Clara Reyes Biography
Clara Reyes was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, the daughter of Mauro and Clementina Rodriguez and the fourth of 10 children. She received her primary, secondary and higher education in Guadalajara. She is a graduate of the University of Guadalajara.
In 1964, Reyes first visited the Kansas City area to further her education in her first career, dentistry. She met Manuel Reyes and, after a brief courtship, he followed her to Guadalajara, pursuing marriage. She accepted his proposal and the two made their home in Overland Park, Kan.
Reyes, who spoke primarily Spanish when she moved to the United States as a young wife, quickly discovered that tasks most U.S. residents consider simple can be monumental challenges for one who does not know the English language or the fast-paced U.S. culture. Tasks such as opening a checking account or paying a telephone bill proved perplexing. She desired some sort of bicultural, Spanish-language aid to help her adapt to her new country.
After spending several years as a student, homemaker, mother of two, real estate agent and learning how to progress the hard way, Reyes concluded Kansas City's growing Spanish-speaking population needed a bilingual newspaper to educate Hispanics on handling the necessary tasks of American life.
In 1981, Clara Reyes founded Dos Mundos, the first Hispanic bilingual newspaper in the four-state region, with the support of her husband and children.
She and her husband are the majority shareholders of their family-owned business. She serves as the newspaper's publisher and editor.
Over the past 20 years under her guidance, Dos Mundos has grown just as the area's Hispanic population and Kansas City's community awareness of Hispanic issues has grown. Published weekly, Dos Mundos contributes to improving the community's environment by serving as an innovative, important and beneficial source of information and education.
The newspaper's staff has grown to 15 people, including part-time and free-lance employees. In addition, the newspaper's content has grown to include local, national and international news and its circulation has grown to more than 20,000. The newspaper's readership goes beyond the Midwest to include the nation's capital and parts of Latin America.
Under Reyes' leadership, Dos Mundos also has won awards from the National Association of Hispanic Publications in such categories as front-page design and bilingual formatting and recently they received the lifetime achievement award. Furthermore, Reyes has gained recognition in the Kansas City area for her knowledge of political, educational and cultural issues concerning her readers. Individual honors she has received include the U. S. Small Business Administration Advocate of the Year Award.
For her efforts, she has received numerous honors from such groups as the local MANA group, the Azteca Cultural Society, the Mattie Rhodes Foundation, the Small Business Administration, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, GI Forum and other agencies that serve the Hispanic community.
She was honored by the Kansas City Business Journal as a recipient of the "Women who Mean Business" award. The Kansas Department of Commerce awarded her with the Kansas Woman-Owned Business of the Year.
She is a role model who has paved the way for other women in business. Reyes believes the success of her newspaper has been her most outstanding business accomplishment. She believes she has succeeded in this challenge only by the grace of God and the help of her wonderful family and friends. She believes the future of women in business will soon be without limits.
