Esther J. Cepeda

Esther J. Cepeda was a columnist for the Chicago Sun Times. She now publishes her column "600 words" on http://www.600words.com [http://www.600words.com] and is a blogger for Huffington Post/Chicago [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-j-cepeda] . "600 words by Esther J. Cepeda" is indexed by the Newstex company [http://www.newstex.com/products/search.php?search=600+words] and BlogBurst [http://www.blogburst.com/index.html]

Cepeda incorporated her consulting/publishing business EeJayCee, Inc., in April 2008. She was a director for the United Neighborhood Organization, a Chicago-based non-profit dedicated to empowering the Hispanic community, for a few months before being recruited away to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission where she's been the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer since July 2008. [http://www.nasfaa.org/publications/2008/cnisac070808.html]

Cepeda was born in Chicago and grew up on the city's north side in the neighborhood commonly known as "Wrigleyville." The only child of immigrant parents she is of Ecuadorian and Mexican descent.

Although raised in a predominantly Spanish speaking household, Esther became fluent in both Spanish and English as a young child. She attended grammar school at St. Andrews School in the days before bilingual education and then went on to graduate from Lane Technical High School in 1992.

Along with minors in psychology and music, Esther earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois in 1996. She later studied Integrated Marketing Communication briefly at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She got her Masters in Special Education from Roosevelt University.

Prior to becoming a "Chicago Sun-Times" columnist [http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=27692] , Cepeda worked as a publicist, marketing executive, first grade and high school teacher, and freelance newspaper reporter and columnist.

She was laid off from the Sun Times in January 2008, but continued to write briefly for the publication. The column was terminated by Sun-Times management at the end of February 2008 when the United Neighborhood Organization announced she'd be joining them to help plan their national media strategy.

Cepeda's column is no longer published in the "Chicago Sun-Times" or on the newspaper's website. She was a frequent radio and television contributor, she has appeared on Chicago radio stations WCKG, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, WVON, and on the nationally syndicated Jerry Doyle Show. Her television appearances included Fox News Channel, The O'Reilly Factor, Chicago Tonight's Week in Review with Joel Weisman, En Contexto/Telemundo and CNN Headline News.