Michelle Gamboa, 27, of Longview, heads to Miss Texas Latina competition in Houston as Miss Longview Latina. This year, Gamboa is the only East Texan competing for the crown and the first ever Miss Longview to ever participate in the pageant. 

Michelle Gamboa was born in the Mexican city of Juarez. She migrated to East Texas when she was just seven years old when her family obtained a visa to move to the United States.

Gamboa was raised in Longview and is a Texas A&M University alumna. As a child, she battled to fit in and overcome the beauty standards of today’s society, she said.

With her passion to give and empower women, Gamboa will be competing for Miss Texas Latina, where she will be the first Miss Longview Latina in the pageant and the only East Texan participating in the competition.

Miss Texas Latina was created for Latina residents of Texas between the ages of 13 and 27, who desire to grow in the areas of confidence, self-esteem, fitness and modeling while promoting their heritage.

The tag line for the pageant is “More Than a Model, a Role Model,” which is something Gamboa said she hopes to be for women, especially young Latinas.

Each contestant has a platform and for Gamboa, it is ending child abuse and neglect. She aims to give a platform to the national child welfare association Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, for which she volunteers.

“There’s over 29,000 children in foster care and a great amount are Hispanic,” she said. “My platform is going to be for those Hispanic women who find themselves in that situation to seek help, to help fight domestic violence so that their kids are not products of domestic violence, drugs or whatever it may be.”

Gamboa said her passion for volunteering at CASA comes from wanting to assist children in their own language and figuring out what’s happening to them. A language barrier and lack of Hispanic volunteers, she said, can allow things to “fall into cracks of the system.”

Michelle’s mother, Linda Gamboa, said she is proud of her daughter and her passion for giving.

“I like how she expresses to people about turning their wishes into reality,” Linda Gamboa said. “She has a passion for helping kids. My other daughter has cerebral palsy and that has always motivated her to give.”

After hearing her mother speak, Gamboa said that helping out has always been normal for her. Growing up she was always inspired to donate her time to the community.

“I also learned from my mother. She gives free Zumba classes to special needs children in Longview. I’ve always learned to give out to the community from them. My grandma started the first school for the blind and deaf in Juarez,” Gamboa said. “They’ve taught me that you always need to help out and give, you never know when you are going to be up or down.”

As she goes into the competition, Gamboa is looking forward to representing the East Texas Hispanic community in hopes of inspiring younger girls.

“I remember when I first moved here from Mexico, I remember being little and not thinking I was enough,” she said. “I thought I wasn’t society’s version of beautiful. I would hate it when people would tell me, ‘You’re so pretty for being Mexican.’ I don’t get what that means.”

“I really want Hispanic young girls to realize they are enough, they are beautiful.”

Her hope is to give courage to young girls and demonstrate to women that anything is possible.

“I want to also give little girls and anyone that’s reading this, the courage to want to pursue something like this because beauty is not only what’s on the outside but also on the inside as well,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where you come from and what you’ve done, there’s always time to be better and do better and be your best self.”

Gamboa also hopes to encourage the Hispanic community to get into leadership roles in order to increase Hispanic representation, especially in East Texas.

“We have a voice, intelligence and the work ethic that comes with it. I would like to empower all Latinos and Hispanics to stop making excuses and go after it. Run for that city council, school board position, beauty pageant, pastor of the church or whatever it might be,” she said. “Latinos have a voice and we need to be represented.”

The Miss Texas Latina competition will consist of various outfit categories: heritage, evening, interview, western and swimsuit.

“I am not going to give many details about my outfits, but my dress is blue to symbolize ending child abuse. I put a lot of Hispanic tones to represent my Mexican heritage. I want to represent my love for Christ and love for ending child abuse,” she said. “My western outfit has the balloon races for the (Great) East Texas Balloon Race.”

The Miss Texas Latina competition is set for Oct. 28 to 31 in Houston. The winner will move on to Miss USA Latina.

On Oct. 4, tickets will go on sale at the Miss Texas Latina Facebook page, where Gamboa can be supported by having her image shared and liked on social media platforms.

“More than anything, prayer and sharing helps,” she said.