Promotions on Video

As a 2025-26 fellow, Leila has pitched and driven some of our strongest reporter videos, including standout pieces on the Iran conflict like how President Trump decided to go to war and how migrant workers in Gulf countries have been affected by Iran's strikes . Her reporting and production work - including a powerful piece on ICE detentions - are models for successful reporter video. She brings sharp reporter and producer instincts, consistently spotting stories across the newsroom that translate into high-impact video, visible in pieces on how cocaine trafficking became a big problem for Ecuador and how mayhem unfolded in Mexico following El Mencho's death . A fast and reliable video editor, Leila takes on complicated international productions, moving quickly from idea to finished cut with light supervision.

With her fluent Spanish, collaborative nature and technical strengths, she is a huge asset to our team. We're excited to see what she'll help us build next as she deepens her involvement with international coverage.

Prior to The Times, Leila worked on short-form video at Business Insider; before that she was a video journalist for CNN en Español, where she covered a wide range of topics, including migration, culture and science.

Born and raised in Ecuador, Leila has a bachelor's degree in multimedia and audiovisual production from Universidad de las Américas in Quito, and then moved to New York for her master's in bilingual journalism and documentary from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.