Daysi Calavia-Robertson and Sabrina Sanchez Transcript — Sept. 8, 2025
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:00:01):
For session two, we’ll hear from journalists Daysi Calavia-Robertson, who’s an award-winning columnist with New Jersey Advanced Media. And Sabrina Sanchez, the early childhood education producer with aist Daysi’s focus as a columnist, is on delving into the issues affecting New Jersey’s most vulnerable residents, those living in diverse communities. Before joining NJ Advanced Media, she covered affordability and cost of living issues, the business of marijuana and CBD, travel and tourism, and special interest topics for Long Island’s Newsday. She’s also covered entertainment news on camera in English and Spanish in her hometown of Miami. And joining Daysi is Sabrina Sanchez, who’s the early childhood education producer with LAist. She specializes in community engagement, investigative reporting, and data-driven storytelling, exposing systemic failures and driving meaningful change. Her work has won recognition from the Peabody, DuPont, Columbia and IRE Awards. And before coming to LAist, Sabrina worked at ABC 10 in Sacramento, and for Mother Jones. Daysi and Sabrina. Thank you both for joining us.
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:01:29):
Thanks for having us, Rachel.
Sabrina Sanchez, LAist (00:01:31):
Yes, thank you.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:01:33):
So these, first of all, what you need to know about Daysi and Sabrina is that they were members of the original lighting the pipeline class that launched in March of 2022, and they really set the tone for me in terms of their engagement and the way they leveraged participation in the program. So I’m going to have Daysi start with her presentation, but before we do that, I’d like to ask both of you to briefly share with us where your heads were at when you saw the listing or the ad for Widening the Pipeline and why you wanted to apply Daysi. Let’s start with you.
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:02:17):
Well, first of all, I want to say I can’t believe it’s been three years already because I feel like it was just yesterday that we were all so excited to meet each other for the first time in person in dc. So to think of like, oh my God, that was three years ago. And on everything that we’ve done individually and as a group since then is really just so amazing for me. But at that time, I had taken a new job as a columnist in New Jersey. I moved from Long Island in New York where I was a business reporter covering all the things that you just told them, which is completely different than being a columnist and writing in first person and expressing my opinion on a variety of topics. And it’s something that I had never done before. So at that time, I kind of was a little bit like a fish out of water, and I wasn’t sure, is this the path that I want to take? Is this something that I really want to commit to? I didn’t feel comfortable with the role and the responsibility, and I was looking for support and I was looking for guidance, and I was looking for a group where I could feel that I belonged. One thing that really appealed to me about the Widening fellowship was that it was specifically for journalists of color. And so that right away made me feel that it was the right space for me to be in.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:03:49):
And so Sabrina, tell us a little bit about where your head was at and what made you want to apply for Widening.
Sabrina Sanchez, LAist (00:03:57):
Yeah, so I was working in Sacramento for about probably, wow, three years at that point. And I’m from the Central Valley Stockton, and I didn’t go to journalism school. Most of my colleagues, I was a Chicana Chicano studies major, very proud of being ethnic studies. And so I was coming into the industry. I didn’t have violence. I really kind of went in the back door to get in the industry because I didn’t have connections, first generation college student, all of that. And so I thought that widening the pipeline fellowship would just be a really good opportunity to meet people, especially because I started my full-time professional career in broadcast, which wasn’t necessarily what I had envisioned, but in order to just get a job because I didn’t go to journalism school, that was kind of the route I took. And so I was really trying to just find community.
(00:04:53):
And I think that Daysi connecting with journalists of color across the country was really nice to me. Just because I’m from Stockton, good old Central Valley, we’re from very diverse community. So it just felt very like, yeah, this makes sense for just figuring out how to build my career with people who are also I can be in community with. And so at that point, I had just helped develop the race and culture team at my job. And a lot of what I was bringing to that team was figuring out how do we reach the diverse communities in the areas we serve? Because Sacramento is one of the most diverse cities in the country. And so we had a tall task and tall order to really be like, how do we this? And how do we do it in respectful ways that make sure that we’re getting nuanced reporting about the communities who live in our areas? And so yeah, the whitening fellowship was just a really nice breath of fresh air to, I don’t know, just think through and talk about things with people and just share in our woes too. Yeah.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:06:12):
Well, thank you both for sharing that. And I’m going to ask you later on to give some advice to this year’s fellows. This is the third time around and we’re hoping we get to continue it, but I’d love to have you give some advice about how to maximize these last four months and get the most out of it. But I want to go back to you, Daysi, because our conversation this month is authentically connecting with the communities that we cover. And our first speaker is Aallyah Wright of Capital B, who talked about how she was able to get the movie centers screened in her hometown of Clarksdale, which is where the movie was based. And so she really provided some insights into engaging with audiences and really reaching out. You my dear, have done an incredible job of that in the one year of starting My Group Chat newsletter for NJ Advanced Media. So I want you to talk with us about the start of that project and what you’ve learned from it, what you’ve gotten out of that experience.
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:07:19):
Well, what I’ve learned from this experience is that you can be yourself and succeed in this industry. I know that it’s a cliche and people are just be yourself, but truly leaning into who you are and all that. That means your quirks. And if you’re an emotional person or if you’re excited and outgoing, whatever that means for you, really leaning into what makes you and sharing that and exploring that in your journalism will pay off. So I would say that’s my number one lesson from this project. But let me go rewind a little bit to talk about. So what is My Group Chat? So we can go to the first slide, Sid.
