Elaine Ayala

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.
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. 
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).
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.