George Pollak was born October 31, 1924 and raised in Mattapan, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, the second youngest of five kids. He could listen to a song on the radio and play it on the piano by ear when he was as young as four years old. He had several jobs growing up, including working in a record store and as a busboy. Eventually Pollak and his brother joined a trio with Steve Harrington and performed in clubs. On April 1, 1951, Pollak married his wife, Florence, in Boston.

Aquiles Garcia was born in January 21, 1927 in Goya, Chaco, Argentina where his grandfather owned half the town. In 1934, Garcia moved with his parents and siblings to Buenos Aires, where he was taken in by his maternal aunt, Esther Larralde de Porta. His aunt was a professor in the Normal School, so he received an excellent education before earning his Bachelor of Arts degree. Garcia served four years in the Argentine Army, the last part under Juan Perón.

Reva Giles grew up in the little town of New Carlisle, Indiana and was one of twelve children. Her mother stayed home with the children while her father worked for Studebaker, a large automobile manufacturer. Right after high school, Giles moved to Redland, California, to live with a sister, working first at an ice cream shop and then a bank.

Hattie Canty was born and raised in St. Stephens, Alabama. She moved to California as a young woman to seek employment, and married and started a family. Canty's family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in the late 1960s and she found work as a maid for the Thunderbird Hotel and later the Maxim Hotel and Casino. Canty became a Culinary Union Local 226 member. Over the years, she became involved in securing better salaries for women and increasing the number of African Americans in high-paying positions in the casino industry.

Mayra Salinas-Menjivar’s tenacious spirit has given her confidence from a very young age. She was six years old when she boarded was on a plane from El Salvador to Los Angeles. Her companion was a woman she did not know and was not related to. All Mayra knew was that this woman would be the friend who would reunite her with her mother. This one life episode is part of the framework of attorney Salinas-Menjivar and her ability to explain the difference between child trafficking and a companion.

Dr. Tony Miranda grew up in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, California. His father was a chef at the Santa Maria Inn, and the rest of the family spent summers picking strawberries in the surrounding fields.