Dr. Edith Fernandez is a native Las Vegan, a Chicana American. In the 1950s, her parents emigrated from Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico and joined family already residing in Las Vegas area since the 1920s. The Fernandez family of three children grew up in Charleston Heights as one of a very few Latinx families in the predominantly white community.

Alber Mora is an immigrant from Cuba who arrived in the United States through Miami, Florida. Mora’s father became persecuted by the Castro government where he worked, when Alber’s older brother was called to mandatory military service though he had a medical exemption. Due to this reason, the mora family decided to leave Cuba in a balsa (raft) risking their lives as many Cubans did to escape the oppression at the time.