Elaine Ayala (Trainer)
Elaine Ayala has been in the newspaper business for 30 years. She has worked as a news reporter, editorial writer, features writer, features editor and editorial page editor and has worked for six metropolitan dailies - the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the Arizona Daily Star, the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, the Austin American-Statesman, the El Paso Times and the San Antonio Express-News.
Today, she writes obituaries and news features for the Express-News and writes a blog called Latino Life for mysanantonio.com, in which she covers immigration, race, culture and politics.
The San Antonio native graduated from Memorial High School and the University of Pennsylvania. In 2005, she was inducted into the Edgewood Independent School District's Hall of Fame. She received the Philip True Award for writing in 2009, an honor given by her peers at the Express-News. The Martinez Street Women's Center honored her as a role model for girls in 2009.
Elaine has been involved in several journalism organizations throughout her career, most focused on increasing the number of minorities and women in the U.S. newsroom and raising money for scholarships for minority students. She has had a two-decade association with the Maynard Institute, one of the nation's leading educational institutions devoted to newsroom diversity.
She was on the boards of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the American Association of Sunday & Feature Editors. She served as president of the Austin Area Association of Hispanic Journalists and the El Paso Association of Hispanic Journalists. She is currently president of the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists, which is holding its 12th annual scholarship gala July 22 at the Grand Hyatt. Tables are $100.
Elaine speaks in area schools and community organizations. In addition to her newspaper work, she has written for various publications, including Latino magazine, Latino Future magazine, the National Catholic Reporter and a couple of now-defunct magazines.
Read Elaine's Blog
Follow Elaine Ayala on Twitter
Friend Elaine Ayala on Facebook