(00:08:10):
So My Group Chat is a newsletter, a WhatsApp chat, and a community. When I first started dreaming up this idea and this concept of My Group Chat, I was thinking of all the ways that I share important news, funny memes, and discuss topics that are controversial, like politics, race, identity with people in my community, people that I’m close to with my friends. And so then I just started to realize that nine times out of 10, those conversations were happening organically in my group chat with my girlfriends. And so I was like, well, how can we expand on this idea where it’s five or six people and really mimic that, but for the community at large? And that was pretty much the concept. We can go to the next one. So with this, and you’ll see some pictures here, there’s some animated ones, but the pictures that I have are actually people who are in the group. And so I decided just to sprinkle their faces throughout so you guys can see.
(00:09:23):
So the newsletter, it’s every Thursday, people who are subscribers to the newsletter will get this in their email inbox. And so the group chat is an example of writing that’s crafted for a specific targeted set of readers. So for us, it was young and young-ish people of color in New Jersey. So in other words, my people, friends, other millennials, my peers. And so every Thursday they’re getting all the hot topics and hot takes that are trending that week. And it can be anything from when Aaliyah wrote about what was going on in Clarksdale with sinners. That’s something that I wrote about. What she was doing is something that I included in the newsletter because I thought it was really, really cool. So I wanted to share her work with my audience, and I was able to do that. So it could be anything from an initiative like that to the Diddy trial, whatever heinous thing Trump is doing that week that we’re talking about to more local issues like housing and gentrification.
(00:10:28):
And the stories that I’m covering as a columnist often do make it into the newsletter in a condensed way. But of course, you can’t have a group chat newsletter without having an actual group chat. That just wouldn’t make any sense. So we created a WhatsApp chat where subscribers of the newsletter could interact with each other, engage with each other in real time and discuss what’s in the newsletter, but also other topics. So it’s kind of like a relationship where we’re feeding off each other, they’ll discuss something that I’m writing about or they’ll discuss something and then I’ll write about it later. And so it’s a kind of symbiotic relationship in that way. But it’s very interesting because through there, I’m getting this real time feedback from people who are reading my work. Sometimes I’ll write a column and I’ll get a flood of emails about it.
(00:11:24):
Usually people are pissed off about what I’m having to say in the group chat. It’s the opposite. People are really happy about what I’m saying. They’re usually agreeing with me, and even if they disagree, it’s in a friendly way. But it’s really interesting to see and get that feedback. So immediately where I might see it an email from an angry reader, but it’s not a conversation where here I’m able to reply away and say, well, this is what I was thinking when I said that, or X, Y, and Z. And then on another cool aspect about this is that I’ve seen as people in the group chat who are strangers. Everyone’s, not everyone, but mostly everyone is in New Jersey or Pennsylvania surrounding areas. And I’ve seen how people have been able to go from being complete strangers to forming full on friendships and relationships without me.
(00:12:25):
I feel like I set it off, but then it just kind of took on a life of its own. So that’s been really, really exciting to see as well. OK, Sid, I’m ready for the next one. So these are things to consider when writing for an audience. So if you’re thinking like, man, this is cool. I would like to do something similar maybe with a different focus, whether it’s a sports or politics or the environment, whatever focus that you might have in mind, I included some things to consider when you’re writing for an audience ready for the next slide. So voice tone and authenticity. I would say this is the most important thing for you to think about as you’re dreaming up what you’d like your newsletter to be or what you’d like your project to be, whatever project that is. So the tone of a piece of writing can help you communicate with your audience.
(00:13:18):
It’s important to choose the right tone for that specific audience. And like I said, I won’t get tired of saying this, be yourself. Always be your authentic self education. You want to take into account the level of education of your readers so the materials appropriate for them. I know usually for newspapers, we always aim for an 11th grade reading level, some even a fifth grade reading level. In my group chat, I know that most of our readers are first generation college graduates and children of immigrants, proud children of immigrants. Interest rate, OK, this goes to the same thing where I was talking about, well, what is something that my audience is going to care about, that they’re going to find something they can relate to? What is it that they care about? I started noticing in the chat that people were really into yoga. They were talking about, let’s meet up for yoga, or I’m going to my yoga class.
(00:14:11):
So I decided, why don’t we have a meetup and we can all go do yoga together? And that just comes from really being tuned in and listening to what is it that your audience wants and what is it that they care about? So here you see that tiny little picture that was all of us. We went to a Black owned yoga studio and we did yoga together. And so those type of in-person events also helps people to become more engaged or more committed to the community. They’re not only being friends digitally, but also in person in real life. So what is it that your readers care about? Is it national, local politics, culture, community building? And then really lean into that and give them what they want next. These are other things that we really have to pay attention to when we’re writing for a specific targeted audience, culture, demographics, and language. So when I talk about language that’s English or Spanish or Spanglish, that could also be Chicano, that could be a VE and even Gen Z or millennial slang versus baby boomer slang. So all these things are important when you’re thinking about how you’re going to address the people that you’re talking to.
