Elaine Ayala worked in mainstream journalism for 45 years, capping off her career as Metro columnist for the San Antonio Express-News and host of her podcast, “¡Nosotros! with Elaine Ayala," sponsored by the Gamez Law Firm. As a journalist, she covered wide-ranging topics from U.S. Latino politics to religion and from immigration to Mexican American arts and culture.

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Over her career, she served in a variety of newsroom jobs, from reporter and features editor to blogger and editorial page editor. In all, she worked for six metropolitan dailies – Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the Arizona Daily Star, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, the Austin American-Statesman, the El Paso Times and, from December 1996 to July 2025, the San Antonio Express-News.

 

Elaine is a San Antonio native who grew up on the West Side, where she still resides. She graduated from Memorial High School in the Edgewood Independent School District and earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She’s a product of the Maynard Institute’s Editing Program, in which she also taught.

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She’s past president of the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists (SAAHJ), the Austin Area Association of Hispanic Journalists, the El Paso Association of Hispanic Journalists and served on the board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ).

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Elaine is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Henry Guerra Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism from SAAHJ; the Phillip True Award for Reporter of the Year, given by her peers at the Express-News; the inaugural Mission Heritage Award from the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions; the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Community Voice Award; the Governor’s Yellow Rose of Texas Award as well as recognitions from the Martinez Street Women’s Center and IMAGE of San Antonio. 

 

Her most recent award came from the legendary Snakepit Society of San Antonio, an organization founded by the legendary political activist Ruben Munguia of Munguia Printers. She was inducted into the Edgewood Independent School District’s Hall of Fame, the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame and NAHJ’s Hall of Fame.

Michael Quintanilla has sat front row at runways in New York, Milan and Paris, writing about international fashion weeks for the Los Angeles Times and his hometown’s San Antonio Express-News. His work has won awards, including his impromptu coverage for the Los Angeles Times of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York. He contributed reporting about the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake, work that earned the Times two staff Pulitzer Prizes.

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Michael was among the nation’s first reporters to write about the AIDS crisis and was named feature writer of the year by both the Los Angeles Times and the California Newspaper Publishers Association for a narrative feature written in diary form about a man living with AIDS. He befriended and later cared for him, who eventually died from complications of the disease.

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Michael is the District 4 appointee to the city’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board and is a board member of the Therapeutic Justice Foundation that supports Bexar County’s 14 Specialty Courts. He volunteers for Eva's Heroes, the GED Leadership Committee, 4 Paws Animal Hospital, San Antonio Fiesta Commission, Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas and other groups.

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He has received the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists’ lifetime achievement award, the Express-News Phillip True Award and was the first San Antonio Fashion Week Icon Award of Excellence recipient.

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Michael is a Burbank High School graduate and earned his journalism degree from Trinity University, which honored him with its distinguished alumni award.

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He’s the author and performer of an acclaimed one-man “Confessions” show about writing that has taken him from Hollywood to Harvard, performing before college audiences and fellow journalists. Many of his newspaper stories (L.A. Times, Dallas Morning News, Dallas Times-Herald, El Paso Herald-Post, Express-News), including investigative reporting and feature writing, have been published in journals and books. One was turned into a feature film and other have been optioned.

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He’s “Mr. Fiesta,” known for wearing his handcrafted hats and costumes. He served as Grand Marshal of the Fiesta Flambeau Parade in 2024. And he’s recognized as a San Antonio ambassador, having traveled to various U.S. cities with Visit San Antonio, promoting San Antonio’s diversity, culture and charm.