De Los has assembled a team of Latino reporters, editors, illustrators and creatives to tell stories not just about our community, but for our community. The team will focus on everything Latinidad in Los Angeles and across the country.
Angel Rodriguez is the general manager for De Los. He is the first person in his family to be born in the United States after his parents left Cuba in the late ’60s. Although he was born in Chicago, he moved to Houston at a young age and considers himself a Texan. He has lived in different parts of the country, but the last eight have been in Los Angeles. His only regret is not moving here sooner.
Fidel Martinez is the editorial director for De Los. He is also the creator and writer of the Latinx Files, a weekly newsletter that focuses on the American Latinx experience. He was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley (puro 956 cuh!), went to school on the East Coast and had the very good fortune of ending up in Los Angeles, a place he has no intention of ever leaving. Martinez is a lifelong fan of the Dallas Cowboys, which means he’s a gullible idiot who will always believe that this is their year.
Martina Ibáñez-Baldor is design director for De Los. In this role she is focused on all things visual and design. She also leads De Los’ social strategy. Since joining The Times in 2015, she has worked across sections and has worked on special projects such as “The Chicano Moratorium 50 years later” project and zine and The Times’ Día de Muertos digital altar. Ibáñez-Baldor has a degree in journalism and Spanish from Marquette University. She was born in Toronto to immigrants from South America and raised in Milwaukee.
Crystal Villarreal is a writer, editor and a screenwriter for kids’ TV. Currently she works at The Times as an assistant editor for De Los. Born to Mexican and Black parents, she grew up on the south side of Atlanta and graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in journalism and women’s studies. She’s written for shows on Nickelodeon (including Paw Patrol!) and PBS Kids and she loves baking (especially cheesecake and tres leches). Before coming to The Times, she worked as a lead digital content producer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Christian Orozco is an assistant editor for De Los. He joined The Times in 2017. Some of his work includes digitizing two groundbreaking series: “Black L.A.: Looking at Diversity” (1982) and the Pulitzer-winning series on Southern California’s Latino communities (1983). He most recently contributed to The Times’ coverage of the 80th anniversary of the Zoot Suit Riots. He was raised in La Habra, Calif., by his Mexican, Black and Japanese family. He is a graduate of the University of La Verne.
Jessica Perez is community editor of Latino Initiatives at the Los Angeles Times. Her passion for collaborative, community-centered journalism started in her own neighborhood, where she served as deputy editor, online editor and youth mentor at Boyle Heights Beat, a bilingual community news project, while simultaneously managing her own hyper-local culture blog. She was born in Mexico and raised in Los Angeles and holds a degree in broadcast journalism from Cal State Long Beach.
Diana Ramirez Santacruz is currently working at The Times as an art director for De Los. She is focused on commissioning and art directing special projects as well as designing across platforms. Fun fact! She also designed the branding for De Los. Ramirez Santacruz grew up in the Echo Park area (before it was gentrified) and holds a bachelor’s in design and visual communications from Cal State L.A.
Suzy Exposito is a writer, illustrator and tropigoth born to Cuban and Belizean parents. She grew up in Florida and graduated with a bachelor’s in writing from the New School in NYC. She’s authored many zines and comics, including “The Best Song Ever,” a Rookie Mag series about an all-girl garage band. (She also sang in the real-life punk group, Shady Hawkins.) Before landing at the L.A. Times as a music reporter, she became the first Latina to write a cover story for the legendary rock magazine Rolling Stone, examining the rise of reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny. You can also read her work in Vogue, Pitchfork and Revolver.
Alejandra Molina is a reporter exploring Latinx identity for De Los. In her journalism career, she has written about cities, immigration and religion. In one recent story, she featured L.A. residents documenting Virgen de Guadalupe street art at risk of vanishing due to displacement of Latino communities. She was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, including El Monte and Pomona. Yes, Pomona is technically L.A., but also kind of IE? Don’t ask her to pick a side. A graduate of the University of La Verne, she enjoys mentoring Boyle Heights Beat youth journalists.
Chelsea Hylton is currently working at The Times as a reporter for De Los. She grew up in Inglewood (the real Inglewood before SoFi was built and knows that the original Forum was blue) to Jamaican and Mexican parents. Before starting at The Times she was at NBC Los Angeles and Telemundo52 reporting local breaking news as a digital content producer. She has bachelor’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s in journalism from USC. She’s very excited about being able to interview people from the community and share their stories.
Andrea Flores is a reporter at The Times for De Los. She was born and raised in the Midwest— Waukegan, Ill., to be exact (and she won’t let you forget it). She fell in love with storytelling after creating a short audio piece with her two abuelitas in Mexico, while a student at Stanford University. Andrea is excited about returning to California and engaging in community storytelling.
Raul Roa is photo editor for De Los and L.A. Times en Español. He is also part of the photo fast-break desk, The Times’ breaking news team. He has been with The Times since 2009. Previously, he was the photo editor for Times Community News, working with the Daily Pilot and TimesOC. A lifelong resident of Southern California, Roa is an avid nature and travel photographer and enjoys the challenging world of astrophotography. His passion is to document and tell the unique stories in our communities.
Kenya Romero is the audience engagement fellow for De Los. She is focused on social media content creation, social strategy and engaging with our audience on all platforms. Before starting at The Times, she was a social media producer for Southern California News Group. Romero was born and raised in East L.A. by immigrant parents from Jalisco, Mexico. She holds a bachelor’s in journalism from Cal State L.A.
Mariana Trujillo Valdes is De Los’ summer intern. She develops, films and edits social media content while also reporting on topics about the Latinx community in Los Angeles. Mariana was born in Pasadena after her parents immigrated from Mexico. In the fall, she will be a junior at American University in Washington, D.C., where she studies journalism with a minor in political science. At American, she is the assistant multimedia editor of the Eagle, the student-run newspaper. Her goal for this internship is to learn from the best and convey stories that are often unseen through film and writing.
