In 1971, Emilia Marquez was born in Virginia to her Uruguayan immigrant parents, Alicia and Carlos. When the family returned to Uruguay in 1982, she experienced being an outsider in her parents’ home country. As she describes it: when in Uruguay she is Uruguayan; when in the U.S., she is an American citizen. Over the course of her life, she has proven to be an adept navigator of language and cultures. In 1990, she and Juan Carlos Mussio married. They have three daughters, Ashley, Emily and Jessica. The family moved to Las Vegas in 2001.