My Take on IDFW’s 3,652 Days of Purpose
Put on your party hats, fasten your seat belts and get ready to zoom into memory lane with Infórmate DFW as we celebrate our 10-year anniversary with this special edition. You’re our guests of honor: the community collage who gives purpose to our pages and the reason we continue this experiment.
Yes, you read right, experiment. That theme permeates the stories and comments found in this issue. You’ll see it on page 22 as debutant contributor Jaime Resendez takes us for a ride into his new role as a Dallas City Council member. It’s also ingrained in the columns of business coach Virginia Wells (p. 24) and Dallas County Commissioner Dr. Elba Garcia (p. 14) — they’ve contributed for nearly a decade (including two leap years with 366 days).
This issue itself proves IDFW is a dream that’s 10 years in the making. Our goal was to highlight the memories and milestones we’ve created as a community since 2009. In chronicling IDFW’s journey (p. 16) and gathering commentary from our current and past teammates (pp. 9-11), we were additionally reminded that this magazine was just an idea to begin with. Ultimately becoming a shining light on the triumphant stories of local Hispanic leaders, that idea continues requiring the right concoction of talent to keep making it a reality.
That brings me to my own trial with the magazine. It’s no coincidence my path crossed with IDFW publisher Silvia Villarreal about a month after my first layoff (of two) — at the first networker I ever attended. Almost as soon as I walked in, the man coordinating the event handed me a copy of IDFW and introduced us, unknowingly commencing a pivotal chapter in my life story.
I’d never seen a local Hispanic-oriented, glossy magazine in my 12 years in Dallas, and on the cover was WFAA news anchor Cynthia Izaguirre. It was a wow on many levels: I’m a communications major; love magazines; and, although I hadn’t defined it, I was at a point in my career where I subconsciously yearned for role models and meeting more professionals I could culturally identify with.
A few days later, I met Silvia one-on-one to discuss editorial inconsistencies I’d noticed in the magazine. I liked her honesty about being a startup needing help in every area; she welcomed feedback on what could improve. The next issue, I was helping edit.
It’s been nine years since that divine encounter. Intermittently freelancing for IDFW more than four years (and otherwise volunteering in an advisory capacity) has led to many professional contacts and additional projects that have deeply diversified my communications experience. That variety was instrumental in landing one of my dream jobs: doing public relations for a Fortune 200 firm.
IDFW also introduced me to a new family and world of socializing. On behalf of the magazine, I get to attend a plethora of enjoyable events, not to mention the wildly fun ones IDFW hosts! While I sometimes do light work at these gatherings, I mostly play hard and chow down like a queen in the company of my besties — friends I met through IDFW who’ve become my support group. They make life and any event a blast!
Speaking of good times, let’s start that celebratory ride into memory lane. As you flip the pages, I hope we transmit our gratitude for your vote of confidence, allowing us to serve a community who inspires and keeps us going. I also hope you share our joy in seeing how this experiment has brought fulfilling work and a ton of F-U-N! If so, we’ve served our purpose for this edition. Enjoy it!
– Coco Salazar, Editor-in-Chief
