Jenni Rivera

A Fulbright scholar from Cali, Colombia, Leila Cobo is a novelist, pianist, TV host  and executive Editor for Latin Content and Programming for Billboard. Under her tenure, Billboard has expanded its coverage of Latin Music and for the first time in its more than 100-year history, the magazine has a complete weekly section dedicated solely to Latin music. Ms. Cobo also programs the yearly Billboard Latin Music Conference, the largest gathering of the Latin music industry in the U.S., and hosts its renown exclusive “Q&A’s” with Latin music’s biggest stars, which have included Ricky Martin, Jenni Rivera, Marc Anthony and Enrique Iglesias. Under her leadership, Billboard also launched its Spanish language website, Billboardenespanol.com.

As an author Ms. Cobo’s first novel, Tell Me Something True, was published Oct. 1 to critical acclaim by Grand Central Publishing/Hatchette and is now in its third printing. Her second novel, The Second Time We Met, was published in 2012.

Ms. Cobo is also host and executive producer of “Estudio Billboard,” the acclaimed TV show that airs weekly on the V-Me and internationally on Fox Life,  featuring in-depth interviews with artists like Juanes, Maná, Juan Luis Guerra and Gloria Estefan among many others.

Ms. Cobo is considered one of the country’s leading experts in Latin music and is regularly interviewed and consulted by news outlets around the world. She was named one of the most influential people in Latin music in publications such as Gatopardo, Revista Fuchsia and Ocean Drive Magazine, which named her one of its “Power Brokers” in 2008.  She also won the Nielsen President’s Award for Excellence and in 2007, she was the recipient of the journalistic excellence award from Premios Orquidea, which honors Colombians abroad.

Ms. Cobo holds dual bachelor degrees in journalism (from Bogota’s Universidad Javeriana) and in piano performance (from Manhattan School of Music in New York).  She concertized extensively before getting her master’s degree in Communication management from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California.

Prior to Billboard, Leila wrote for the Los Angeles Times and was later the pop music critic at the Miami Herald. She’s written liner notes for Ricky Martin, Shakira, Julio Iglesias and Selena among others, and collaborates closely with Grammy in the Schools and Teach for America, among other projects.

Ms. Cobo is also one of the authors of the Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music and a guest writer on the anthology Quinceañera.