A Fulbright scholar from Cali, Colombia, Leila Cobo is Billboard’s Chief Content Officer for Latin/Español, overseeing the brand’s coverage of Latin music in all its platforms, as well as all its Spanish-language content. Considered one of the world’s leading authorities in Latin music, Leila was the first U.S.-based journalist to prominently cover Latin music daily and has been instrumental in transforming its coverage and perception in the U.S. Leila also programs the yearly Latin Music Week, the most prestigious and largest gathering for the Latin music industry. Last year she spearheaded the launch of Billboard Español, Billboard’s all-Spanish website, as well as the inaugural Latin Women in Music, which aired on Telemundo.
Leila is a classical pianist, novelist, and biographer. Her most recent book, Decoding Despacito: An Oral History of Latin Music (Penguin Random House), was featured in the New York Times’ summer reading list. She has published two award-winning novels with Grand Central Publishing/Hatchette, and biographies on Jenni Rivera and Ednita Nazario with Penguin. Leila also hosts “In-Tune with Leila Cobo,” her in-depth interview show seen on all U.S. airports via Reach TV.
Leila has degrees in journalism from Bogotá’s Universidad Javeriana and in piano performance from Manhattan School of Music, as well as a master’s in communication management from The Annenberg School at USC. She received the 2020 “Wonder Women of Latin Music” award from the LAMC; the “Music Industry Trailblazer” award from the TJ Martell Foundation in 2019: and was named an inaugural “Leading Latin Lady” by the Latin Grammys in 2017.
Prior to Billboard, she worked at the Miami Herald and the Los Angeles Times.
