Grace McCaffery is always pleased to meet with international visitors and speak about her experience as the La Costa Latina Newspaper publisher. She looks forward to sharing ideas and stories with the visitors to foster better connections with different communities worldwide.
La Coast Latina Newspaper is a free bilingual newspaper serving to bridge the Spanish and English communities in the Pensacola area. McCaffery ensures that everyone can read the news through publications in both physical newspapers and a website regardless of access to technology. She is proud of her work in reaching an underserved community.
McCaffery spoke of the impact the newspaper has made on the visitors; just the concept of a bilingual newspaper amazed many of them. For some, it has even sparked further ideas for change and innovation as they struggle to communicate with people speaking a different language in their own country. In return, McCaffery finds the number of international women motivated to follow their dreams, and the positive feedback she receives from them is inspiring. She also spoke of how foreign governments were commissioning some of the people she met to do what she was already doing on a smaller scale. “They couldn’t believe I was doing it myself.”
As we began discussing the youth groups she frequently meets, McCaffery positively lit up with joy. In particular, she recalled how receptive the students were to her experiences. She often presented the first example to students of indigenous communities of how, like herself, they too could be successful in their endeavors. Through social media, she even remains connected to many of them, allowing her the opportunity to watch the students grow and move on to bigger things. With these connections, they enjoy “very festive … conversations.” Over the years, she has interviewed one visitor about the election and provided business advice to students.
To see the hard work McCaffery does, take a look at her website at https://latinomediainc.com. Here you will be able to see another fantastic citizen of Pensacola helping her community.
