I am honored by my deep El Paso family roots and grateful for the strong values that were instilled in me. I was born and raised in El Paso and as a child, I witnessed my grandparents and parents, work long hard hours and struggle to provide for our families. I remember helping “Grandma” Rogelia Fernandez and “Grandpa” Victor Arditti in the kitchen at the Shamrock Inn on Paisano. We would help my “Tata” Luis Provencio at the farms in Anthony picking cotton, lettuce, onions, and chile. At church, we helped “Nana” Albina Geck, who was a retired teacher. My parents, met in college (Texas Western, now UTEP), married and raised our family in El Paso. My mother, Elva Provencio is a retired teacher and my father, Victor inspired me to become a lawyer.

I attended St. Patrick’s Elementary School, Loretto Academy, and the University of Texas at El Paso where I received a BA. During college, I held numerous jobs at the District Attorney’s as an intern, a paralegal at a law firm, and as a ceramics teacher. I attended law school as a single mother and received my Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1988.