The Willow Glen Resident

Where are they now?

The paper's original crew moved into careers in politics, computer industry

By Michelle Ku

Ten years ago, a group of dedicated community members came together to produce the first issue of the Willow Glen Resident. The original Resident staff was small, with only one official staff member, Joe Guerra, the paper's founder. But Guerra could not have produced the newspaper without article contributions from the community and design help from Copy Ink, a printing and copying business that closed in 1994.

Together, Guerra, Copy Ink owner Terri Walint Oropeza and Laura Manzanilla, Copy Ink's art director, produced a monthly newspaper for the businesses and residents of Willow Glen.

For five years, Guerra, Oropeza and Manzanilla were the constants as the newspaper grew. As the editor and publisher, Guerra wrote and edited articles, took photographs and sold advertisements. Oropeza and Manzanilla were involved in the design and production of The Resident. Today, Guerra is chief of staff for District 6 City Councilmember Frank Fiscalini, Oropeza is desktop services project administrator for Synopsis, and Manzanilla is a producer for American Graphics Solution (AGS).

For all three, The Resident was a side job. At the time he founded the newspaper, Guerra was running a real estate company, Villa West and Associates, and served on many Willow Glen and city committees. Oropeza and Manzanilla worked on hundreds of other design and copying projects commissioned by customers of Copy Ink.

Guerra's transition from working on the newspaper to becoming Fiscalini's chief of staff proved a natural move for him. While working on The Resident, he was also a political consultant and registered lobbyist. In 1993, Guerra stopped running Villa West and began working full time for Fiscalini.

In his present position, Guerra is responsible for various policy areas including land use, parks and economic development. He also represents Fiscalini at several neighborhood association meetings, including Willow Glen's.

At the time The Resident began, Copy Ink was a desktop publishing pioneer. The company was producing The Resident entirely on the computer, a new field at the time. The groundbreaking work that Oropeza and Manzanilla did with The Resident propelled them into their current careers.

After Copy Ink closed, Oropeza became a desktop publishing consultant and Macintosh expert. She became a small-business consultant and initially began by setting up databases.

Today, Oropeza works with a group that is developing and implementing Synopsis' intranet, a system to electronically distribute information.

"It's much the same as a printed newspaper, but electronically," Oropeza said. "My job is to work with a team of people who are creating a common business desktop. Instead of going to Quark or Word or Netscape, you log onto one place, and all your tools are there."

Manzanilla used the design and desktop publishing skills she honed while working at The Resident to become a producer at AGS. She currently manages multimedia projects such as CD-ROMs and interactive kiosks, but she began working at AGS in the graphics production department.

"The Resident was a very good training ground," Manzanilla said. "It was a good experience to see how things are done at the last minute. There's a bit of an adrenaline rush getting things done. You hate it at the time, but when you look back at it, you think that was kind of fun."

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