I first met Florangela Davila in 2022 when I was a member of the Community Advisory Council for KNKX Public Radio. She was the station’s news editor, and one of the only Latinas leading a public media newsroom anywhere in the country. Recently, I got to know her again after she started a new position as Executive Director of the South Seattle Emerald, a nonprofit, community-focused online newspaper “amplifying voices from South Seattle.” I was excited to meet her as a woman of color, and a fellow beneficiary of affirmative action but as a part of a later cohort.
We talked over warm matcha on a sunny day in Columbia City, watching children from Orca Elementary march down Rainier Avenue in honor of Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. Davila was about to mark her one-year anniversary at the Emerald. She was excited to return to her home base, zip code 98118, and cover the news and stories everyday people in South Seattle neighborhoods.
If you Google Davila’s name, you will find that she is a ‘‘multi-hyphenate,’ someone working in many varied positions: in her case, as an award-winning journalist, faculty member, fundraiser, mentor, organizer, and volunteer. She has twice been named one of Seattle’s most influential people by Seattle Magazine. In her own words, Davila says: “I’m a nonprofit journalist and an award-winning newsroom leader with more than 20 years of experience in print, online, public TV and public radio.”
Davila began her career as a print reporter covering schools in suburban San Francisco. She was born and raised in Los Angeles to immigrant parents: a Colombian mother and Peruvian father, and grew up in the 1970s and 1980s. Like many children of the working class, her babysitters were often television and the local library. Davila was an early avid reader of print media, including The Los Angeles Times. Beyond her front door was Hollywood , the storytelling, story-creating film capital of the world Her curiosity was piqued. Where do stories come from? Who gets to tell them? Whose stories are told and whose are ignored? What is a good story?
Davila and I were both lucky to attend college and graduate school when higher education started opening its doors to children of color. But in terms of employment, progress was not linear. Institutions were more willing to hire people of color and white women who members of my cohort, of the late 60s and early 70s, while Davila’s subsequent cohort was actually less welcomed, and more often shut out of opportunities. People of color and white women, despite elite education credentials, faced barriers and ceilings to equal employment opportunity.
After many rejections, Davila landed her first journalism job as a cub reporter covering education for The Alameda Times-Star. This job opened her world to a variety of news stories, since education touches on so many aspects of life. As she delved into independent media with a primarily mainstream audience, Florangela, like other marginalized new consumers, noticed there were missing voices, invisible viewpoints shut out of the mainstream. She counts among her mentors the late Alex Tizon, a fellow reporter on The Seattle Times, whose essays were posthumously collected in Invisible People: Stories of Lives at the Margins. She credits the late “Uncle” Bob Santos for his courageous example in serving members of all communities. Davila brought her experience in mainstream media to serve local, less-often covered news and stories of everyday people, working class people, disadvantaged people, and the rainbow people of South Seattle.
Throughout her career, and while walking the streets of Beacon Hill, Othello, Rainier Beach, Columbia City, Hillman City, and Holly Park, Davila witnessed the egregious, escalating wealth disparity between the haves and have-nots. In this new chapter of her life, Davila focuses on these latter audiences and storytellers; their hopes and dreams, ups and downs, and agency.
Florynce Kennedy, the pioneering lawyer, actress, feminist, and civil rights leader, observed that when windows of opportunity open up, we must take advantage of them before they close again.
That is exactly what Davila is doing with a committed, creative team at the Emerald. Everything is a team effort, with editors, business staff, contributing photographers, writers, and artists sitting around the table vetting possible stories with her. Most contributors are freelancers or on contract. The Emerald provides a platform for journalists of color. Staff reach out to residents and local businesses for news.
Davila tells young journalists they should do what makes them happy. She emphasizes the need to be curious and be a voice of everyday people; to tell their relevant and unique stories that mainstream, for-profit media won’t. She cited journalism codes of ethics– to honor the craft, to honor the subject of a story, to investigate the facts and dig, dig, dig to understand context, and to ensure accountability. Journalism is a public service. Journalists witness and tell stories for the common good. They speak truth to power.
Raising alternative voices and providing the talent, time and treasure to ensure that their stories are heard brings both challenges and opportunities . Emerald fundraising is ongoing, with one-time and monthly subscriptions to ensure the independence and creativity of the South Seattle community. “We all take great pride when we see a new story published online or on social media or see the latest edition of our weekly RoundUp newsletter,” Davila said. “Every dollar donated goes towards making this journalism a reality. Agency is how you decide to spend your money. And I think agency is an individual’s superpower and at the root of what gives me hope and keeps me optimistic here in South Seattle.”
As a respite from challenges and opportunities, Florangela enjoys observing what she calls the urban wild animals: squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and birds, including crows. They not survive, but thrive with grace and resilience in the Emerald City. Florangela is truly the messenger of freshness, the angel of new possibilities. She may be reached at [email protected].
Anyone interested in supporting the South Seattle Emerald can donate here: https://southseattleemerald.org/donate
Juanita/Nita is an activist since the 1968 BSU/TWLF San Francisco State Strike; since the 1970 census advocating for more detailed racial and ethnic data in Washington, DC, and now singing with the Seattle Raging Grannies. Her collection resides in the Manuscript Division, The Library of Congress. Author of Golden Children, Legacy of Ethnic Studies, SF State, Juanita is featured in the documentary, Agents of Change https://www.agentsofchangefilmnational.com/
