At the time it was not a registered organization. There was not a meeting room; instead the ladies would meet in the Multicultural Affairs Lounge on Wednesday afternoons. There were six ladies that started the organization: Annaliza Rangel, Naomi Leos, Cecilia Gamboa, Tiffany Borrego, Minerva Carrasco, and Raquel Soto. At the time, the ladies did not call the meetings meetings; they instead referr
ed to them as gatherings. The original, three advisors were Dr. Stella Silva, Beverly Oberle, and Greta Contreras-Fenley. These advisors were influential in getting Latinas Unidas recognized as an official organization on campus. The gatherings consisted of discussing topics that affected the then members, i.e. homesickness (missing family, friends, and/or food), the stress of transitioning into college life, the challenges they faced as first-generation, Latina college students, and how they missed seeing and interacting with people from the same cultural background. It soon turned into a comforting environment. One of the original founding members, Raquel Soto, remarked, "I kept going back because I felt comfortable talking to these women. I felt like they were my family - my sisters, cousins, aunts – which I was talking to." In the Fall of 2005, after a year of gatherings, Latinas Unidas became an official organization. Since then, we have established an atmosphere of empowerment and support among our members.
