General At-Large Officer Rebecca Aguilar Freelancer (Dallas) E-mail: aguilar.thereporter@yahoo.com

I’m the daughter of Rebecca and Alfredo Aguilar, immigrants from Mexico. They came to this country with nothing and eventually became civil rights, migrant rights and union rights activists in Ohio. From my parents, I learned it was important to help give a voice to those afraid to speak up and who felt they had been wronged by someone in society.

My parents settle in Napoleon, Ohio outside Toledo in the late 1950′s. I spent several summers picking tomatoes in the Ohio fields with my mom and dozens of migrant workers from Texas. When my parents weren’t fighting for better pay and working conditions for migrant workers, they were doing so for members of the autoworkers union.

I knew I wanted to become a reporter when I was about 10-years-old. My father had the first Spanish-language radio program in northwest Ohio. He showed me that the media is a powerful tool that can inform, educate and create change.

Since becoming a reporter in 1981, I have worked hard to help people find justice and their voice in life. I have worked in Toledo, Chicago, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Dallas. In each of those cities I have made it a priority to cover the Latino community, because it’s so often ignored.

Though I have covered many major stories, my biggest satisfaction is when my work got major results. Some of my reports have put scammers in prison, shutdown corrupt businesses, flushed out fake non-profits, put child molesters behind bars, and forced the U.S. Postal Service to create a national policy for workers who are registered sex offenders.

Though times are changing in the world of journalism; what hasn’t changed is my passion for reporting. I love being a reporter, a mother and wife.