"I decided to make news, not give it." -Daisy Fuentes
Before J-Lo was tearing down barriers and ceilings for Latino women, there was Daisy Fuentes. A simple girl who started her career in show business as a weather girl, fought through the ranks of MTV as a VJ, and is now an all-around celebrity and sex-symbol. Can I get a schwing from the fellas?
Daisy was born on November 17, 1966 in Havana, Cuba. At the age of three, her family decided to move to Madrid, the capitol of Spain before immigrating to Harrison, New Jersey in the USA. She went on to study communications and journalism at Bergen Community College. During her time in college, she was hired as a weather girl for Univision's (a.k.a. The Spanish Channel) New York affiliate, WXTV 41. Because of her stunning good looks and ability to articulate, Daisy quickly moved up the ranks and was soon a news anchor and reporter for the evening news.
It didn't take long for the news ratings to increase. Soon, other stations started to take notice, especially one large cable station that was beginning to branch out. While working for "the other Spanish channel," Telemundo, Daisy sent in a demo tape to MTV. MTV liked what they saw, and, not wanting to take a big chance, gave her hosting duties on MTV Internacional, a channel that would later turn into MTV Latino. This made Daisy the first Latina to appear as an MTV VJ.
Daisy's career would not stop going upwards. She would soon become the first VJ to cross-over from one of MTV's foreign markets to the American MTV. After Cindy Crawford, she hosted MTV's House of Style and also interviewed the pinnacle of basketball perfection, Michael Jordan, with a show called One on One. Both these shows appeared on MTV and MTV Latino. Shortly after she started her stint with House of Style, Daisy was counting down the Top 20 videos on both networks as well.
Daisy Fuentes did not end up like many other VJ's, black-listed because of their MTV stints. She appeared on the ABC soap opera, Loving, as Tess in 1992. This would be the first of many appearances she made on television. Over the years she's been on such shows as Cybill, Clueless, The Larry Sanders Show, The Weird Al Show, Baywatch, and Queen of Swords. She was also hostess for America's Funniest Shots in the Nuts Home Videos. She's also hosted The Alma Awards, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve '98, The 1998 World Music Awards, 1999 Billboard Latin Awards, as well as several Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants
As I said before, Daisy Fuentes is hot. No, she's hotter than hot. Not only that, she's a testament to determination and hard work. Sure, her gorgeous body and pretty face helped ease her path, but for a Latin woman to work her way up the ranks like Daisy has is impressive. It's just one of those things that re-assures you that America is working how it is supposed to, on occasion.