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.

Mirtha Rojas is originally from La Habana, Cuba and came to the United States to join his brother that had lived in Miami since Mirtha was a child. Mirtha describes her childhood as many happy moments where she learned and enjoyed musical instruments from a young age, and became a music teacher in Cuba as well. Mirtha states after her parents had died, she faced some difficult times and her brother invited her to come to Miami where she arrived in 2009 along with her nine year old daughter.