I write about manufacturing, among other things.

I was born in a place where people cry in silence because a loud cry would get them killed. Guatemala, the land of the Maya, is one with a history of blood, corruption and suffering. In 1993, my family moved to Chile, my dad’s country, and I found that Chile is not very different from Guatemala. Peace is a rare commodity in both countries. Four years later, we moved to the United States, the land of the free. But even here, some people cry in silence.

I graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. During my last two years at UF, I worked at The Independent Florida Alligator, where I covered presidential speeches and gubernatorial debates and wrote about UF’s graduate students and their struggle to earn a degree while being underpaid. I also did a summer internship at the Sun-Sentinel and The Palm Beach Post.

After college, I worked for two-years as a multimedia reporter and a Web producer for La Palma, a weekly Spanish-language newspaper published by The Palm Beach Post.

I moved to Chicago in 2009.

Isabel Allende books, Chicago life, jazz.