“My life as a brown, Mexican woman and mother, has shaped who I am today.”

Ana Avila is a social justice journalist with over two decades of experience in uncovering and addressing issues that disproportionately affect marginalized communities, particularly in Latin America. In 2010-2011, Ana investigated the asbestos industry while working for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Her research earned her the John B. Oakes Award from Columbia University. The resulting report, “Dangers in the Dust,” received an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. When Ana worked as an editor and producer for MSNBC Latin America, her team carried out an international investigation about indigenous women in Mexico who were sexually trafficked and exploited in Los Angeles, California. Ana has received a Fulbright Fellowship, as well as a Knight-Wallace Fellowship from the University of Michigan. She also served as the Howard R. Marsh Visiting Professor of Journalism at the University of Michigan from 2020-2022.

Currently, Ana is pursuing a PhD in communication and media at the U-M. Her research focuses on the experiences of migrants at the Mexico-US border. She explores the role of mobile phones as tools for survival, communication, and connection during migrants’ often dangerous journeys. Ana writes, “Their top source of anxiety is when Border Patrol Agents take the phone from them, and they can’t call family members to let them know that they are alive.” Ana’s faculty advisers praise her “sophisticated and rigorous work,” saying, “Ana’s project is exemplary of what anti-racist and social justice-oriented research should aim to contribute to academia, society, and marginalized communities.” Ana also received the DEI Grant from U-M for her work with minoritized students.

Ana balances her academic pursuits with her responsibilities to her three children, Ximena, Pablo, and Tomás. Ana writes, “My life as a brown, Mexican woman and mother, has shaped who I am today.”

CEW+ applauds Ana’s steadfast work and names her a Mary Malcomson Raphael Scholar.