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Yolanda Gamboa grew up on the southwest side of Chicago, the oldest daughter of a railroad worker and a candy-manufacturing employee. Neither of her parents graduated from high school, but they both knew the value of an education and worked hard to ensure that their three children went to college.
“Education was held in a high place in our household,” says Gamboa, who was the first in her family to go to college. “My parents believed in the opportunities that a good education could provide.”
Gamboa’s upbringing and nurtured love for learning not only motivated her to earn a law degree from the University of Chicago, but prompted her to work with young Latinas in her area to show them the power of an education. “My parents saw that having an education was the key to succeed in life,” says Gamboa, who is assistant general counsel at Bank of America. “And I have found that my education has increased the number of opportunities that have opened up for me. I would love for others to have the same opportunities as well. I try to serve as a role model and give different kinds of people exposure to the types of careers you can have. I hope I can encourage young Latinas to aspire to do what they want to do.”
Mujeres Latinas en Acción
By the Numbers
40
Years in operation
$3.3M
Annual revenue
77%
Percentage of annual budget invested in programs
7
Programs available for community members at the organization’s
three locations
8,000
Community members served
Firmly believing in the importance of giving back, Gamboa started her career at the United Way, then left to work on her JD at the University of Chicago. After graduation, she clerked for a judge before going in-house at LaSalle Bank Corporation to focus on banking law as a consumer finance attorney. Now at Bank of America, her team handles the legal needs of the bank’s online and mobile channels and ever-changing offerings.
“Making and changing opportunities for a large group of people is very interesting to me,” Gamboa says. “At the United Way, I worked in development and focused on agencies. It exposed me to different aspects of community development and the resources that are out there. It also highlighted the power that legal education has within society as a whole and what a great tool it could be.”
While Gamboa volunteers through opportunities available to empl