Sam Friedman was a Jewish business owner in Las Vegas, Nevada during the 1930s. He owned a popular clothing store on Fremont Street, which he sold to Nate Mack in the late 1930s or 1940s.

Rodrigo was raised in a mix-status Mexican family. He was born in Mexico and immigrated at age three. He became a citizen of the U.S. when he was in 8th grade. He is a grad student who has been a student worker on the Latinx Voices project since its inception in 2018.