(00:15:33):
So why consider doing something like this? You see, this is the only time that I’ll share some advice from an old white guy, but Mark Twain allegedly said to write what you know. So for me, I’m most passionate when I’m writing about people in my community, when I’m writing about Latinos, when I’m writing about Black people, when I’m writing about people of color, I feel like that’s what I know. I can lean into my experiences when I was growing up, my parents being the proud daughter of immigrants and what they went through, and then my experiences as a first generation college student and first generation American. So when you’re doing that, it’s important to consider the different needs and interests and the background of your audience, but also think about, is this something that I would want to read? Is this something that would make me passionate, that would make me interested? And I feel like if you are writing about something that you really care about and you’re very passionate and you’re putting all your heart and energy into it, people are going to notice it’s inevitable. That excitement that you’re feeling about that topic is just going to spill over into the work, and that’s what you want. That’s what is really going to make people see you.
(00:17:00):
I wanted to share with you guys some of the wins. Like Rachel said, I’ve only been a year that we’ve been doing this, but it’s already shown to be successful. And so that I want to talk about that word successful. What does that mean? I think that it means something different for each person, but for me, this project has been successful for these three reasons. So the first reason is because I was able to connect with people who look like me, who sound like me, who are like me, who have the same interests and passions. And through this project, they’ve been able to see me, I’ve been able to see them, and I have felt like I have finally created a home for myself, a home away from home. I’m not from New Jersey, I wasn’t from York either. I’m from Miami. And for a long time I was very, very homesick and I just felt like I didn’t have my people, I didn’t feel grounded in where I was.
(00:18:01):
They always say, oh, bloom where you’re planted. And I was finally able to do this with this project. So for me, that’s a success. And like I said, I was able to help other people also build that home for themselves. I’ve seen people in this group help each other get jobs when people have faced unexpected layoffs. I’ve seen people who lost loved ones, two women both lost their husbands, and through the chat they connected and just have these amazing friendships and support and comradery. People open businesses and people in the chat are rushing to go support them. And just to be able to see that, like I said, I feel like I kind of got the snowball rolling, but to see it continue to roll and grow and grow and grow has just been amazing. And lastly, our efforts have been celebrated by very important journalism institutions around the country.
(00:19:05):
We won a National Headliner award for newsletter writing. And again, for me, it just felt great because when I was pitching this project in the beginning, a lot of people, even at my organization, they doubted it. They were like, well, I don’t know. This is for young people of color. They’re not our target audience. They’re not demographic. How do we really know that they’re going to read this? How do we really know that this is going to work? This sounds fun, but we’re just not sure. And then when I submitted the first drafts of what my newsletters would look like and sound like, then they were skeptical again. They were like, oh, this writing, it’s just kind of unrefined. We don’t know that this is the right thing for you. You’re a serious columnist, yada, yada, yada. You just comments that you can kind of read through what they’re saying, what they mean.
(00:20:04):
But I really kept pushing and saying like, no, I believe in this. I believe that there is an audience for this. I know this can work. I know I can build this community. And so when these awards started coming in and these nominations started coming in, I think it was more validation for them than for me. Of course, it always feels nice to win anything when you’ve worked so hard on it. But like I said, for me, the first two things are my real wins. I was completely myself and I build community. So those were my wins. But when those journalism accolades started coming in, I feel like people at my job were like, oh my god. And I told you, Rachel, that some people were like, oh, we always believed in this and we always believed in you. And it was like, oh, thank you so much.
(00:20:58):
But I think that sometimes for managers or for higher ups, it really takes taking this risk and then seeing that you won whatever for them to be like, oh my God, yes, this was a good idea. But it opens the door for us to continue doing more of this work that we really love and they’re really passionate about. So like I said, if that’s what it takes, here we are. And I’m so happy and so excited for all that’s yet to come. And if this is what it takes for people to believe in this, then I guess that’s what we have to do. I don’t know if guys have any questions.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:21:40):
I just see the note in the chat that you’ve just won the ONA award for best newsletter.
Speaker (00:21:52):
Finalist, but LAist won, was the winner, but placement. It’s still an award.
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:22:01):
Well, that is amazing. I didn’t even know. I love it. Congrats to LAist and good going us, I guess. But that’s exciting. I didn’t even know
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:22:11):
This conversation for me is both of them so far. And certainly the third one is so empowering because again, when I started out 40 years ago, I would’ve been fired for attempting to do things like what you’re doing. And what it speaks to me so clearly is that the legacy media spent the past four or five decades ignoring the voices of a large swath of the community. And so now the work that you and Sabrina and others are doing is literally just reclaiming those voices. So thank you for that. Let’s pivot now to Sabrina, because in the first two or three months of your new gig at LAS, you were probably surrounded by the news and the events of immigration raids and things that were going on in la. So let’s start us off by that and then tell us about the project you developed.
Sabrina Sanchez, LAist (00:23:14):
Yeah, so just for context, I’m an engagement producer and my bread and butter in the engagement team and the education team is early childhood. So I’m thinking through how am I reaching parents, caregivers, educators and providers, where they’re at, and how do I meet them, not only meet them where they’re at, but how do I then engage with them so that they feel comfortable and trust us enough to think through what are important, what is important to them, and what information gaps exist and how can we help fill them in some way? And it looks very different in different ways. So we go about it very creatively. We have, it’s called a Hey BB text group, and that’s for expecting parents. And so we created pregnancy guides around that. That was before my time, but just to give you an idea of the work.
