WARRIOR

How grit and ambition have fueled a woman’s career.

In her debut memoir, Guerrero, chief investigative correspondent for Inside Edition, traces her journey to becoming a fierce “victim’s avenger” and role model. Raised by her father, a social worker, after her mother died when she was 8, Guerrero—who took her mother’s surname in homage to her heritage—missed having a woman’s guidance as she grew up. She never forgot, though, her mother’s admonition that her name, in Spanish, means warrior. To help her cope with her mother’s death, her father enrolled her in theater therapy classes, where the shy, gangly young girl discovered that she loved to perform. A model at the age of 16, she later enrolled in acting classes, but her career took an unexpected turn when she was selected to join the elite Los Angeles Rams cheerleading team. At first, she was exhilarated by the adoring fans and the camaraderie of her squad, but cheerleaders were treated as no more than “cheap labor and hot bodies,” and after four years of grueling, underpaid work, the “constant makeovers and body-shaming” made the gig unappealing. Guerrero parlayed that experience into trailblazing jobs in sports, including as entertainment director for the Atlanta Falcons and as a sportscaster in LA. She also landed a part as a glamorous bad girl on a popular soap opera. For a while, she worked at Fox Sports, where she experienced the sexism and misogyny that permeated the Fox organization. A low point of her career occurred when she was hired as a sideline reporter on Monday Night Football. Mercilessly criticized in the media as “eye candy” and harassed by her boss, she became depressed and nearly suicidal. When her marriage to a baseball star failed, she felt at an impasse—until she seized an offer from Inside Edition that catapulted her into media stardom.

A forthright recounting of an eventful life.