She has written extensively about Central America and local news. She began her career as a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune, later moving on to Time magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times, where she served as the El Salvador and South American bureau chief. She has written op-ed pieces for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The San Francisco Examiner, and magazine pieces for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Magazine, and George magazine. In 2005, Chávez and her students collaborated to publish “Capitalism, God and A Good Cigar: Cuba Enters the Twenty-First Century.” Her 1998 book “The Color Bind: California’s Battle Against Affirmative Action, “won the Leonard Silk Award. She holds a B.A. in comparative literature from the UC Berkeley and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.