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 Hilda grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, the community she now represents in Congress. The daughter of immigrants, her parents, Raul and Juana, met in a citizenship class in Los Angeles. Starting a family in their new home, they instilled in Hilda and her six siblings the importance of family and the values of equality and fairness for all.
Growing up below the beautiful mountains that surround the San Gabriel Valley, Hilda developed an appreciation of the environment that would later be one of the driving forces in her public life. She recalls fondly how her father would take her and her siblings to nearly parks. Early on, she cultivated a sophisticated understanding of the relationship that a people have with the environment they live in and how important it is to defend it against those that would seek to harm it.
Always a trailblazer, Hilda was the first in her family to graduate from college. Taking advantage of programs designed to assist families that would not otherwise be able to afford higher education, she graduated from the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona with a Bachelors degreee. Later, she earned a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.
While in graduate school, Hilda interned in the White House during President Jimmy Carter's administration. She was named Editor-In-Chief of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs publications and, soon after, was appointed to the Civil Rights Division within the Office of Management and Budget.
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