Helena Moreno
Helena Nancy Moreno (born September 30, 1977) is a Mexican-American journalist and politician serving as the president of the New Orleans City Council and First Division Councilmember-at-Large. Moreno was formerly a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, where she represented the District 93. She was first elected in May 2010 during a special election and was unopposed in her re-election in the fall of 2011. On October 14, 2017, Moreno was elected to the Division 1 at-large seat on the New Orleans City Council, winning by nearly 2–1 against her two  opponents, fellow Democratic state Representative Joseph Bouie Jr. and Democrat Kenneth Cutno, and avoiding a runoff. Early life and education. Helena Moreno was born in the seaside city of Veracruz, Veracruz State, Mexico, the daughter of Felix and Nancy Pearson Moreno. With her parents she moved to Houston, Texas, where she was a 1995 graduate of Episcopal High School. Moreno is a 1999 graduate in mass communication from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, where she wrote for the "Daily Campus"; she also studied at American University in the District of Columbia while working in the White House for  First Lady Hillary Clinton. A native speaker of both English and Spanish, Moreno studied for six months in Madrid, Spain. Career. Journalism. Prior to graduation from SMU, Moreno completed internships with KTRK-TV and KHOU-TV in Houston. After graduation, she went to WTOC-TV in Savannah, Georgia, whence she was recruited by Hearst-Argyle Broadcasting Corporation for WDSU-TV in New Orleans. At WDSU, Moreno became anchor for the morning news. Her reporting during Hurricane Katrina brought her accolades, including a citation as Broadcaster of the Year from the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of the (AFL-CIO ). During her career in journalism, she received several awards from the Associated Press, was voted best television reporter by "Gambit Magazine" readers for four consecutive years and was part of the team awarded an Emmy for outstanding coverage during hurricane Katrina. She left her broadcast news career in 2008 to pursue public service. Politics. In March 2008, Moreno resigned from WDSU to challenge then-incumbent United States Representative William J. Jefferson in Louisiana's 2nd congressional district Democratic primary election. Her campaign was insistent on obtaining "the answers we deserve" concerning inadequate efforts to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina . She received sufficient votes to force the incumbent into a runoff election, which Jefferson won. Jefferson was subsequently defeated, in the general election, by Republican Joseph Cao, who had Moreno's endorsement as well as that of other Democrats such as City Councilwomen Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson and Stacy Head. In 2010, after the election of Karen Carter Peterson to the Louisiana State Senate, Moreno became a candidate for Peterson's vacated District 93 seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives. The special election primary occurred on 2010 May 1, with Moreno obtaining 27 percent of the vote and entering a  runoff election with James Perry, who had 38 percent. Much of the runoff campaign, which Moreno won, involved personal issues of allegations of traffic violations. The allegations, and Perry's handling of them, were such that two weeks before the runoff the "Times-Picayune", which earlier had endorsed Perry, withdrew its endorsement. Personal life. Moreno is also a realtor with Talbot Realty Group in New Orleans and resides in Uptown, New Orleans with her husband, Chris Meeks.