He joined the group Citizens for Farm Labor in San Francisco. There he met Wendy Goepel, who was working for Governor Brown’s Farm Worker Health Service. He relocated to the San Joaquin Valley after Wendy Goepel introduced him to Helen Chávez. Goepel later told him César Chávez was trying to start a newspaper and Esher volunteered for the position. He quickly became the editor of El Malcriado, the unofficial newspaper of the United Farm Workers, in 1965. He also helped organize workers near Fremont and Bakersfield, drove farmworkers to and from the fields, and provided them with inexpensive lunches.