The country’s first Hmong American TV news anchor made his debut this week in Des Moines,IA.
WOI did not push the significance of this accomplishment into the background pointing out numerous times that Chenue Her is the country;s first and only Hmong American male news anchor.
Her grew up in St. Paul where he followed the career of the first Hmong American news anchor in the Twin Cities, Gia Vang.
Her said he often held up Vang as an example whenever his parents questioned whether he could make it in the news business.
Her shared a touching moment on Facebook which happened during his first newscast on WOI-TV’s Good Morning Iowa.
Vang surprised him with a video taped congratulations which WOI played during Her’s debut newscast.
First day anchoring at We Are Iowa Local 5 News is a wrap and Y’ALL… I ALMOST CRIED ON AIR, he said on Facebook.
“Gia,…you’ve been a part of my journey from the start. I’m the first Hmong male news anchor ever because of you. We have a saying in Hmong – “Hmoob hlub Hmoob” – which means, “Hmong love Hmong”, and the meaning behind that is to encourage us to love and uplift each other. You are living proof of that, sister.”
According to Axios, Her got his start in Eugene, OR at KEZI and then made a stop in Virginia before ending up covering breaking news in Atlanta at WXIA-TV.
David Loving, president and general manager at WOI-TV said Her had the strongest journalism background and the station wants to represent Iowa’s growing immigrant community.
“Des Moines, I’m so happy to call you home and be a part of this community,” Her said.
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