Oral history interview with Kelly Benavidez conducted by Maribel Estrada Calderón on January 29, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez also participates in the questioning. Kelly Benavidez is originally from San Francisco, California. Benavidez arrived in Las Vegas after her family spent two years in Mexico so her and her brother could learn Spanish. Benavidez and her family have remained in Las Vegas ever since. Kelly attended Area Technical Trade School for hotel management, and was then recruited by Mesa State College in Colorado. She currently works for Commissioner Lawrence Weekly. Her list of community involvement is extensive: Las Vegas-Clark County Library District Board, the Fernando Vargas Foundation, Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce, Hispanics in Politics, Latina Network, among others. Subjects discussed include: Las Vegas, Commissioner Weekly, New York New York construction accident, and Spanish Language.
Oral history interview with David Becker conducted by Claytee D. White and Barbara Tabach on May 15, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Becker recalls being on a three-day assignment at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival across from the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thinking the gunfire was produced by malfunctioning equipment, he took photos of the scattering crowd. Moments later, in a now silent venue, he realized he captured a horrific massacre. Becker recalls photographing people leaving the venue as they performed acts of heroism, helping the fallen or the slow to reach safety. He discusses how difficult it is to comprehend the acts of that night, and how his photojournalist instincts allowed him to capture such devastating images.
From the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Theta Theta Omega Chapter Records (MS-01014) -- Chapter records file. Includes National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer, Las Vegas coalition (NBLIC) records and program for "Nevada's First African American Wellness Conference."
Oral history interview with Yazmin Beltran conducted by Rodrigo Vazquez and Barbara Tabach on February 4, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Beltran discusses her early life in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico and her childhood and upbringing in Mexico. In 2003, at the age of eighteen, she and her mother joined the rest of her family in Las Vegas, Nevada. After attending College of Southern Nevada and taking English as a Second Language classes, Yazmin began to write as a Spanish contributor for a publication in Reno, and became a writer for Spanish publications in Las Vegas, including El Tiempo, El Mundo, and Univision. Beltran's work for Univision led her to Texas, where she covered events and crises including the 2018 child separation occurring at the United States border, which she discusses in the interview. Finally, Beltran talks about being a journalist for The Nevada Independent and the importance of continuing to report in Spanish.
Oral history interview with Cristina Alano conducted by Cecilia Winchell and Stefani Evans on September 9, 2022 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Alano recalls a happy childhood in Pampanga, Philippines. After attending college for a banking and finance degree, she briefly worked at a bank before marrying her husband and immigrating to the United States. She would go on to move to Colorado where she lived for seven years, and finally moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2003. Alano recalls her first jobs in Las Vegas, including Walmart, SEI Electronics, a cashier at the Riviera, and finally the airport where works as a supervisor at Hudson as well as an assistant manager at Brighton. She discusses what she has done at each job and how she ended up getting involved with the Culinary Union in 2016. Since joining the union, she has done everything from being a shop steward to canvassing, most recently flying down to Georgia to help campaign for Senator Warnock. Throughout the rest of the interview, she discusses everything from food, to festivals, and her family.