(00:24:09):
So we’re very engagement forward in that way. We created a school game plan to help parents as they’re entering the school system, navigate all the information because the LAUSD is obviously extremely huge, and so many parents are confused and overwhelmed and frustrated. And so right now I’m doing a whole project distributing printed guides to help families, but all to say the bread and butter of the engagement team I work with is how do we truly serve communities? And so when I came in late April, I was still learning everything. And then obviously the immigration raid started happening at Mass Force in LA. Obviously I’m from the Latino community. I myself am not an immigrant, but I grew up around immigrants. I’m from the Central Valley, it’s my community. And so I just started thinking through what would maybe parents need. And that’s kind of how the reporting that I’m going to talk about kind of spurred, OK, my presentation is by far not as beautiful and colorful as Daysi’s.
(00:25:21):
You did such a great job. I’m like, oh dang, I have to go after that. But yeah, mine is a lot shorter just because this is one reporting, this is one story, but kind of how I look at journalism and how I’ve always, the only reason I’m in this industry is because I’m like, how do I actually use journalism to serve our communities? And not to say journalists don’t do that, but I think that’s why engagement journalism is such a really unique way of going about it because it is our compass. It’s our driving force as journalists of how do we work with communities instead of talk about them and how do we use that communication when we’re working with them to really inform our reporting. And so for this particular piece, I was thinking through what would parents most need Right now my kind of beat is children five and under their parents and or caregivers.
(00:26:22):
But obviously what was and is happening in LA was happening at such a, it was just so scary. It was really scary. There was so many things happening and people were very scared. And not even just folks who, it’s just people who identify as Latino and or other communities, Asian, Black, we’re being racially profiled, we’re being targeted. There’s children who are going to school with their birth certificates who are documented, who their parents are afraid of them being taken because of the way they look, the color of their skin. And so what I was looking at was when I was doing this, I was looking at what information would parents need if they were being detained or deported or to help talk through what’s going on with their children, especially children who are younger, because how you talk to a child who’s five is very different from how you talk to a child who is 10 to 18 or to 16.
(00:27:32):
So I started just going through just Google. That’s how I start. I’ll go on Google trends and I’ll start seeing what are top, what are questions that are coming up for people. And so that was where I started. And then obviously I went into social media and I started kind of reading through comments. I started going through Reddit. I started obviously just talking to people who I know as well who are immigrants or who their family are undocumented, and just thinking through what information would be most helpful. So I basically paired it down to these different topics. So creating a family preparedness plan, what’s really great is that there was so many organizations catalyzed to provide that information. So it was me more just putting it in one place because sometimes it gets confusing on where to find things. And so creating a family preparedness plan, how to plan for childcare if you’re detained or deported.
(00:28:40):
So really breaking down the different options you have and thinking through it ahead of time might be helpful. How to get a child a passport if one parent is absent. That was something that came up a lot when I was looking on Google Trends, because some families, maybe one of the parents has always been absent in their lives, but legally you need that parent to give permission to help get the passport, and a lot of people don’t know that. So it was kind of breaking that down that, and that came specifically from Google Trends and seeing the questions that were coming up from people online gathering important documents. I had talked to experts already, whether it was social justice law firms and or different groups who serve immigrant communities. And they had talked about how just having documents prepared ahead of time in case someone were to be deported is really helpful.
(00:29:35):
And then obviously everyone who’s impacted immigration legal services obviously could really benefit folks. So I provided information for that based on experts who shared with me. And then going back to how to really just emotionally prepare your child. It’s a hard conversation and I wanted to talk with therapists who could help navigate that. For this piece, I talked to a Latino therapist who predominantly serves immigrants and just talking through that topic because a hard one. And then children’s books discussing immigration and separation because a lot of folks recommended using different ways to help communicate the issue and also help cope. Some of these books kind of went into how to cope if your parent is absent, and it may not talk about deportation or detainment, but it talks about separation. Whereas some of the books did talk about detainment and deportation. So that’s how I went about framing the story.
(00:30:43):
Obviously this story came about very quickly and it was very reactive. And also trying to be very responsive to the times and think through what is in the local news ecosystem and what hasn’t been. And at that point when I was reporting this story, I hadn’t personally seen from other local outlets just yet, kind of a more detailed version of information to really help families. There was definitely segments and pieces, but I wanted something that a one-stop shop where people could go if they needed. And I think what we do at LA in our engagement team is really share the reporting with those trusted in the community to really widen its reach AKA, meet families where they are. So it was sending it to social justice law firms or immigration law firms. It was sending it to therapists and saying, Hey, I know you service a wide net of communities who may find this information useful.
