Ms. Erica Mosca

Assemblywoman Erica Mosca is used to being first. As the first female Filipina in the Nevada State Legislature, the founder of Leaders In Training, and the first person in her family to graduate from college, she knows some things about blazing a trail. Growing up, Erica went to seven different schools and in college experienced the achievement gap that other freshmen from better-resourced schools did not. After joining TFA, she knew she wanted to marry her experiences to her growing sense of leadership. “I always say Barbie didn't look like me. I never saw other Filipina teachers. I really wanted our students to know that they could be leaders, and that this 5th grade education was going to take them places,” she said. Erica helped numerous students, like English learners who might otherwise been pulled into special education classes. She realized the need for more support for possible future leaders. Taking concepts she’d used in the classroom to inspire students, she plunged into creating her own nonprofit, Leaders In Training. Many of her early LIT members are now nurses, TFA teachers and journalists. She then realized she’d been working as an advocate and doing that work for so long, that when an assembly seat became open, she decided to try for it. Erica ran for office in 2016 and lost. “Success is definitely not a straight line,” she says. With lessons learned from her campaign, Erica ran again, and in 2022 she was elected. She passed five out of six of her bills in the last session, mostly all of them education-based. However, she feels much of her impact is on the personal level “I've always really tried to teach people or just show or exemplify is in Las Vegas. We're all going to see each other. We're all connected some way.” She’s also hopeful for the future leaders that continue to connect with her. “I know in 20 30 years they'll be running our community and I'll know that I did the work I was supposed to do.”