In the recent issue of La Revista Binacional San Diego (No. 14, Primavera 2026), the article “Virtud, Liderazgo y Comunidad: Mujeres en San Diego” features Elba Gómez, assistant superintendent and vice president of administrative services at MiraCosta College. Gómez reflects on her journey from growing up in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, to leadership in higher education. After crossing the border through San Ysidro as a child, she worked in agricultural fields near Fresno alongside her family. A first-generation college student and mother of three by age twenty-one, Gómez attended Fresno City College, where a math professor connected her with student services that helped her continue her education. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Technical Management and a master’s degree in Human Resources and Information Technology, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Organizational Change and Leadership at the University of Southern California.