Woman With Local Connections Makes History in Rockdale

Esmeralda Ruelas-Olivares is a Rockdale native but her husband Jose Olivares and all his family are from La Grange. She married Joe and Margaret Olivares’ only son of seven children. She was recently elected as Rockdale’s first Latina city councilwoman.

Above is a copy of a part of the article that appeared in the Rockdale newspaper.

In part that article quotes her as saying, “When I was growing up, a lot of little girls that looked like me and talked like me didn’t necessarily grow up to believe that they, one day, could have these types of positions ... I was raised on the East Side, the daughter of Spanishspeaking migrant farmworker parents .... I am living proof that access to opportunity, coupled with hard work, is a recipe for success.”