children of silencehis production for Univision, discovered the sexual abuse of Hispanic children committed by priests of the New Mexico Catholic Church.

Son of an accountant and a dentist, he said that at the age of eight he asked for his first engraving as a gift. I played Billiken magazine reading aloud, while being playful was more inclined to communication. The first memories associated with the news carried him on the voice of Débora Pérez Volpin as background music. “I remember preparing to go to school with the news Up Argentina and in the sweet manner of his approach in the morning “.

In Slovenian blood, he read his story as a reverse path to Don José Smole, the grandfather who came to the country after World War II, on a journey that became possible thanks to the help of the Vatican. “They gave him two choices: Canada or Argentina. And legend has it that when he came to Buenos Aires, on a national date, he saw a big caceroleada in the Plaza de Mayo and felt like he was coming to paradise. I think the process we have to go through, an adjustment, that an immigrant is doing again towards a new system. “

Curiosity about the experience abroad has haunted him since he was a teenager. At age 18, he signed up for a “Work and Travel” program at Disney parks, and when he returned three months later, he was sure: “I need to go out into the world, explore it.”

Back in Buenos Aires, he studied Journalism at UCA, became a professor at this institution, and completed his training in front-camera driving classes with Sandra Borghi and Mario Massaccesi. On air on television he found his specialty. He came to lead a digital newscast Youtube With Luis Otero and his fluidity in presenting the news pushed him into major television networks.

Received in 2012, before the hemisphere changed, he traveled to London to cover the Paralympic Games and some of his notes were published in Clarion. In 2013 worked at the Disney corporate press from Olivos to large parts of Latin America and the next ladder of work continued as a one -minute video presenter for foreign agencies. One plane in Salzburg generated a domino effect of another thousand planes. In 2015, he participated in a media seminar with colleagues from Lebanon and mentors emerged who pushed him into an international scholarship.

During his stay in Austria where he slept in the palace of Leopoldskron, where he filmed the novice of the rebelthey proposed to apply for a Master’s degree at Columbia University, from New York. “There were two weeks left, and without sleep, against the clock, I started filling out applications and meeting the requirements,” he recalls. “I had to get at least 114 points out of 120 on the English language test, as well as another series of tests, like world news. I finally won a partial scholarship, and to compile and My family helped me move to the United States. “

“I remember I came in with nothing but a suitcase, it was a clean record. I was the immigrant, I came from a country that many don’t even know, and I tried to present my point of view, but I feel like they didn’t listen to me. That was double apprenticeship, until I made a place for myself. I signed up for the heaviest class, I made the most of everything, I just went back to the apartment to sleep, ”he details from Pennsylvania.“ With Indian and Latino students, we tried to eat for free at university events, it is a time of great sacrifice. “

Ten months of Columbia adventure and a specialization in the audiovisual segment was enough for him to stand up and try an interview on CNN. had as a guarantee a powerful thesis purchased by NBC News, the mini-documentary of a Paralympic athlete who lost a leg in the fight for the army in Afghanistan.

The internship at CNN was easier than thought. He went to the company’s website, left his information and got a position in Atlanta. He still doesn’t have the financial strength for his own car or for an Uber every day, so he pedals his bike under the scorching Georgia sun toward the giant’s offices. He found that local journalism throughout the United States opened up a powerful field. So came the new and adventurous positions.

The first offer outside of Atlanta was as a reporter/chronist for Univisión in Albuquerque, the largest city in New Mexico. A month and a half was enough for his employers to offer him a move to Denver. There he worked a year and it was the turn of the move to Houston, where he remained three years.

Married to an American she met on Tinder, she was tempted to rebuild the beginning of their relationship. After the first match, Brandon Cowan passed the “Argentinity challenge” when he exposed his knowledge of Lionel Messi. 16 months passed from the first messages until he traveled to Buenos Aires. The bond was strengthened by coexistence on the Island of Guam, and ended with a yes at a castle in Nashville.

Far from being romantically narrated in the stories of hundreds of emigrants, Smole removes the rosy stories of immediate rising in a country where doors seem to open at no sentimental cost. “I have my great life here, but I went back to Argentina and it was painful to see everything I had missed: Sunday roast with my dad and coffee with my mom.

It’s not easy to find a place on the agenda full of meetings and permanent readings. At 9 he entered the NBC building, went up to the 13th floor and on the 10th he entered an editorial meeting. At noon he was already smiling for the Telemundo 62 newscast (from the same business group), a half -hour segment. At 5:00 pm another newscast was put on the shoulder, with Puerto Rican Alberto Rullan. “I work in the so-called duopolis, the same newsroom for newscasts in both Spanish and English.”

A few days ago, his “needle” of emotion exploded to the extreme. She was chosen to lead the #Dishitup ceremony for Women Against Abuse, a women’s anti-abuse association. At the Philadelphia Eagles stadium, he oversees the presentation of the winners for their mission against domestic violence.

More than the pride that left her mark on foreign TV with a toothpaste-like smile, Smole doesn’t leave out the restless side of audiovisual specials that end with gold awards. He once included training done by Police officers and the SWAT team for armed teachers to stop a school massacre in Colorado.. He also opened a ring of illegal license plates in Texas. She keeps her mother’s words fresh when journalism was a utopia. “You see, journalists have no holidayhe warned me. It is so. And I don’t care. “