Isabella Rolz

Washington, D.C., United States

Journalist at Freelance

Articles

Opinion: Connecting creatives, communities after wildfires

Mar 24, 2025 | ladowntownnews.com | Isabella Rolz |Bianca Heyward

Los Angeles native Aidan Cullen, a photographer and filmmaker, was in Pasadena at the start of the wildfires, where he got a firsthand experience of the catastrophe. “I was cutting down trees with chainsaws and moving them out of the streets. And kind of the day the fires broke out, I was over there and saw many intense fires with my own eyes, which was very scary,” he said.
U.S. Deportees on Their Return to Guatemala

Feb 27, 2025 | thinkglobalhealth.org | Isabella Rolz

The United States is conducting immigration raids in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Phoenix, and news reports show many arrested are nonviolent offenders or people whose only offense is unauthorized entry. For the past few weeks, U.S. Air Force planes full of migrants wearing handcuffs have entered Guatemala almost daily.
LA's Central American Food Legacies — The Latinx Project at NYU

Oct 22, 2024 | latinxproject.nyu.edu | Isabella Rolz

Presently, in Posada’s estimate, there are about 250 Salvadoran restaurants in the LA area. There are also events that pay tribute to its most famous dish, the pupusa. In 2021, COFECA launched Pupusa Fest, which attracts approximately 500 attendees yearly. It wasn’t always like this, however. There was a time Central Americans couldn’t show up fully as themselves in Los Angeles. As Leisy J.
Debunking Health Misinformation in Latino Communities

Sep 26, 2024 | thinkglobalhealth.org | Isabella Rolz

During the COVID-19 pandemic, journalist Tibisay Zea realized that the Hispanic community in Boston and greater New England needed to be more informed on health issues. Zea, originally from Venezuela, had always wanted to educate Latinos living in Boston on health-related topics, primarily because data in Spanish is scarce.
Meet the suburban Calif. mayor who moonlights as the city's barber

Sep 10, 2024 | sfgate.com | Isabella Rolz

Gabriel Quiñones says that ever since childhood, he and his family have been deeply involved in their community of La Puente, about 20 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles. At La Puente High School, he always heard his classmates say that they had aspirations of getting into far-away universities and eventually moving to a less suburban location. “My classmates were so excited to leave the area. But I remember thinking to myself, there’s so much to fix in La Puente.
A Maya Farming Technique to Fight Guatemala's Food Insecurity

Aug 8, 2024 | thinkglobalhealth.org | Isabella Rolz

Celia Ramírez and her tight-knit Mayan Chortí family rise with the sun every day in Guatemala's Dry Corridor to work the land together, planting rows of golden maize and crimson-speckled beans. El Niño, however, caused droughts to last longer than expected in 2023, deepening the persistent food crisis this region faces. Being one of the 7 million people living in the Dry Corridor is challenging.
A Mayan Farming Technique to Fight Guatemala's Food Insecurity

Aug 8, 2024 | thinkglobalhealth.org | Isabella Rolz

Celia Ramírez and her tight-knit Mayan Chortí family rise with the sun every day in Guatemala's Dry Corridor to work the land together, planting rows of golden maize and crimson-speckled beans. El Niño, however, caused droughts to last longer than expected in 2023, deepening the persistent food crisis this region faces. Being one of the 7 million people living in the Dry Corridor is challenging.
Guatemala's Ecotourism: Migration Stopgap Meets Sustainability Vision

Jun 3, 2024 | thinkglobalhealth.org | Isabella Rolz

Petén, a district (departmento) in northern Guatemala, is shrouded in emerald rainforests, where ancient Mayan archaeological sites and moss-covered temples rise from the jungle floor. The area stretches over 33% of the country, where the whispered secrets of lost civilizations are drowned out by troops of howler monkeys. They swing through the dense canopies as brightly colored toucans flit between the vibrant blooms of exotic orchids.
Joyful and Painful Tales of Migrant Reunions

Jan 31, 2024 | thinkglobalhealth.org | Isabella Rolz

Like other girls from impoverished regions of Guatemala, Francisca grew up with the belief that women have no right to education. Their role was to take care of home and family. Her mother, Emilia, taught her to cook and clean. Her father refused to teach her how to plant and harvest crops—the tasks she really wanted to learn.
Empowering Latinos in Boston’s Tech Landscape

Dec 21, 2023 | thinkglobalhealth.org | Isabella Rolz

Growing up in Boston, where culture is embedded in innovation and technological advances, Pedro Borges, a second-generation immigrant from Brazil, always noticed a problem for Latinos. The twenty-two-year-old felt that Latino families were underrepresented in technology-related fields even though they drive population growth and are making vital contributions to the city's economy and culture.