Cristela Guerra is Report for America's regional manager for the Southwest. Guerra is a queer journalist of color, a proud Panamanian and
frequently, a moderator leading important conversations around arts
and culture. Before working with Report for America, Guerra was a senior
arts and culture reporter for nearly seven years at WBUR in Boston and
prior to that, a newspaper journalist for more than a decade at The
Boston Globe and The News-Press in Fort Myers, FL. She was a 2024
Nieman Fellow at Harvard. Her studies examined stories of the
diaspora, including those of her own Panamanian heritage, the reasons
that compel people to migrate and how those individuals build
community. Her work received a regional and national Edward R. Murrow
Award in 2014 and another regional Edward R. Murrow in 2023 as part of
“Continuing Coverage” for her work at the U.S.-Mexico border on the
journey of Venezuelan migrants. She was chosen as a 2019 Latina Leader
by Amplify Latinx and inducted by YW Boston into its 2023 Academy of
Women Achievers along with receiving the Sylvia Ferrell-Jones Award.
They are the vice-chair of the board at RAW Art Works in Lynn, MA.