(00:31:54):
And also acknowledging that we’re not trying to duplicate any information. We actually resourced a lot of organizations who’ve already done this work in here, and we’re just trying to make sure it’s distributed as much as possible. And it could be like I always frame it as it’s a compliment to your work possibly, and it could be a nice addition. That’s kind of how I went about really doing this reporting. But as mentioned, this came from a need that happened very quickly when we were seeing what was going on in LA. So obviously this project could have been, there could have been more to it, but I think for that time and what we felt was needed, this is kind of the direction we took. So yeah, that’s the reporting I did, and I’m doing follow-up reporting as well on talking with children a bit more and stuff. So that’s in the works as well. Thank you.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:32:56):
These are powerful, powerful examples of adding value to our communities. And so I’m so grateful to both of you for joining us. While we wait to see if there are any Zoom hands, I wanted to jump in with a quick question for Daysi. I was really intrigued by the point in your presentation, which you said the members of the group chat feel heard and seen in a way that in other forms they’re not. It’s almost as if in my mind, I feel like they’re safe to talk about tariffs. They’re safe to talk about what Trump’s doing. They’re safe to talk about whatever issue is on the table, whereas maybe even with their families, they can’t talk about it or whatever. Can you tell us a little bit more about creating that kind of space for interacting with the news or figuring out what’s going on in the world?
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:33:56):
And so sometimes, yeah, right, it’s creating that safe space. And sometimes it’s something like you said, something in the news, something that Trump said or did, but sometimes it’s even a lot smaller than that, Rachel. Sometimes it’s like, I’m the only Black person in my office and my white colleague said this to me. Am I tripping? Or was that a microaggression? Or let me know, was this person really being racist towards me or am I having a bad day and being sensitive? And then it’s like people weighing in and saying like, oh no, you’re not tripping. That was not OK. You should go to HR about that. That’s not fine. Or they’re gaslighting you or they’re whatever. And so people really being there for each other and being that sounding board and that support and that comradery that maybe you can’t find in that space where you’re in that predominantly white office where you are the only one. And so I feel like it’s been a place where you’re not alone and there are the other people who care about you and look like you and are experiencing maybe the same types of microaggressions in their offices, so they know how to recognize what’s happening and maybe have already gone to HR and can tell you, well, this is what happened to me, or this was my experience. So it’s big picture, but it’s also small daily things that we struggle with when we are the only one.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:35:40):
That’s such a good point for me to remember, because again, though you are a journalist and this is sponsored by a media company, you have expanded the definition of community in the media space and in the public affairs space. And so it’s so powerful. Let’s have,
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:36:00):
Before you move on, I just want to say those things can turn into a story idea that can turn into a column that can turn into a story about why people of color don’t want to return to the office and they prefer to work remotely. So that’s why I said it’s kind of like a symbiotic relationship. There’s always a way to turn anything into a story. I feel like everything’s a story. I know sometimes my husband’s like, you’re not working. You’re like, why are you interviewing that person? Or why are you thinking of a content or real or whatever. But if you would just think creatively enough, and if this is a problem for this person, it’s probably a problem for a lot of other people. And if you can find a way of connecting that and formulating that idea, it can be a story for you. It doesn’t just have to be this fun thing. You can find the stories within the little occurrences that people are sharing.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:37:01):
Let’s go to Gabby. Gabby, introduce yourself and ask your question.
Gabriela Nunez-Garcia, NBC Atlanta 11 Alive News (00:37:08):
Hi. Hi. My name is Gabriela Nunez and I am a special projects producer at 11 Alive News, so the NBC affiliate in Atlanta. And I’m actually really excited to hear from both of you. I saw both of your work through ONAs and I got a shout out Daysi because 3 0 5 for life.
I have a lot of questions for both of you, but I’m going to start with one, and then I’m telling my cohort right now that if you don’t have any, I’ll keep asking. But Ms. Daysi, if you don’t mind with My Group Chat, I think it’s such a great innovative idea. I want to know brick by brick, how did you build this community? How did you get people to join a WhatsApp and engage and do you moderate? Do you have community guidelines, stuff like that, like the nitty gritty of how you got this project to turn into something more?
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:37:56):
Right. So in terms of moderation, we do have the guidelines. You can’t insult other people if you disagree with them. Be respectful. You can share your opinion or vent or whatever it is, as long as you’re not insulting anyone or name calling anyone. The only real problem we’ve had in this year that we’ve had the chat has been, there was this really passionate discussion between people in New Jersey and some people who are from New York, which ones it was really city, which one’s better. And it just became this New Jersey against new thing. And then people who had lived in New York or were from New York, but then they were coming here to Jersey and then people were saying, you’re the gentrifier. It just became a little chaotic in there. But then we just handled that. I came on there, I did a video and I basically said, I love the passion.
(00:38:58):
I love all the different point of views that you’re sharing, but we need to do this respectfully. This is not the space for us to attack each other because we have enough of that in the outside world. So this is a space for us to be kind and supportive. And again, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a disagreement, but we’re going to handle this with respect, kindness, and love, because that’s what this group is about. And so once I sent that message, and again, it was a little video, everybody was like, oh my God, you’re so right. We’re so sorry. And everyone apologized and everybody was friends again. That’s really been the only time where I’ve had to step in and be like, OK, guys, let’s be nice. And in terms of getting people to join the chat, I did a lot of recruitment. I went to events and I spoke about the group chat.
