Oklahoma grocery chain Supermercado Morelos is personal for Deputy Mayor Krystal Reyes. It was the first place she stopped when she arrived in Tulsa nearly seven years ago.
“I wanted to go somewhere that could make me feel like this city could be my home,” Reyes said in Spanish. “I went to Morelos to buy the food I was used to. The food from my culture. Mexican. My parents’ food. It made me feel like I was at home.”
Reyes made the move from New York City in 2019, when former Mayor G.T. Bynum appointed Reyes as the chief resilience officer for the Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Equity. In early 2025, she was named deputy mayor by newly elected Mayor Monroe Nichols.
She became the first Latina — or, as she likes to say, Mexican — in that position. The appointment makes Reyes the highest-ranking official of Hispanic descent in the administration.
There is always going to be a weight on people’s shoulders who are in government positions, she said.
“It’s maybe not what I think, it’s what I hope the community thinks that I’ve done a good job for them,” Reyes said. “So that’s what I care about — if the community thinks I’ve done a good job.”
Being the highest ranking Latina in Tulsa
Martha Zapata, the former leader of the Tulsa Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the UMA Center, said Reyes was the first true driving force for the Latino community at the city level.
Reyes has really involved herself in various projects across immigration, business, mental health and more, said Zapata, who worked with her on several initiatives.
“For a long time, there wasn’t representation for Latinos in the City of Tulsa,” Zapata said in Spanish. “In reality, you wouldn’t see people like us in any of those positions, but in the last 10 years we’ve started to see more of those people.”
Onelia Anzola, executive director of Avanzando Juntos, a Tulsa organization connecting entrepreneurs to startup capital and mentorship, recalled Reyes coming to speak at a recent event. The event was primarily in Spanish, but Anzola had an interpreter on hand in case Reyes was more comfortable speaking in English.
“She told me, ‘No, Onelia, I need to practice my Spanish,’” Anzola said. “She told our interpreter, ‘I want to use my Spanish.’”
That left an impression on Anzola, who said Reyes has always been communicative and willing to hear about what’s going on in the community.
Alejandro Garcia, executive director of the eastside nonprofit Tulsa Global District, said it helps that Reyes is Mexican and understands the culture and the issues facing Tulsa’s Latino community.
Now as she’s moved into her role as deputy mayor, he said he knows the mayor’s office prioritizes the development of east Tulsa.
“I obviously liked that she was Hispanic,” Garcia said, recalling the first time he met Reyes. “I know there are other people who are Hispanic but she was at the head of an important office in the city and that helped us a lot.”
Garcia said she often meets with executive directors from different nonprofit organizations to figure out how to best support them. He knows he can reach out to Reyes if he needs support from the city level, especially when it comes to city property.
“So she tries, in the ways she’s capable of, to support us,” he said. “Some of the things may seem small, but the fact is that simply being present says a lot about the commitment she has for people.”
The next generation of Latino leaders
Tulsa-area translator and interpreter Alfredo Marcelo says he hopes she focuses more on integrating existing programs and making them stronger rather than continuing to create new initiatives. She has the power to bring the community together and get everyone aligned on issues.
“I celebrate her being the first and I’m glad that she is and I’m excited to see a woman being in that particular level position at the city level,” Marcelo said. “I’m still excited to see what’s next … Personally I don’t get stuck on celebrating the first. It’s more about what you do with it.”
It’s important to create more representation and find more people that can continue to create impact, he said. He hopes more younger Latinos run for city council seats in the future. There are currently no Latino councilors in Tulsa.
“I think it is also possible that the people with power and the leadership positions, especially Krystal, can continue to open those doors for younger generations to represent in leadership positions in the city,” Marcelo said.
Reyes said she understands the need, too. Latinos are underrepresented in all levels of government, she said.
Since her appointment, Reyes has made it clear that she hopes she’s not the last Latina to hold the position. She wants others to see that they can have careers in government and in leadership.
“They can bring their backgrounds wherever they go,” Reyes said. “We don’t have to stay quiet about our experiences and not bring our culture or our language or advocate wherever we go.”
This article was produced as part of a partnership between the Tulsa Flyer and La Semana, a Tulsa-based bilingual Spanish-English newspaper serving Latino communities in Oklahoma.
Alejandro Garcia is a member of the community advisory committee for the Tulsa Flyer. News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
