Long before becoming a successful journalist, Irene Caso was a little girl living in Spain. On the All In podcast, she recalls that her father answered the door one evening to two American Latter-day Saint missionaries, who, in very poor Spanish, asked to share a message about Jesus Christ. After checking with his wife, Irene’s father let them in.
That night, the elders taught the Casos about the plan of salvation. This was a life-changing concept for their family, as their eldest child had tragically passed away years earlier.
The Casos were excited to learn more and invited the elders back the next day to meet some of their friends. However, the message wasn’t received as warmly as it had been the night before. The Casos’ friends mocked the elders and made fun of them for believing that Jesus Christ had visited the Americas.
But despite their friends’ disapproval, the Casos were deeply moved by the missionaries’ message. Not long after, they chose to be baptized.
Serving a Mission
From then on, Irene’s parents were devoted to serving the Lord. They organized parties for their ward, gave rides to members, and were sure to hold home evening each week. It was hard growing up as one of the only members of the Church in her neighborhood and school, but Irene clung to Joshua 24:15: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
She always knew she wanted to be a reporter and decided to study journalism in college. Near the end of her university studies, Irene felt a growing desire to serve a mission and relished the idea of devoting a year and a half of her life to preaching the gospel. But she says that when she told her favorite professor her intentions, he strongly disapproved.
“These years after college are so important,” she remembers him saying. “That’s when you make connections. … I think you will have a very hard time coming back to journalism and being able to do what you want.”
Irene almost listened to him. She saw the rest of her classmates accepting internships, joining newspapers, and starting radio shows, and she felt afraid.
“It was only for a second that I was like, ‘Is he right?’” Irene recalls. But she felt strongly that if she focused on a mission, Heavenly Father would help her achieve her goals.
“And He did,” she says.
“Your Path Is Your Path”
After returning home from her mission, Irene moved to Utah and lived in a basement apartment in Salt Lake City. Remarkably, a journalist with Univision, a Spanish-language American television network, lived upstairs.
“It was a small station here. They only had a couple reporters,” Irene says. “My path was going the right way, and [Heavenly Father] was helping all along. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I really don’t.”
Thanks to this connection, Irene began working for Univision as an assignment editor, answering phone calls and assigning stories to reporters. Later, she became a reporter, followed by a news anchor, and then the news director.
“I saw my career developing, and I was accomplishing wonderful things in broadcasting,” Irene says. “It wasn’t impossible. I did it. I did both things. It is doable. … Don’t let anybody tell you [what your path is]. Your path is your path, and we’re never alone.”
Working for the Church
While working as news director for Univision, Irene received a phone call—the manager of the media division for the Church wanted to meet with her.
Initially, she assumed the Church wanted to collaborate with her on a story, as they had in the past. Instead, she was shocked to receive a job offer.
“It really caught me very off guard because it was not something I was pursuing,” Irene recalls. She asked for time to consider her decision.
“I remember going back home and thinking, ‘No. I’m where I need to be. I’m so comfortable here. This is so cozy here in my newsroom, doing what I know how to do with my small team in my language.’”
She was especially intimidated by the idea of moving to the public relations side of communications instead of the journalism side. She couldn’t imagine not being in front of a camera and not speaking into a microphone—that was what she loved about her job.
But Irene admits that, even during her drive home from the meeting, she knew her answer would be yes.
She says, “I was really … negotiating with the Lord. …. And I started feeling very strongly that the Lord [needed me] on this side.”
Eventually, Irene accepted the position. She says it has been an amazing opportunity, not just for her, but also for her family.
“I [feel] that I’m doing something for [Heavenly Father] in return for all the things He’s given me,” she says.
As part of her current role, she’s the yearly emcee of “Luz de Las Naciones” (Light of the Nations), a showcase of Latino cultures hosted by the Church at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City. She’s also had the opportunity to travel around the world and meet members of the Church from several countries.
“I’ve been from Kazakhstan ... [to] Africa,” she says, “and I get opportunities to see the members in those areas. … We might be thousands [of] miles apart, but the Church is the same. I know it sounds like everybody says that, [but] it’s so true. It’s the same gospel, it’s the same church, it’s the same Jesus. It’s the same, and it’s beautiful. Seeing the Church grow all over the world fills my heart.”
Hear more from Irene on her episode of the All In podcast.
More articles for you:
▶ I told God He’d overdone my suffering. What He told me in reply
▶ Remarkable story of the first Sikh to convert to the Church
▶ 3 sweet traditions Pres. Oaks has with his grandchildren
