Mila Burns is a Brazilian-born journalist, author, a professor and devoted mother.  She has obtained various Master degrees majoring in Social Anthropology, Latin American Studies, and Philosophy, and a Ph.D in Latin American History. She is currently working on her third book based on her dissertation of the Dictatorship across Borders: How Brazil Influenced the Chilean Coup d’État of 1973. She is extremely accomplished.

Dr. Burns is an extraordinary individual who came from a small island known as Vitoria in Brazil. Most recently, she is living in the New York City with her family. At a very young age, she knew that one day she was going to be a journalist but had some doubts since it was extremely difficult and competitive, getting into journalism. At seventeen, she was ready to apply for college. She had always been a good student and worked so hard to get good grades. She, like many students, seemed anxious and when faced choosing a career path, she chose something completely opposite from her goal. She doubted herself and set aside long-term dream, because reality was that it might be easier to become a lawyer than a journalist. Some of her family members were lawyers and she had some insight of a lawyer. But something happened, where she no longer self doubted and took the risk to fulfill a longterm objective. She made that dream come true and found herself as a journalist and news anchor in Brazil’s largest broadcast network and one of the largest, worldwide.

“I would say that it was something I dreamed about my entire life but I didn’t do it. I was not brave enough to do it the first time, and I needed to really flunk and have this disaster experience to really follow my dream.”

(Mila Burns Interview, 2021)

Mila Burns is a reporter, news anchor and editor-in -chief at TV Globo in Brazil and New York. She is also a professor in the Department of Latin America and Latin Studies at Lehman College and an author. She has recently published her book Dona Ivone Lara’s Sorriso Negro that entails female empowerment and black power altogether who inspired many in a maschismo/ male dominated society. Dr. Burns describes the term “Resistance by Existence” that sets Lara at a perfect moment in time who faced, like many, oppression and injustice in Brazil due to their race and gender.

“Everything that she has done, has created a tremendous impact.  Just the fact that she existed occupying certain spaces, certain positions that were not normally occupied by black women, made her existence, an act of resistance and after showing other women that that was a possibility and, including myself, like being close to her talking to her as often as I did conducting as many interviews, as I did with her. “

(Mila Burns Interview, 2021)

Currently, she is revising her dissertation that entitled “Dictatorship across Borders: How Brazil Influenced the Chilean Coup d’État of 1973” in order to publish it as a book.  When conducting her research, finding archives, it was not an easy process because at the time that she began to search, many sources were deemed classified, leading to some dead ends. But she was determined to find records that validated her thesis. She was told by a scholar to reconsider her work, but she knew she had something. She traveled to Brazil and found many records and accounts that demonstrated how people were silenced in certain groups and their stories were hidden. She explained that people who have been silenced, many times are not taken seriously, due to the lack of documentation, concluding no evidence to validate their stories. She mentions that having oral sources like interviews is extremely important in this line of work. Though she found primary and secondary sources, many were destroyed during the authoritarian regime. When asked about her research, she mentioned that she somewhat could and could not relate it to Resistance by Existence because it was not just about the influential impact of an individual but rather the process of silencing. In her new book she is finding information about what Brazil did, that we are not aware of and why we aren’t aware of it? Since the 70’s Chileans were tortured by Brazilian soldiers and no one was paying attention.

“My research is not about the dictatorship itself only. What interests me in the in the dictatorship, and authoritarian is the processes of silencing. I’m very curious to understand what makes a certain group or certain peoples are certain stories being silenced and that’s why Dona Ivone Lara’s work interests me like. How can someone like that not be called an activist and why is that? What is wrong with us that we don’t have a vocabulary for someone like her, and why would someone like her, only become famous or are able to dedicate herself fully to her artistic career in her 60s.”

(Mila Burns Interview, 2021)

Even though she is a busy woman and plays many different roles in life, Dr. Burns loves to be a mother and a wife. When it comes to family, she makes sure to dedicate time, energy and love by planning out her schedule. She mentions many times that it important to organize because you can save yourself time, you have consistency and create your own strategy.  She also makes time to meditate several times throughout the day, to keep a calm composure and focus, on what’s next in line. When it comes to raising her child, she and her husband plan out and work together, to meet in the middle. In their home, they share the responsibilities, where there are no gender roles assigned. For instance, cooking, cleaning and working, they share chores and respect one another. They do what works best for them.

“We divide ourselves in time very well, and this is a feminist household so there’s no such thing as having him to help or I help him. We’re doing stuff together, and that means raising a kid, taking care of the House, shopping, and everything.”

(Mila Burns Interview, 2021)

I had the pleasure to interview Dr. Burns and found her work extremely empowering. I realized that we share a few things in common like we are both Latin women, working hard is in our nature, and being a supportive mother is extremely important in our culture. I also found that our son’s share the same name but have different spelling. She is a great role model who has had a positive mindset though she had many challenges. It was a great conversation to have with a woman who has come a long way in life and has been an influential figure in Latin America.

Work cited:

Burns, Mila. “Dona Ivone Lara’s Sorriso Negro.” Bloomsbury Publishing, www.bloomsbury.com/uk/dona-ivone-laras-sorriso-negro-9781501324499/.

Burns, Mila. “Mila Burns 2021.” , 17 Apr. 2021, milaburns.wordpress.com/.

Burns, Mila. “RESISTENCIA PELA EXISTENCIA: DONA IVONE LARA, SORRISO NEGRO E ATIVISMOS NOS ULTIMOS ANOS DA DITADURA BRASILEIRA.” The Latin Americanist, vol. 64, no. 1, 2020, p. 46+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A621894059/AONE?u=lehman_main&sid=AONE&xid=f4de0f57. Accessed 17 May 2021.

Cruz, Stephanie. Interview with Mila Burns on April 20th, 2021.

Nascimento, Mila Burns. “Dictatorship Across Borders: How Brazil Influenced the Chilean Coup D’état of 1973.” CUNY Academic Works, 11 May 2021, academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2057/.

“Redes Sociais.” Globo Notícia Américas, globointernacional.globo.com/Americas/Paginas/globo-noticia-americas.aspx.

Prepared by Stephanie Cruz