Photography by Lauren Allen
Yesterday, the Advocate hosted a Q&A at Lounge Here as an opportunity for community members to mingle and ask questions with me, Lillian Juarez, the editor of the Lakewood Advocate.
Thank you to Lounge Here for hosting the event and thank you to the many neighbors who tuned into our livestream on Instagram and Facebook.
If you missed the event but want to know more, here is a recap of what we covered.
Note: This is not a direct transcript of the Q&A. Sections have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Introduction:
My name is Lillian Juarez and I am the editor of the Lakewood Advocate. I joined the Advocate a little under four months ago in late August. Since joining I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the community and valuable members of our neighborhood. With being the East Dallas/Lakewood editor I cover various topics in the East Dallas and Lakewood neighborhood.
My family is from the East Dallas area so a majority of my childhood was spent in the neighborhoods I cover. I moved to Arlington where I attended the University of Texas at Arlington where I studied Journalism and Political Science. I covered the city of Arlington for some time before moving back to the area and covering Lakewood.
The Q&A:
How do you determine what stories to cover? When it comes to story coverage, it’s about understanding what our readers want to know, what will directly impact them on a day-to-day basis, whether its safety, education or development. It also takes knowing the people who are our readers, knowing who’s who in order to be in the knows of what is important to our community.
How can a business become a distributor for the Advocate? The best way for a business to become a distributor for the Advocate would be send myself a personal email which is ljuarez@advocatemag.com. With that I’m able to connect with our Development Director, Ali Quintero, who oversees magazine distribution and company partnerships at the Advocate. We’re always looking for ways to be more accessible and reach a larger audience with our magazine racks.
Can you speak a little bit about why the company become a non-profit? In 2021, we transitioned to being a non-profit following community trends, many notable publications have transitioned to a non-profit, some of these being KERA, NPR and Texas Tribune. With local journalism, being a non-profit is a great way us to be accessible for our community and sustain a strong relationship with either our sponsors or readers.
How do you feel about all the development going on in Greenville Avenue? Well, there’s always something happening in our neighborhood. Whether it’s Lakewood or East Dallas, we’re witnessing a lot of development occur. I have witnessed many businesses enter the Lower and Lowest Greenville and my biggest priority is aimed at establishing a relationship with old and new companies for future coverage.