(00:39:50):
I talked about the newsletter, I talked about what I wanted to do. I also sent a lot of messages on my Instagram, on social media doing the same thing, just sharing what the group was about and asking people if they wanted to join and sending them the link to join. I also made it a private group so that I could vet people, because when you have so many people in a group, you want to make sure that you don’t have anyone who doesn’t belong or shouldn’t be there or who has a bad intention. There’s also a lot of spam on WhatsApp. So that was something that I noticed early on. There was people coming in and with Bitcoin or crypto, and we also had some men coming in who were then trying to send inappropriate photos to the women in the group. But that was, luckily those hiccups were early when we still were kind of small. Right now we have over 300 people, and every day people are requesting to come in. I also make sure that whenever I accept somebody in the group, I always send a welcome message and I give them a chance to introduce themselves, what their name is, are they Latino or what’s their ethnic cultural heritage?
(00:41:13):
What do you do? Are you a hairdresser or you have a business? Where in New Jersey do you live too? Because that way people, we have a lot of members in Jersey City. So then people want to know who’s in this area that I can hang out with and do things with in person. So I want to make sure that I’m letting people in, not all at once where it’s chaotic, but let’s say I’ll approve 10 people a week and then give them a chance to introduce themselves and become acclimated into the group. I don’t know. Do you have any more questions? I mean, I guess the short answer is I went to events and I messaged people on social media.
Gabriela Nunez-Garcia, NBC Atlanta 11 Alive News (00:41:56):
No, that was excellent. Thank you so much.
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:41:58):
You are welcome.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:42:06):
Hi, Sabrina. I wanted to ask about the response you’ve gotten from the guide that you produce. What are some of the things you’ve heard from community members or advocacy organizations or whatever?
Sabrina Sanchez, LAist (00:42:22):
Yeah, I guess the responses I’ve gotten were thank you. It was really helpful and it was nice to see an news organization doing that. So those are some of the biggest things. And we had follow-ups from parents actually being like, since you reported on this, can you also report about this when it comes to immigration? Or can you do this? And that’s why one of the follow-up stories I’m doing is going more in depth of how to talk to your children about immigration. Because I think one thing that we’re seeing is all types of people are really afraid no matter what their status is. For example, my own grandpa stopped going to the Mexican market because while he’s been a citizen for many years, he just really afraid that he’s going to be detained. And I think older people too, I think they’re afraid because of their health as well, they can get easily affected from traumatic incidences and things of that sort.
(00:43:22):
So I think a lot of parents, from what I’ve seen so far, have just been do more because I think they want more just maybe information based on what they’re navigating with their children, especially with back to school, just happening in LA and everywhere, really having to talk to your child about, well, there is ice who are masking themselves and who may be identifying themselves as something else. And you have to be careful. There’s just so many different things to think about, especially how do you tell a five-year-old that? And so that’s kind of some of the follow-up work I’ll be doing in response to some parents reaching out to us and saying, Hey, thank you for that. And can you do this?
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:44:14):
Great. Daniela, introduce yourself.
Daniela Doncel, Connecticut Public Radio (00:44:20):
Hi, my name is Daniela. I am a the Latino Communities Reporter with Connecticut Public Radio, WNPR. Thank you both for speaking. This is really great. My question is actually for you, Sabrina, because I’ve been doing very similar work with my station. We did a big, one of the first stories I did was also on a family preparedness guide and how to do that. So I appreciate that you’re doing the same thing for your community. That’s really great. One aspect of the immigration umbrella that I haven’t been able to tap into yet is actually what you are focusing on, which is parents, children, and education. So my question is really what advice do you have in terms of connecting with parents and children? How do you find those sources and how do you develop those relationships to be able to tell those stories, especially when you’re dealing with younger children, how do you get that connection?
Sabrina Sanchez, LAist (00:45:15):
Yeah, so I would say there’s a couple different ways I’m going about it. And also thank you for your question, but you’re doing great work. But yeah, so one is reaching or connecting with trusted organizations who are serving communities, and it’s talking to them and getting a sense, and then through them, they could potentially connect you with parents. I will say obviously right now it’s super sensitive, so I know you know that. So it’s kind of a balancing act of if they will talk kind of relay. But we have had that happen, I think especially because LA is such a organization that people know will do the work. So there is that as well, that baked in trust to a sense. I also, I do a lot of in-person engagement, and so I’m tabling a lot. I’m going out to libraries. I’m just doing different things.
(00:46:17):
And so I naturally just meet people there. And I will say right now, a lot of understandably immigrant communities are not out and about, but their families are still who are documented. And so you meet people through those events and you talk to them. And we’ve also, for example, worked with the YMCA for another project, and they were saying that they had to pivot one of their big events, which is usually a festival, and they’re doing a drive-through instead to really tailor to what’s going on with families right now. And we were going to go to the in-person event, but we just didn’t have time. But talking to orgs who are doing drive-through events and being like, Hey, could I come out and talk to families as they’re driving through? That could be a good way to connect with those folks who you want to reach, but who obviously different groups are tailoring to make sure that they’re protected.
(00:47:13):
Those are some ways, and then I think organically to going obviously into Latino communities and just talking to whether it’s going to childcare centers or things of that sort, building relationships, and they may naturally allow you into the space depending on circumstance. I think those are different ways I’ve been going about it, and I’ve been talking to a lot of childcare providers. I will say one thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of providers don’t want to be reported on because they don’t want to be targeted, which is totally understandable, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t be willing to connect you with folks. So I think those are different ways I’ve been thinking through as would not a traditional listening session of course, but something of that nature with parents who are undocumented and or immigrants. Would that be something that would be worthwhile for them in thinking through? But obviously there has to be an incentivization of how do you go about bringing in communities? And that wouldn’t be directly tied to reporting, but it could lead to reporting. So that’s where that incentive piece can come into play and be ethical and things of that sort. But those are different ways I’ve been thinking about it. Hopefully that’s helpful, but happy to chat offline too.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:48:30):
Thank you so much. Elisha, why don’t you introduce yourself and ask your question.
