7 minute read | By: Claudia Loayza
“While I’ve traveled across the country and the world and learned to appreciate the beauty of our vast stories as humankind, Utah is always the place I come back to.”
What is Magnify Utah?
In both the U.S. and Utah’s Constitution, the preambles mark a critical moment in our shared history by stating, “We, the people of Utah” or nationally, “We the people.” I always paused upon reading this during my U.S. and Utah History classes in middle and high school growing up in Salt Lake County. It meant something to me even at a young age, because it felt like both a goal and a commitment. “We the people” are stronger together, have a long common history together, and need each other. This is a foundational piece to why and how Magnify Utah came to be as a resource and platform. More on that later, but first, let me tell you my Utah story.
My name is Claudia Loayza and I am a proud born-and-raised Utahn. I was born in Payson and raised primarily in South Jordan by loving immigrant parents who taught me to remain kind, compassionate, curious of people, and to make meaningful connections. Being first-generation Utahns from Latin America, my parents encouraged my siblings and I to learn all we could about our home state, to appreciate its people, and to offer what we could to the common cause of what we now call One Utah.
They appreciated and believed in the American Dream as New Americans because what our state offered was unique. It is our intricate, intertwined, and varied stories that makes us Utah, from our Native American communities who love and steward the land, to our early pioneers who came seeking opportunity and community-building, and all the stories in between until now. To quote Yuval Levin, a researcher of social, cultural, and constitutional studies, our Utah and American story is a story of purpose, connection, and encouragement as if to say, “you’re the latest chapter in a long story that is a great story of success and can continue to be.”
Utah has always been my home. While I’ve traveled across the country and the world and learned to appreciate the beauty of our vast stories and histories as humankind, Utah is always the place I come back to. Magnify Utah is a platform and resource that seeks to celebrate our stories. In a way, it serves as my personal love letter to my state, having not just been born and raised here, but laying roots down and raising my own family here now. My story, in and of itself, is very multicultural. I’m of Mexican and Peruvian descent with Argentine influences through my stepfather, and later marrying into even more cultures with my husband being primarily Mohawk (Haudenosaunee) and being raised himself in a vast array of traditions from Portugal, Hawaii, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and more. Because of these cultural backgrounds, I seek opportunities to see and experience Utah through various lenses.
Growing up, my fondest memories of Utah would be going to:
- The Pioneer Day parade in Salt Lake City
- I even walked in it once!
- I even walked in it once!
- The Nihon Matsuri Festival in Japantown
- I had the best gyoza there every year.
- I had the best gyoza there every year.
- The Freedom Day Festival in Provo
- Getting there very early for their hot air balloons!
- Getting there very early for their hot air balloons!
- The Festival Latinoamericano also in Provo
- I loved performing with my Latino folk dance group and also eating all I could!
- I loved performing with my Latino folk dance group and also eating all I could!
- The Greek Festival in Salt Lake City
- I had my first taste of spanakopita there.
- I had my first taste of spanakopita there.
- The Utah Asian Festival
- This event has just grown and grown each year!
- This event has just grown and grown each year!
- And so many more!
Since I started working at the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs in 2019, I have been working towards the creation and various iterations of Magnify Utah. Now in its final product, it is a learning and resource hub that is all about people, places, and stories. It helps solve that question that I’ve heard regularly throughout my career, “Where can I find resources and stories about the various communities found in Utah?”
Well, Magnify Utah was created to answer that question. It streamlines statewide information and resources to support individuals looking to establish connections to their statewide community, as well as those starting a new chapter. It does this through Magnify Utah profiles we call Homegrown, Chosen Home, and My Family Diary segments, each lending a new perspective of the people making up our great state. In addition, our Magnify Community pages bring awareness to organizations and resources in Utah that serve across culture, community, and scope. Finally, through our Magnify Stories blog, we are highlighting the various stories, perspectives, and marked experiences that make Utah people who they are.
The longer I’ve lived in Utah, the more I learn about how our state came to be and how many people from different cultures, backgrounds, and walks of life it took to create such a foundation for growth and opportunity. The carefully curated resources found within Magnify Utah are a way of coming together in our shared stories while nodding to the past and welcoming the future. This project reminds me that I still believe in the power of “We the people.”
I invite everyone to experience Magnify Utah as a way to pay honor to that historic phrase. While our differences are unique, they should not divide us, but rather encourage us to look for how our vibrant stories can bond us together as Utahns. Because together we are a beautiful mosaic.
Claudia Loayza is the program manager and principal curator for Magnify Utah. She was born and raised in Utah and happily lives in and loves this state, along with her family who reside in South Jordan.
I express my deep and heartfelt thanks to Jason Carrillo and Dustin Khong, Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs Student Fellows, for helping lay the foundation and collaborating to create the voice behind Magnify Utah. Their support in content development and strategic brilliance have helped make this program possible.
