Angélica Atondo and Univision Chicago were unable to reach an agreement for her to stay as anchor of WGBO 66’s primetime newscasts.
Her contract was set to expire on December 31, but station management took her off the air last week. She had been with the Univision O&O since 2010. She had previously been an anchor at Univision in Phoenix.
According to Angélica, the company did not want her to pursue her entrepreneurial ventures while working for Univision.
“I’m extremely grateful to Univision for the opportunity to be on the air all these years. I’ve accomplished many things with the company where I started my career,” she tells Media Moves. “But Univision doesn’t support my growth as a writer and entrepreneur.”
Angélica is a partner in three Chicago restaurants called Las Quecas. She also has an accesory line for girls called Lola by Angie and plans to launch a skin care line in November, although it won’t carry her name or image.
Angélica also authored her first book “El Secreto para lograrlo” almost three years ago and has been doing speaking engagements in schools.
“I want to motivate students to dream big, but I want them to see the difference between dreams and goals and to focus on their goals,” she says.
The book has sold over 100,000 copies in Mexico and about 90,000 in the U.S.
A popular on-air personality, she has very loyal fans on social media, where she’s extremely active.
So much so, that social media measurement company Share Rocket has rated her “clear market leader,” ranking her #1 Chicago talent with the most social engagement for the week of Oct 19-26, including 5 days she was already off the air.
“I’m so thankful to my fans for their support on social media. Because of it, I’ve already received several offers that I’m reviewing,” she says.
For the time being, Angélica says she’s going to focus on her 9-year old daughter Farah and finishing her second book.
A Univision spokesperson would not comment for this story, saying company policy does not permit them to discuss personnel matters.