Elisha Brown, States Newsroom (00:48:36):
Hi, I am Elisha Brown, a reproductive rights today newsletter author at States Newsroom. Thank you, Sabrina, and thank you Daysi so much. This question is for Daysi, good to see you. How do you balance sending your weekly newsletter with filing your columns?
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:48:54):
Oh my goodness. And I’m also writing a True Crime podcast. So yeah, so I think I just take it as a, I do two things. One is taking it week by week, and sometimes the priorities have to shift. So I have to have a conversation with my editor. We always meet every Monday and we go over what the expectations are for the week depending on what my workload is. And so what’s the priority this week? Well, the priority is we need you to write episode five of the True Crime podcast that needs to be done by Friday. So that’s going to be my priority for the week and whatever else I can get done in between as long as I can meet that deadline, so be it, right? But also another thing that I’ve done is I’ve planned ahead. So for me, the newsletter is very important, even though sometimes my editor just says, you don’t have to do everything all the time.
(00:49:59):
She won’t be upset if I can’t write the newsletter that week, or she won’t be upset if I can’t write that column that I want to about that undocumented family in Patterson because she knows that I have a lot on my plate, and she’s like, sometimes something just has to be kicked off, pushed the next week, whatever. But that’s not OK with me because I’m a crazy overachiever. So sometimes I’ll just try to think ahead, OK, well, what can I do for the newsletter that’s maybe in a different format that I can do ahead of time and we can schedule it. So yes, sometimes it’s going to be the format where it’s like, I’m going to be talking about the current events, the Diddy trial, whatever, but then I can also do things that are a little different. So I do this thing called a member spotlight, where I’ll write a profile about somebody in the chat and so that I can do that ahead of time and I can schedule the photos and make it nice, and I could do that Friday and then have it scheduled for Thursday because it’s a profile, it’s evergreen.
(00:51:12):
So when I know that I’m going to have a week like that, I plan ahead and I’m like, OK, well this week I’m going to write about women in New Jersey who are raising money for Palestine. One of them is in the chat, but the other two aren’t. And so that’s again, something that I don’t have to wait to see what’s the bombshell news of the week or what is the trending topic that everybody’s talking about. And it’s also good because that way people don’t get bored. They’re like, oh, this week it’s a member spotlight. And then next week it’s going to be a short story about people in the community helping Palestine. And then the next week I might go back to the same format, and it could be news topics. I’ve also done what I’m reading this week, and it’ll be book recs of POC authors. Whatever I do, I make sure that it’s still really tailored to the community. It’s not just a book, it’s written by a Black woman, or it’s not just an event. It’s an event tailored for millennial Latinos or first gen students or whatever. But those are ways that I am able to do all the things I want to do, even when I’m told to just not do some of them.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:52:35):
Try to get in two more questions. I see. Johnny, why don’t you take it away?
Johnny Wilian Perez-Gonzalez, WHYY (00:52:43):
Hopefully you guys can hear me, but Hi Daysi.
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:52:46):
Hi. Johnny’s my mentee. Hey, I’m very happy to see him here.
Johnny Wilian Perez-Gonzalez, WHYY (00:52:51):
So I’m actually on a same boat, which we connected with ac. I have a WhatsApp. A lot of you of my colleagues in the fellowship know the WhatsApp is called Esta. I’m with WHYY/NPR, by the way. But so my question for you is, we’ve already talked a little bit about this, but ever since now I’ve kind of dug into the WhatsApp now since the launch was February, now we’re in September now. Now it’s been very difficult on having people join in to the group chat. I mean, I found so much or so many successes with going to events and hosting events, but the targeted audience is obviously the Latino Spanish speaking community. And I feel like right now, honestly, it wasn’t probably the best time to do this project because nobody wants to go out, everybody’s so scared of immigration or ICE. But if I was to ask you, what advice would you give to maybe not only myself, but other people who are into this kind of innovative way on telling stories or sharing positive stories to communities like ours? Because I’ve hosted events too, know your rights. What does the anti laws look like in immigration campaigns? In Delaware, I’ve done nutrition, mental health with tying into immigration, but maybe only one or two people will join, but there’s 20 people joining virtually. I dunno.
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:54:35):
So is your question, how do I make them join in person?
Johnny Wilian Perez-Gonzalez, WHYY (00:54:40):
Yeah,
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:54:43):
That’s difficult because your target audience, like you said, as people who are afraid to go out because of what’s happening right now with ice, that’s a really difficult one. I think that in terms of for me, having a different target audience when we’ve done events, which is really kind of funny, but I find that when you do a free event, you think, oh, it’s free. More people could come because it’s free, right? No, because then there’s no commitment. They’re just like, yeah, yeah, I’ll be there. But then the day comes and they might not show up. So what’s really worked for us is just doing ticketed events, and it doesn’t have to have a high cost, even if it just has $20 or $15, people are more unwilling to just throw away 20 bucks and they’ll actually show up. So I’ve learned that doing a low cost ticketed event has yielded better results with people actually showing up on the day of the event as opposed to doing something free.
