Alyza Enriquez is a Brooklyn-based, Peabody-award-winning, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and photographer. They tell humanizing stories about resourcefulness within marginalized communities, counter-cultural movements, and the people pushed to the fringes of society. Their work is heavily informed by their experience growing up in South Florida as a trans latine person moving through the world.
In 2016, after earning a Bachelor’s of Architecture with a minor in Sustainability from Pratt Institute, they became disillusioned with architecture and the impact that gentrification was having on New York City. By a stroke of luck, they joined VICE in 2017 as an assistant editor, and have since worked in nearly every part of the company. While there, they helped spearhead the company’s style guide and overall voice when it comes to covering the LGBTQ+ community. In 2021, out of a frustration with the way journalism covers trans stories, they formed a small 5-person cohort to create, pitch, develop, and produce the VICE News series Transnational—a show about trans rights around the world. The goal of the show was to create trans stories with agency, show the joy in resistance, and make sure every single story was hosted by a trans journalist who had some kind of tie to the community being covered. The result was a 6-episode series that went on to win an Online Journalism Award, a GLAAD award, and a Peabody—with several episodes directed and hosted by Alyza.
In 2021, they produced, photographed, and edited the second iteration of the Gender Spectrum Collection—a stock photography project that aims to fill the lack of trans and non-binary representation in everyday images. In 2022, the project was awarded a Bronze Cube for the Art Directors Club Photography: Design for Good Award. It also won first place for Photography: Citizen Design at the Print Awards.
In 2022, Alyza then joined the VICE News team in an official capacity and split their team as a social liaison and a long-form producer and host. As a social video liaison, they spent their time working with the entire newsroom to create guidelines, workflows, and host workshops on how to adapt long-form stories to social platforms. That same year, they made another season of the series Transnational, this time taking on the role of supervising producer alongside directing, and hosting. In 2023, with the ongoing trend of anti-LGBTQ+ laws, Alyza saw a gap in reporting that failed to make the connection between detransitioners and conservative lawmakers. As a result, they helped develop and also hosted a SHOWTIME segment about the conservative strategy to uphold a small group of detransitioners as “proof” that gender-affirming care is dangerous. For their final project at VICE, as part of a branded deal with Absolut, Alyza co-created, co-directed, and co-produced OUT LOUD—a 44-minute documentary about queer musicians and the spaces that shaped them, hosted by the one and only Big Freedia.
Alyza left VICE in early 2024 to pursue a freelance filmmaking career. Right now, they’re particularly interested in exploring more expansive ways to tell stories about the lives of trans and latine people.
In 2016, after earning a Bachelor’s of Architecture with a minor in Sustainability from Pratt Institute, they became disillusioned with architecture and the impact that gentrification was having on New York City. By a stroke of luck, they joined VICE in 2017 as an assistant editor, and have since worked in nearly every part of the company. While there, they helped spearhead the company’s style guide and overall voice when it comes to covering the LGBTQ+ community. In 2021, out of a frustration with the way journalism covers trans stories, they formed a small 5-person cohort to create, pitch, develop, and produce the VICE News series Transnational—a show about trans rights around the world. The goal of the show was to create trans stories with agency, show the joy in resistance, and make sure every single story was hosted by a trans journalist who had some kind of tie to the community being covered. The result was a 6-episode series that went on to win an Online Journalism Award, a GLAAD award, and a Peabody—with several episodes directed and hosted by Alyza.
In 2021, they produced, photographed, and edited the second iteration of the Gender Spectrum Collection—a stock photography project that aims to fill the lack of trans and non-binary representation in everyday images. In 2022, the project was awarded a Bronze Cube for the Art Directors Club Photography: Design for Good Award. It also won first place for Photography: Citizen Design at the Print Awards.
In 2022, Alyza then joined the VICE News team in an official capacity and split their team as a social liaison and a long-form producer and host. As a social video liaison, they spent their time working with the entire newsroom to create guidelines, workflows, and host workshops on how to adapt long-form stories to social platforms. That same year, they made another season of the series Transnational, this time taking on the role of supervising producer alongside directing, and hosting. In 2023, with the ongoing trend of anti-LGBTQ+ laws, Alyza saw a gap in reporting that failed to make the connection between detransitioners and conservative lawmakers. As a result, they helped develop and also hosted a SHOWTIME segment about the conservative strategy to uphold a small group of detransitioners as “proof” that gender-affirming care is dangerous. For their final project at VICE, as part of a branded deal with Absolut, Alyza co-created, co-directed, and co-produced OUT LOUD—a 44-minute documentary about queer musicians and the spaces that shaped them, hosted by the one and only Big Freedia.
Alyza left VICE in early 2024 to pursue a freelance filmmaking career. Right now, they’re particularly interested in exploring more expansive ways to tell stories about the lives of trans and latine people.