Hmong men finally caught up to Hmong women in this case

[theking]

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Meet America's first male Hmong anchor


On his way to meet me for coffee, Chenue Her's dad called him to offer congratulation s for his debut as morning anchor on WOI-TV Monday. It was significant for two reasons:

For his St. Paul-based family, there were early fears their Hmong American son wouldn't find a job in TV news.
He proved to them that not only is it possible, but he could someday be the face of a station — even if he has to be the first one to do it.
"For the first time in a long time, my dad said he was proud of me," Her said. "I'm 30, but like, that still means so much to me."

Why it matters: Faces and names matter.

It mattered during job interviews when stations asked Her if he would change his first name — Chenue — to something else. (He said no. He didn't get those jobs.)
It mattered when he could show his parents Gia Vang, the Twin Cities' first Hmong American anchor, after they questioned if he would find a job in the field.
So, who is he? Her is the son of blue-collar Hmong refugees, and he's always been drawn to stories.

There was no written form of Hmong until the 1950s — meaning his family relied on sharing stories to talk about their lives back in Laos and the Thailand refugee camp.
It's "in my DNA," he said.
Her has had a cross-country reporting career, with his most recent stint in Atlanta at WXIA-TV. He's also covered breaking news in Virginia, and got his first break at KEZI-TV in Eugene, Oregon.

But when the opportunity to move from reporter at WXIA to anchor at WOI was presented, it wasn't something he could pass up, even with a 2am wake-up time.

The team at Channel 5 let him be his "true, authentic" self, without asking for anything else, he said.
And they recognized the significance of his anchor debut — giving him a little surprise on-air.
In 2020, TEGNA, the company who owns WOI-TV, made a commitment to improving racial diversity in the company.
David Loving, president and general manager of WOI-TV, said they had many applicants, but Her had the strongest journalism background and the station wants to represent Iowa's growing immigrant population.
What's next: Her is already making Des Moines his home, visiting local shops and restaurants.

He said he hopes to cover the area's immigrants and refugees and "show they're a fabric of this community and their stories deserve to be told."
As for his family, they're already planning their trip here.

[VillainousHero]

Nice, that's awesome.

[Reporter]

Incredible!

[theking]