Ana Anzola: Reaching Diverse Audiences

“My work moved the professions forward and helped individuals and families who needed to hear ASHA’s message of help.”

The alarm read 3:30 a.m. December 1 had arrived quickly. To Ana Anzola, AuD, CCC-A, it seemed like days instead of weeks since she had agreed to be a bilingual media spokesperson for ASHA. In just a few hours, Dr. Anzola would be a key participant in a national satellite media tour about a new AARP ASHA national poll of AARP members' hearing health.

“I couldn’t believe ASHA asked me to help!” Dr. Anzola recalls. “It was tremendously gratifying for me as an ASHA member and Latino professional that I was asked.”

An ASHA member since 1995, Dr. Anzola owns Ascent Audiology & Hearing, with locations in McLean, Virginia, and Rockville, Maryland. She serves a diverse clientele and is one of the few Northern Virginia and Maryland area dispensing audiologists who speak fluent Spanish.

As she drove from her Northern Virginia home to the satellite television studio in Washington, D.C., Dr. Anzola wondered what the day would entail. “Colleagues have asked me if I was nervous doing the interviews,” Dr. Anzola reports. “I tell them honestly I wasn’t because I knew that this work was bigger than me… my work moved the professions forward and helped individuals and families who needed to hear ASHA’s message of help.”

The media interest in the AARP ASHA polling was strong. Dr. Anzola, along with two other media spokespersons, conducted nearly 40 interviews that reached an audience of nearly one million. Because of Dr. Anzola’s involvement, ASHA was able to reach Hispanic audiences who would have otherwise missed out on the key findings of the poll.

Dr. Anzola enjoyed the experience so much that on May 15, 2012, she reprised her role of spokesperson to assist with the media launch of ASHA’s new “Speak Up About Hearing Loss” public service announcement campaign. She and fellow 2012 ASHA Media Outreach Champion Dr. Deborah Berndtson conducted more than 30 interviews with outlets from across the country.

“I look forward to the opportunity to serve as a media spokesperson in other capacities,” Dr. Anzola says.