(00:55:49):
But again, I have a different target audience where most people are documented and they’re not as worried about going and meeting up in person. So that is a challenge. And in terms of growing it, growing the chat to have more members, even if it is virtual, just so that you can share that information and share your newsletter or whatever journalism you’re sharing with the group. Another thing I’ve done is I’ve had giveaways where if you are in the group and you add one of your friends to the group, or you bring one of your friends to the group, we’ll do a gift card to a local business. Maybe sometimes we’ve even done someone else in the group, there’s a lady who has a hair salon. So then we did a giveaway to her salon, and people really wanted that, so they started adding their friends.
(00:56:49):
But with a group like this, you want people to be doing that recruitment for you. And I’ve had people who are so happy to be in the group, they’re like, oh, can I add my sister? Can I add my cousin? Can I bring my best friend? And I’m like, yeah, sure. We want that. We want people who are highly engaged to bring other people who are going to be highly engaged. So I think that that would be the best way, even if, again, it doesn’t have to be anything super expensive. It could be, I dunno, a gift card to a coffee in a local shop. Maybe that could work for you to grow the WhatsApp group and really encouraging people to, if you find this information that I’m sharing here useful and you think that your friends or your family members would also find it useful, please add them to the chat, send them this link, whatever it is.
(00:57:43):
But I really don’t have an answer for making people want to go in person when they’re afraid, because I mean, I know as a journalist, as a person, as a Latina, I want to minimize harm and I don’t want to encourage someone to come out. And then God forbid something happens and they’re taken or their loved one is taken, I think I would feel a lot of guilt. So it’s a really difficult situation that all of us are living in. Even me, I was born here in this country, but anytime I go anywhere, I take my passport with me because it’s just, and even with my passport, I know that they might think it’s fake or they might not believe me, or they might just take me a journalist and they want to make a point or so just not being able to feel safe myself. Sometimes I can’t even imagine someone who is undocumented.
Johnny Wilian Perez-Gonzalez, WHYY (00:58:46):
I think my last follow-up that I had was, because right now I’m the one who moderates, you mentioned it, it’s a private group because we’re looking for a specific community or a specific community. So I’m moderating who’s coming in into the group chats. So I know when people are from Delaware because it’s a 3 0 2 area code, but it’s also people in Delaware who have different area codes because maybe they moved to Delaware from a different state. But do you have a strategy on how you know that this is an actual person who is joining this group? Or do you privately message them, or what’s the process?
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:59:30):
I’m going to jump into two reasons. One is unfortunately we’re out of time, and because you are Daysi’s mentee,
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (00:59:38):
I can call you. Yeah, I’ll call you John, everything that I do.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (00:59:43):
But I would like to maybe steal a couple of minutes to see what Lionel’s question and whether or not we have time to answer it. So is it Lionel, is this a quick question or can we put you in touch with –?
Lionel Ramos, KOSU (00:59:58):
I think it can be quick, Rachel. Really, Johnny was about to kind of touch on it, I think I just wanted to get a better sense of your day-to-day monitoring of the chat that is a part of the newsletter that you have, and just of the various activity that you have happening there. When you’re not looking, how often do you look at it? Do you post about it on other social media platforms? To what degree are you extending that availability and awareness outside of the target community?
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (01:00:29):
Yeah, so all the time, just like with a regular chat, with my friends, with my girlfriends, I am all the time there always scrolling through, always reading, always replying to questions. So it is very time consuming. But I’m a chronically online person anyway, so I’m the perfect person to do this because I do just generally enjoy it. I think if you are someone who is like, no, I need my boundaries, or I don’t want to look at my phone after 6:00 PM this is probably not the thing for you to do. So yeah, I’m always on there. We started an Instagram a few months ago, so I try to do reels and post on there. We’re thinking of getting someone dedicated to the team who could just do that just because as much as I like it and I am good at it, but I just don’t have enough time to dedicate myself to growing the Instagram. So in the process of getting someone on the team who can just do that and grow our brand that way. And then, like I said, we’re meeting in person in different parts of New Jersey once a month. It could be yoga, it could be bowling. We did a waffle making class, candle making classes. So we’re going to different places and just meeting people out in the real world and telling them what this group is and inviting them to join us.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (01:01:57):
This has been such an incredible way for me to think about this issue of audience engagement at times. It can seem like just jargon that the medium managers toss out, but you two journalists have modeled a really organic and holistic and positive approach to doing this. So I want to take this opportunity to have all of us thank Daysi C Robertson and Sabrina T Sanchez for joining us and really fueling this energy for Widening fellows. Thank you for being with us.
Daysi Calavia-Robertson, NJ.com (01:02:39):
Thank you for having us.
Sabrina Sanchez, LAist (01:02:41):
Yes, thank you.
Rachel Jones, National Press Foundation (01:02:43):
And please feel free to drop me some notes you guys about your advice for helping the 2025 fellows get the most out of the next four months. I mean, I want to hear more about what worked for you during your experience and whether or not staying in touch. And the WhatsApp channel has been of many use to you, but you two are shining stars of the OG Widening class. And so I’m grateful to you.
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