Laurie Ochoa
{{short description|American journalist and food critic}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Laurie Ochoa
| image = Laurie Ochoa, Chris Woodyard, Maud Adams at L.A. Press Club National Entertainment Awards 1.jpg
| caption = Ochoa (left) in 2008
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Whittier, California, US
| occupation = Journalist, food writer
| spouse = {{marriage |Jonathan Gold |1990|July 21, 2018 |end=d}}
}}
Laurie Ochoa is an American journalist and food critic.
After beginning her career at the alternative newspaper LA Weekly, Ochoa became a writer and editor for the Los Angeles Times. She then was hired as executive editor at Gourmet before moving back to Los Angeles to lead LA Weekly. She later returned to the Times as its arts and entertainment editor, becoming general manager of the newspaper's Food section in 2022.
Early life
Ochoa was born in Whittier, California. She had an early interest in journalism, interning in college at CNN before graduating in 1984.{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=RJ|date=April 2002|title=Ping-Pong Diplomacy|work=Los Angeles Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y10EAAAAMBAJ}}{{Cite web|last=Ochoa|first=Laurie|date=2003-12-11|title=Editor's Letter|url=https://www.laweekly.com/editors-letter/|access-date=2020-12-29|website=LA Weekly|language=en-US}}
Career
Ochoa began her print journalism career as an intern at LA Weekly in 1984.{{Cite news|last=Wells|first=Pete|date=2018-07-22|title=Jonathan Gold, Food Critic Who Celebrated L.A.'s Cornucopia, Dies at 57 (Published 2018)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/obituaries/jonathan-gold-dead-los-angeles-food-critic.html|access-date=2020-12-29|issn=0362-4331}} She went on to write for the alt weekly and serve as special sections editor there until 1988.{{Cite web|date=2009-06-01|title=For Immediate Release: LA Weekly, Editor to Part Ways|url=http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/for-immediate-release-la-weekl/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611150208/http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/for-immediate-release-la-weekl/|archive-date=2009-06-11|website=LA Weekly}}
She then left to become an editor and writer at the Los Angeles Times, working in the Calendar and Food sections.{{Cite magazine|last=Goodyear|first=Dana|date=2009-11-02|title=The Scavenger|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/11/09/the-scavenger|access-date=2020-12-29|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}{{Cite web|last=Roderick|first=Kevin|date=2012-06-20|title=Times names new entertainment editor, brings back Laurie Ochoa|url=http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/06/times_names_new_entertain.php|access-date=2020-12-29|website=LA Observed|language=en}} In 1999, she was hired by Ruth Reichl, who had previously hired her at the Times, as executive editor of Gourmet in New York.{{Cite book|last=Reichl|first=Ruth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1039202373|title=Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir|year=2019|isbn=978-1-4000-6999-6|edition=First|location=New York|oclc=1039202373}}{{Cite web|last=Birdsall|first=John|date=2019-04-03|title=Q&A: Ruth Reichl on breaking through the machismo of restaurant and publishing worlds|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-fob-ruth-reichl-interview-201903-story.html|access-date=2020-12-29|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}
In 2001, Ochoa returned to Los Angeles to work as editor-in-chief of LA Weekly. She resigned from her role at the publication in 2009. She then returned to the Los Angeles Times in 2012 as the paper's arts and entertainment editor.{{Cite web|date=2015-01-08|title='Los Angeles Times' Entertainment Editor Laurie Ochoa {{!}} In the Green Room|url=https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2015/01/08/los-angeles-times-entertainment-editor-laurie-ochoa/personalities/in-the-green-room/|access-date=2020-12-29|website=Zócalo Public Square|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Ochoa|first=Laurie|date=2020-08-29|title=Essential Arts: The Chicano Moratorium, a catalytic moment 50 years ago today|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/newsletter/2020-08-29/arts-the-chicano-moratorium-50-years-ago-chadwick-boseman-frank-gehry-essential-arts|access-date=2020-12-29|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} In 2022, she became general manager of the newspaper's Food section.{{Cite web |date=2022-03-29 |title=Los Angeles Times Names Laurie Ochoa General Manager and Daniel Hernandez Editor of Food |url=https://www.latimes.com/about/pressreleases/story/2022-03-29/los-angeles-times-names-laurie-ochoa-general-manager-daniel-hernandez-editor-of-food |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}
In 2010, she founded the quarterly literary magazine Slake alongside Joe Donnelly.{{Cite web|last=Ogilvie|first=Jessica P.|date=2011-07-22|title=LAist Interview: Slake Editors Laurie Ochoa and Joe Donnelly|url=https://laist.com/2011/07/22/laist_interview_slake_editors_lauri.php|access-date=2020-12-29|website=LAist}}
Ochoa is president of the California Chicano News Media Association.{{Cite web|title=Board of Directors|url=https://www.ccnma.org/about/board-of-directors|access-date=2020-12-29|website=CCNMA|language=en-US}}
Awards and recognition
Ochoa is the recipient of two James Beard Foundation Awards: Best Newspaper Series in 1997 for her work at the Los Angeles Times, and Best Magazine or Newspaper Series in 2001 for her work at Gourmet alongside David Karp and Warren Schultz.
She was also nominated in 1998 for Best Newspaper Series for her work at the Los Angeles Times, and in 1997 for her work with Nancy Silverton on the book Nancy Silverton's Bread from The La Brea Bakery: Recipes For The Connoisseur.{{Cite web|title=Awards Search {{!}} Ochoa|url=https://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/search?year=&keyword=ochoa|access-date=2020-12-29|website=James Beard Foundation|language=en}}
Personal life
Ochoa married Jonathan Gold in 1990. The couple met while both were working at LA Weekly in 1984. They subsequently followed each other to work together at other publications, including Gourmet and the Los Angeles Times. They had two children, Isabel and Leon. Gold died of pancreatic cancer in 2018.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ochoa, Laurie}}
Category:American women journalists
Category:American food writers
Category:Los Angeles Times people
Category:James Beard Foundation Award winners
Category:American writers of Mexican descent
Category:Hispanic and Latino American journalists