Christy Martinez-Garcia was born and raised in Lubbock. She attended Lubbock High School, Lamar University, and completed her degree at Texas Tech University. After college, Martinez-Garcia worked for the Lubbock city government and then for the National Council of La Raza in Washington D.C. Upon her return to Lubbock, Martinez-Garcia sought to counter the local media narrative that mostly only depicted Hispanics as criminals or only immigrants. Thus, she founded the magazine, Latino Lubbock. She also ran for a position in the Lubbock ISD Board of Trustees. Martinez-Garcia has participated in numerous community organizations and was responsible for the naming of Cesar Chavez street in Lubbock as well as having a historical marker for a what once a migrant labor camp.

Alice E. Valdez was born in El Paso, and grew up in a middle class, Anglo and Mexican American community. She discusses her father's WWII experience to detail. Ms. Valdez was involved in the arts from an early age through church groups and in school activities. She attended the University of Texas at El Paso where she was part of the band and graduated with a degree in music. She recalled the 1966 Texas Western College (name prior to UTEP) NCAA Basketball Championship during her college experience. Upon graduation, Ms. Valdez moved with her husband to Atlanta for his military service. She moved to Houston in 1971. Due to her arts background, she became involved in creating arts programs for children and subsequently founded the Multicultural Education Counseling through the Arts Center, (MECA).