This lifelong Pilsen resident and former journalist is joining our team to amplify our work and tell more folks about what we’re building at City Bureau.
Lucia Anaya (Photo: Zakkiyyah Najeebah)
Last week we welcomed two new people to the City Bureau team, and we’re thrilled to be introducing you first to Lucia Anaya, our new director of marketing and communications.
Prior to joining us, Lucia specialized in content management at VSA Partners and Cooler Screens. Before that, she helped start The Gate newspaper in Back of the Yards and completed a fellowship with Medill’s Social Justice News Nexus, writing about a former public housing project on the city’s Southwest Side.
With Lucia on board we’re excited to reach a larger audience with our programming and stories and to show more people how we make an impact on individuals and communities in Chicago, as well as the media industry across the nation and beyond.
Here’s a little more about her.
You grew up in Pilsen and you live there now. How have things changed since you were younger?
I’m a lifelong Chicagoan. I was born in Pilsen, and my parents both moved there from Mexico when they were teenagers. My grandparents lived across the street from us before they passed, and my uncles live a block or two away. So Pilsen has always been familial. Growing up, I’d tell people I was from Pilsen and they’d say, “It’s a bad neighborhood, so violent.” Now that it has gone through this gentrification transition, people who don’t really live on the South Side, they say, “Pilsen is so cool, I wanna go there.” That has allowed me to understand more about people, how communities change and the way people view other neighborhoods.
Tell us more about your experience in neighborhood news.
When I was at The Gate newspaper in Back of the Yards, doing really hyperlocal reporting, I noticed that other reporters from bigger news outlets wouldn’t go there unless there were crimes. I remember a shooting at Davis Square Park where 10 to 15 people were shot, and that was the only time I saw other reporters in the neighborhood. But they didn’t talk to any of the community stakeholders. I learned some of those gaps in local news. It introduced me to a community of local artists and creatives, and I got interested in arts journalism.
How did you hear about City Bureau? What made you interested in this work?
Eventually I was brought into the agency world where I learned about marketing, messaging and branding. It gave me an inside look as to how brands think about people, what they were doing to sell their message. I learned the importance of marketing through storytelling, and how that can help a brand communicate its values. Marketing not only helps amplify an organization’s message, it also encourages people to care and participate.
I did that for a couple years but I really felt like I wanted to get back to the feeling of helping people and telling their stories. When I heard about the City Bureau job I felt it was a great opportunity because it really merges two things I enjoy doing, which is journalism and marketing. Over the years I’ve honed in on those skills and I’m really excited to put that all together.
As a lifelong Pilsen resident, what’s your favorite place to go in the neighborhood?
Everyone says this, but Jumping Bean is my favorite place. Now they have ‘L’ Cafecito at the Damen Pink Line stop. If you haven’t gone, you should try the choco-espresso, that’s my favorite. It’s Mexican hot chocolate with a shot or two of espresso, it’s delicious.
What would you wanna say to folks in CB’s community who are reading this blog?
If they have any ideas or want to talk to me about what City Bureau means to them I would be interested in learning that. Please reach out to me at lucia@citybureau.org!
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