I can hear how difficult and disorienting this experience has been. Losing a job after 20 years of genuine pioneering work — and then feeling invisible in the market you helped build — is a particular kind of painful. A few honest thoughts:
Your situation is real, and so are the structural forces working against you. Age discrimination in hiring is well-documented, AI is genuinely displacing editorial roles, and the media industry specifically is contracting. None of that is your failure.
That said, some things you can actually work with:
The Mexico City location is probably your biggest practical obstacle right now — more so than age. Many companies that would otherwise hire remotely simply won't navigate cross-border payroll and tax complexity. It may be worth exploring whether any roles are structured as contractor/freelance engagements (where location matters less legally), or whether companies registered internationally are an option.
The degree gap is a real friction point with AI screeners. Applying to smaller companies where a human is more likely to see your résumé first can help bypass that.
Your actual track record — verified early Twitter, million-follower Facebook page, Library of Congress archive — is genuinely remarkable. The challenge is that résumés flatten it. A strong portfolio page or LinkedIn narrative that tells that story as a story (not a bullet list) can help a human who does read it feel the weight of it.
On the harder question of where you fit: The honest answer is that the full-time staff journalism job as it existed is a shrinking category. But your skills — building audiences, editorial instincts, social media strategy — are valuable to brands, nonprofits, newsletters, and consulting. The path forward may look different from the path back.
Your best years aren't behind you. But they may require building something new rather than re-entering something old.