Mónica Lozano's grandfather, Ignacio E. Lozano, Sr., founded La Opinión in 1926 in Los Angeles, after moving to Southern California from San Antonio, Texas, where he had also founded a newspaper, La Prensa. Ignacio E. Lozano, Sr., died in 1953, and the role of publisher was assumed by Mónica's father, Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr., who continues today as editor-in-chief. Mónica shares familial involvement in the newspaper with her brother, José Lozano, whose title is publisher.

Mónica Lozano is a Los Angeles native. She attended Catholic schools as a child and then the University of Oregon. Then she moved to San Francisco, where she worked in a print shop and eventually managed the operation.

She decided to join La Opinión in 1985 for "a combination of factors," she says. Her father became ill and, she says, "My family literally called me on the telephone and asked me to come to Los Angeles so that we could talk, and asked me to consider coming back (to Los Angeles)." In 1985, she assumed the job of managing editor, even though she had never worked at a daily newspaper before. In 1989, she was named associate publisher. For two years beginning in 1990, she served as publisher of El Eco del Valle, a Spanish-language weekly in the San Fernando Valley created by Lozano Communications. El Eco folded in 1991, and Mónica Lozano returned to the downtown Los Angeles offices of La Opinión and the title of editor.

Mónica Lozano is especially proud that, under her leadership, La Opinión has published several special supplements, including a special tabloid in 1988 on AIDS in the Spanish community and, in 1994, a special series on the positive contributions of immigrants to Los Angeles area history.

Mónica Lozano says that people have told her that she is the newspaper's "conscience." She has received several awards during her nine years at the newspaper, including the Advocacy Award from the Hispanic Coalition on AIDS in 1988; the Inter-American Press Association award in 1988 for best public service publication, for the AIDS supplement; the DIME (Distinction in Media Excellence) award from the March of Dimes in 1991 for a special supplement on prenatal care; and a Public Service Recognition Award from the State Bar of California in 1992 for a special publication on constitutional guarantees for immigrants and refugees.

Mónica Lozano, 38, is divorced, and lives in the Los Angeles area. She has two children.

All of the interviews took place in Mónica Lozano's office in the headquarters of La Opinión at 411 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles. No video interview was undertaken because Lozano was not available for an interivew on the only days when the videographer was available.

Shirley Biagi
July 7, 1994