Staff
Sedric Walker, Publisher,
[email protected]
Richard Arebalo, Wine & Food Writer
Born in Alice, Texas, Richard Arebalo has lived in Austin for 29 years. He attended the University of Texas’ School of Architecture and Business School, graduating with a Bachelors in Business Administration in Finance. He has worked in the electronics industry in Austin for 26 years and has traveled extensively in Europe and Asia. Richard has studied food and wine through cooking courses, many wine tastings and wine dinners throughout the country and has completed the first 2 of 3 courses of The International Sommelier Guild training program. He enjoys cooking and is an avid collector of vintage Ocean Liner menus and vintage travel memorabilia.
Monica Pena, Home and Community Writer
[email protected]
Monica Pena and her husband started their locally owned, family business Escobar Construction, LLC, escobarconstruction.com, over 10 years ago and she is very involved in the day-to-day activities of the company. She enjoys being a resource of knowledge and bridging connections from different businesses and organizations.
She is also an active member of: Texas Hill Country Interior Design Society, Young Real Estate Professionals, Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and National Hispanic Professional Organization. Monica has served on committees for the following organizations: Y.W.C.A., Hispanic Futures Conference, Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas, and Las Comadres Para Las Americas. She has been honored with the Young Hispanic Professional Austin Association member of the Year award in 2009 and now serves the organization as vice president.
Katie Warner, Lifestyle Writer
Katie Warner’s passions lie with experiencing foreign cultures, particularly through music and food, both domestically and abroad. While pursing her business degree in Multinational Organization Studies and Spanish at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio Texas, Katie took a series of communication and journalism classes both in English and Spanish. After graduation, she moved to Houston to study photojournalism and complete a certificate in Brazilian Portuguese and South American Studies from Rice University in Houston, Texas, before going on to get her J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law, where she was a staff writer for The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Minority Issues. Upon completion of her J.D., Katie engaged in post J.D. Studies at The University of Glasgow, Graduate School of Law in Scotland where she served as the European Liaison and Legal Consultant for St. Mary’s University Center for Terrorism Law and helped write an Amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in support of a petition for writ of certiorari, Acree, et. al v. Republic of Iraq, et. al. After experiencing 15 different countries and living in 5 of them (Mexico, Spain, Austria, Scotland and the Netherlands), Katie decided to move back to Austin where she serves on the Austin Habitat for Humanity Young Professionals Board of Directors, volunteers as a photographer for SXSW, and writes for Examiner.com.
Dulcenea Garcia, Writer, [email protected]
Teresa Carbajal Ravet, Literary Writer
Born in Monterrey, Mexico and raised on the border in El Paso, TX, Teresa grew up in a bicultural and bilingual environment. Living in the US during the school year and spending holidays and summer breaks in Mexico was a cultural advantage, as well as an identity battle. This personal and public conflict with a dual identity sparked her curiosity in self-realization and social definition and deepened her determination to make it advantageous and acceptable by society at large. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish Language and a Master of Arts degree in Modern Languages, specializing in Spanish Literature & Linguistics from Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. She has devoted her professional career to the teaching of the Spanish language, literature, culture, and history through the Spanish folk soul, inspiring in her students the importance and merits of being a world citizen. Through her writing, Teresa furthers her aspiration to share the multicultural experience and initiate a genuine interest and awareness in world cultures and languages in others. Sententia Vera, Teresa’s blog, has allowed her to reach a larger audience, connecting her readers to the Spanish culture through language, translation, and literature. The recent launch of her multicultural e-bookstore, Dulce Bread & Book Shop, is expanding her reach on a personal level, as she moves the bookstore into a larger brick-and-mortar location in the greater Austin area. Teresa has been married 14 years and is raising five children.
