Rebecca Niebla, a woman with Vision

Rebecca Niebla is a woman with vision. Now she is the publisher of Vision Magazine, a publication dedicated to the Latin music industry.

With A-list artists like Wisin, Camila and Ximena Sariñana gracing the cover, the year-old magazine’s popularity has pushed it into major cities in the U.S., Mexico, Spain and Colombia.

Upbeat and optimistic, Niebla’s publication reflects her personality.

“Mainly our magazine is to teach and educate about music,” she said. “It’s time to do something different that the music industry really needs. That’s why I like Vision, because that was my vision. Our slogan is ‘Where music connects’ because that’s what music does.”

Niebla grew up in Tijuana with her brother and was raised by a single mother. She studied journalism and public relations as a Southwestern College student and was a staff writer for The Sun.

“I think it was the most amazing experience I had,” she said. “Being at The Sun, I learned a lot as a journalist, as a person and about music. I grew up in Tijuana and English is my second language. It was a bit of a challenge for me to write in English, but my professor would always push me to be my best.”

SWC gave Niebla a formal education in journalism, she said, but her musical teacher was her older brother.

“He is my inspiration,” she said. “He took me to my very first concert.”

Niebla and her team create a new edition every two months, covering events from spanning the country and across the border. Her art director is former Sun photographer and designer Marianna Ricalde, a 2009 Student of Distinction Recipient. Most work happens at home, where Niebla created an office in order to spend more time with her soon-to-be three-year-old son. Niebla said she draws inspiration from her family.

“My brother is my inspiration, my son is my motivation,” she said.

Vision came to be during Niebla’s 10 years in journalism and the many music industry connections she cultivated during an internship at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. Vision magazine has become a musical antidote in a journalistic field recently under attack and dominated by negative news.

“(People) need to have something positive to read,” she said. “Music inspires and it heals. That’s my goal, to educate people on what’s out there. You turn on the news right now and you see people killing, people dying everywhere, hate everywhere, racism and discrimination. I think music will bring us together, in unity, bring us together as a strong community. It’s a fusion of different flavors and sounds. That’s what keeps music alive and that’s what I enjoy.”