Starting from scratch, staying connected to Latino heritage

Hugo Acosta, Venezuela

Owner of CNY Latino Media, Syracuse

By Mary Beth Roach

When Hugo Acosta began the CNY Latino monthly newspaper 20 years ago. It was, in part, an effort for the Venezuelan native to reconnect with his Latino culture.

That was two decades ago. Now, the enterprise, called CNY Latino Media, has grown and offers an array of services. Along with his business and life partner, Marisol Hernandez, who hails from Puerto Rico, they publish the newspaper. Despite the challenges that many print newspapers are experiencing, Acosta said his publication is doing well — one reason being that it’s the only one of its kind in the CNY area.

The couple also has a weekly radio program that airs on Wednesdays on WSIV 106.3FM/1540 AM and through the website www.wvoaradio.com.

They also offer translation services for a variety of needs, such as medical and legal matters and video conferences. In addition, their company offers marketing and advertising services from and to the Latino market.

Acosta’s path to becoming a media entrepreneur had some detours along the way.

He came to the U.S. on a scholarship to attend college. He earned a degree in computer science, minoring in marketing and advertising, from the New York Institute of Technology. He met the mother of his daughters in 1989, who is from Central New York. They decided to relocate here to have a family. He owned a computer consulting business, but ended up shuttering it due to some personal issues.

In an interview for the 55 Plus magazine several years ago, Acosta recounted how he had started the newspaper. Seeing a similar publication for the African-American community in Syracuse, he was inspired to create one for Latinos. He was disappointed with his first few issues, though, due to some errors and misspellings. Some readers criticized the publication and Acosta invited one of those critics to help him instead of panning the newspaper. That reader was Hernandez, who would go on to become his business and life partner.

And he got a big confidence boost, too, from one-time Syracuse New Times owner, Art Zimmer. As Acosta described in the earlier interview, Zimmer had shown Acosta some of the awards his publication had won over the years — but he also showed him some of its earlier issues, which had a few mistakes. This encouraged Acosta to carry on.

His efforts at reconnecting with his roots are not limited to business ventures.

In addition to visiting other cultural events, Acosta and Hernandez like to involve themselves in Latino festivals in Geneva, Utica and Albany and help to promote domino tournaments, which is an especially important aspect of the Hispanic Caribbean culture.

So, while Acosta has been able to reconnect with his culture through his entrepreneurship, he and Hernandez continue to help Latinos in Central New York stay linked to their heritage.

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