Isabel Flores, a bilingual reporter for 2 News Oklahoma, uses her voice and her Spanish language skills to tell the stories of Tulsa’s Hispanic community. She shared her journey on the latest episode of the Live United podcast, hosted by Jesse Guardiola, vice president of Community Engagement and Government Relations at Tulsa Area United Way.

During the interview, Isabel said she feels fortunate to work at a station that encourages culturally representative reporting.

“I’m very lucky that my team over at Channel 2 has allowed me to almost become a voice for the Hispanic community,” she said. “They allow me to go into the community and talk to people and do interviews and stories completely in Spanish, which is something that I know a lot of stations don’t do.”

Isabel never expected to become a journalist. In fact, she almost became a veterinarian.

“My dad is a businessman, right? So he sat me down and he was like, ‘So, are you sure that you want to be a vet?’… And he was like, ‘Would you be able to put one of them down if you needed to?’ And then I was like, nope.”

That moment sent her on a new path, one that led her from Florida State to Syracuse University, and eventually to Tulsa.

“I realized I always liked writing, always, ever since I was a kid,” she said. “And I realized, well, I like public speaking, I like writing, and now I like editing. And that basically has to do everything with journalism.”

One story that’s stuck with her involved a Hispanic family who lost their home to a fire.

“They needed basically new everything, new pipes, tiles, furniture, everything,” she said. “But their local community of Hispanic and Latino individuals in the neighborhood just banded together and made sure that they got a brand-new house, basically constructed it top to bottom.”

Isabel also reports on the economic contributions of Tulsa’s Hispanic population, noting how the community has grown significantly.

“Every day it seems like there’s a new Hispanic restaurant, you know, or a new taco stand popping up somewhere,” she said. “That helps our economy in Tulsa and surrounding areas. But it also helps to diversify the community.”

As the conversation wrapped, Jesse asked Isabel what Living United looks like to her.

“I think Tulsa does a great job of Living United,” she said. “There’s a lot of nonprofits, and I think they’re all very organized here in Tulsa… I think everyone in Tulsa is really doing a great job of making sure that they’re coming together for a bigger cause.”