Meet Carolyn Komatsoulis, the Idaho Statesman’s newest Spanish-speaking reporter

Hi! I’m Carolyn, and I’m the new breaking news and Latino affairs reporter at the Idaho Statesman. And before you ask, my last name is pronounced comet-sue-lis.

Some of you may have seen my name before — I worked at the Idaho Press in Nampa for three years before joining the Statesman.

The Gem State is pretty far away from Maryland, where I’m originally from. I went to college in Massachusetts at Boston University. There, I wanted to major in math but I realized pretty quickly that journalism was what’s right for me.

And since then, my time in this industry has been a whirlwind.

First, I moved to small-town Nebraska in the early days of the pandemic to work for a local paper. I had never even been to the state before I crossed the border with all of my stuff. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew I wanted a better understanding of rural areas and issues. In Nebraska, I covered the pandemic, city council, business and Latino affairs.

After a year there, I moved to Idaho. And again, crossing the border with all my belongings was my first time in the state.

Since moving here, I’ve covered a little bit of everything. I’ve written about rejected vanity license plates, environmental law, Boise, Meridian, police chases, common-law marriage and my personal favorite, a column about how I hate donuts. (Don’t judge, I have very good reasons.)

In the past few weeks at the Statesman, I’ve written about Satanism, the reaction to the shooting of former President Donald Trump and a lawsuit over pro-Palestine protests.

But I’m also excited to be back covering Latino affairs. I studied Spanish throughout school and eventually knew I had to be surrounded by the language to get better. This led me to South America, where I studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador, during college and absolutely loved being completely immersed in Spanish.

Since returning, I do my best to listen to as much music and watch as much TV in Spanish as possible, so let me know if you have any good recommendations. Currently, I’m watching “Sugar Rush: The Baking Point” on Netflix.

I believe the best local journalism introduces people to their neighbors, shines a light on issues and provides people with information on what’s going on around them, even if it’s just that there’s construction on I-84 and they should take a different route home. I want to document what life is like for all of us here in the Treasure Valley.

Talk with me or envíeme un mensaje at 208-377-6205⁩, ckomatsoulis@idahostatesman.com or @ckomatsoulis on X.

This story was originally published July 23, 2024 at 4:00 AM.