After 19 years working for the Miami Herald, Frances “Frenchie” Robles is leaving the paper on Dec. 14. After a one-month break, she’ll join the New York Times as a national and foreign correspondent, covering Florida and the Caribbean.
She starts the new gig Jan. 14 in NYC, where she’ll spend a few months before heading back to her home base of Miami.
“That assignment is probably only going to be about a year; they really want me to work in New York,” says Frenchie. “This job takes me full circle. I was a night copy girl at the Times while studying at NYU.”
Frenchie has spent the last 19 years at the Herald, where she has held multiple roles. She was an education, police and courts reporter before heading the Managua and Bogotá bureaus for the paper. She was also the Cuba reporter for 6 years and most recently, an enterprise writer.
Prior to the Herald, she was a staff writer at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
About her decision to leave the Herald, she says:
“When the recession hit and newspapers like The Herald started laying off reporters in droves, everybody kept asking: ‘What’s your plan B?’ I love and am committed to journalism, so my Plan B was for Herald executives to call the SWAT team to drag me out of newsroom. It’s so exciting to be offered a dream job at such a prestigious paper and be able to remain in the news-gathering business — without having to involve the police.”
