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Early in her professional career, Navas-Nieves was working at a public relations agency when a news director at Spanish-language network Telemundo approached her with a job offer. “Believe it or not, I started as a weatherperson,” she says. Navas-Nieves jumped at the opportunity to learn about journalism and soon expanded her role. “I started reporting on the arts,” she says. She even co-hosted a local program that covered arts, culture and entertainment.

Navas-Nieves earned her undergraduate degree in art history, specializing in modern and contemporary Latin American art. She spent 20 years working at numerous museums and galleries around the country, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Gallery 44 in Boulder, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Museo de las Américas in Denver and the Denver Art Museum. She has also dabbled in the private arts sector, acquiring and selling works for multi-million dollar collections. “I worked for private collectors, building their collections and doing exhibitions here in the United States and in Puerto Rico,” Navas-Nieves says.

Navas-Nieves earned her undergraduate degree in art history, specializing in modern and contemporary Latin American art. She spent 20 years working at numerous museums and galleries around the country, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Gallery 44 in Boulder, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Museo de las Américas in Denver and the Denver Art Museum. She has also dabbled in the private arts sector, acquiring and selling works for multi-million dollar collections.  “I worked for private collectors, building their collections and doing exhibitions here in the United States and in Puerto Rico,” Navas-Nieves says. 

As someone who spends her days immersed in art and culture, one might expect Navas-Nieves to look down on “low-brow” ventures. Not so, she insists. “There are definitely guilty pleasures! I love watching TV. It's a way to turn my mind off.” Two of her favorite guilty pleasures are “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Project Runway.” “I love Tim Gunn,” she says. “I love his approach to mentorship and empowering artists to take ownership.” Fashion actually falls right in step with her interests. “I just see it as an expression of who you are. There is space and creativity for all types of art forms, and fashion is very much an art form.”

Navas-Nieves and her husband have two children, a 19-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter. Their son is on the autism spectrum, and proud mom Navas-Nieves can’t help but brag about his accomplishments. “He just graduated with honors from high school.” She describes him as “very, very high functioning,” and attributes that in no small part to his ability to communicate through art. “He loves movies. He thinks visually. It's a very unique way of thinking and communicating,” she explains. “There are different types of intelligence and different types of communication. I think the arts are definitely a way to connect. I feel very lucky and very blessed that what I do has allowed me to also support his growth.”