'Why Does It Matter, Why Now?' Journalist Florangela Davila Shares Advice with Narrative Fellows
Veteran journalist and newsroom leader Florangela Davila, executive director of the South Seattle Emerald, shared some wisdom with the Powerful Narratives Work (PNW) Fellowship at a gathering on May 28 at Métier Brewing Company in Seattle’s Central District. Florangela is serving as one of three Narrative Advisors for the Fellowship – providing expertise and perspective on narrative, community & local media and what stories have been resonating with audiences both locally and nationally in a time of constant content.
Joining this year’s Fellows at this first narrative advisor gathering were PNW Fellows from the previous year, and members of the social impact funders 3rd place meetup group.
In this second year of the PNW Fellowship, the COO Learning Community along with cohort co-designers and facilitators at Resource Media have integrated these narrative advisor connection and conversation points to support the Fellows’ co-creation of a shared narrative and aligned storytelling, while deepening their connections and relationships to one another – and narrative and media leaders.
Stay tuned for more announcements on the narrative outcomes of this year’s Fellowship and ways to connect with the 2025 & 2026 PNW Fellows.
Photo of Florangela Davila by Catherine Hinrichsen
The Narrative Landscape of a Community News Organization
Speaking with the group gathered, Florangela shared her journey in journalism and the approach that the South Seattle Emerald takes to elevating stories of South Seattle. She also described five recent Emerald stories that really stuck with audiences and garnered a lot of engagement (and why).
In talking about how these stories detail a narrative arc of characters, tension, and resolution, Florangela also spoke to what it looks like to cover local stories that deal with sensitive or controversial and layered issues, and personal or professional relationships. Their process in covering a recent story responsibly and thoroughly meant assigning a seasoned contributing reporter who understood the community context and had the experience to cover a complex issue with care, rigor, and journalistic ethics.
Not only is she a longtime respected journalist, Florangela is also an unabashed advocate for the South Seattle community, where she’s lived for more than 25 years. She described the narrative of South Seattle as community, supporting your neighbor, and hope. “People who live and work in South Seattle are proud of South Seattle,” and the Emerald covers stories that other media outlets might overlook or shy away from, she said. This is one of the differences between the Emerald and some of the more traditional local media outlets, Florangela said. The Emerald is very open about it: “We want more for the South Seattle community.”
One way the Emerald contributes to elevating different stories and narratives about South Seattle is through regularly publishing op-eds (guest opinion pieces), so that community members can share their viewpoints -- and readers can learn from those differing views. “Power is when you know what other people think,” Florangela said.
Sharing the variety of viewpoints within the South Seattle community and elevating voices that don’t often get heard is a commitment the Emerald makes to the community, and it’s vital to Florangela. Other advice she gave about op-eds:
Too many op-eds are academic. They should be conversational. That’s something she appreciates about social media – that the writing style is more like the way we talk.
Zooming out is as important as zooming in. Sometimes, though, people stay zoomed out and they need to go back in. In other words, the writer needs to give the right amount of context and big-picture point of view, in addition to personal examples and day-to-day impact.
Florangela advised that when storytellers are shaping their story, their main question to answer should be, “Why does it matter, and why does it matter now?”
“Find a way for people to connect, and to see themselves,” Florangela said.
About the Powerful Narratives Work (PNW) Fellowship Program
The Powerful Narratives Work (PNW) Fellowship brings together a small cohort of community leaders, advocates, communications professionals, and organizers from across King County working to move forward narrative, policy and systems changes that create greater economic equity and solidarity. In this second year, eight Fellows move through a 6-month stipended capacity building program hosted by the Communities of Opportunity Learning Community and led by Resource Media. More to come detailing the Fellowship participants!
At the end of the cohort, the Fellows will be equipped to move forward a shared narrative and narrative change strategy for a regional Solidarity Economy, and greater economic justice and well-being. Fellows will also have the opportunity to test out storytelling related to their shared narrative via a short podcast series with CityCast Seattle podcast. This year also includes opportunities for professional development and connection building with three local and national narrative advisors.
About Florangela Davila and the Powerful Narratives Work (PNW) Fellowship 2026 Narrative Advisors
Florangela joined the Emerald in February 2025, continuing an illustrious career. Previously, she was the race and immigration reporter at The Seattle Times, where she worked for 14 years in both news and features. She is former managing editor at Crosscut/Cascade PBS, and former news director of KNKX public radio. She has led her newsrooms and teams to multiple national and local awards, most recently 10 awards for the Emerald from the Society of Professional Journalists, Western Washington chapter.
Later gatherings will feature Narrative Advisors: Rinku Sen of Narrative Initiative and Omari Salisbury of Converge Media.