Stephanie Graves, CEO, Lee Andrews Group (Courtesy photo)
What’s it like to run a business in downtown Los Angeles right now—during mass ICE raids, National Guard deployments, and nightly curfews that feel more like control than protection?
It’s not fear. It’s not even shock. It’s a simmering disbelief. As a Latina-owned public relations firm—with a majority-Latino staff of seasoned communicators—we’ve built our work on clarity, community, and truth-telling. But right now? It’s hard to separate what’s real from what’s propaganda. The news cycle is saturated with narratives that don’t match what we see out our windows: masked ICE agents in full tactical gear detaining street vendors, not cartel operatives. Families separated. Neighborhoods destabilized.
Day 1 was outrage. Day 6? It’s emotional exhaustion. Today, a director in my office—poised to launch a multi-million-dollar client campaign next week—broke mid-sentence. Voice cracking, eyes welling. He apologized. As a former CHIRLA board member and East L.A. community advocate, this moment is personal to him. And it’s wearing all of us down.
Downtown itself feels muted. I walked to meetings today. The streets, on the surface, looked typical—buses running, people eating in restaurants, pedestrians moving. But there’s an eerie undertone. Fewer horns, more sirens. Heavier stares. With curfews now a nightly reality, it’s like we’re walking through a city paused mid-sentence.
And yet, in those glances exchanged between strangers on the street, there’s something else: solidarity. A quiet knowing. A shared resilience. We’ve got each other.
One thing that hasn’t gone unnoticed? The steady leadership of Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom. In the midst of chaos and cruelty, they’ve held the line—for immigrants, for Californians, for our collective humanity. And the business community is watching—and grateful. We’re proud to operate in a city and state where dignity still has a voice, and where our leaders don’t flinch.
This article originally appeared in the Los Angeles Sentinel.