Torres was born Norma Judith Barillas in Guatemala . When she was five , she and her uncle came to the United States , her mother died a year later . Although she had originally arrived on a tourist visa , she became a legal resident in her teens and gained citizenship in 1992 . She worked as a 9-1-1 dispatcher , where in 1994 she led a campaign to require the hiring of bilingual 9-1-1 operators . She was an active member of AFSCME , serving as local 3090 's shop steward . She served on the Pomona city council prior to being elected the city 's mayor in 2006 . In 2008 , she endorsed then-presidential candidate Barack Obama before Hillary Clinton withdrew from the race , and was a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention . She was elected to the State Assembly in November 2008 , filling the vacancy left by former legislator Nell Soto , who retired . She earned her bachelor 's degree in Labor Studies from the National Labor College in Maryland in 2012 at the age of 47 . She was 2008/09 Treasurer for the National Conference of Democratic Mayors
Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
Norma Torres