M. Elena Letona At age five, Elena Letona and her younger sister Maria tossed their toys over the balcony of their parents' apartment to poor children in the street.
This spontaneous act of childhood generosity in El Salvador ultimately culminated at Centro Presente, the immigrant rights agency in Boston that Letona heads. First, however, she traveled on an episodic journey of self-discovery that began when her father decided that his six-year-old should become a piano virtuoso.
He sent Letona abroad, at age thirteen, to continue her music education in America, while living with relatives in Los Angeles. The following year, he sent Maria and eventually moved both girls to New Orleans, where they won many local piano competitions. A third younger sister arrived, and Letona cared for her while attending Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
"I discovered that I wasn't a great pianist."
Moving to Boston after graduation, Letona found work in the city's Department of Health and Hospitals. "That was an eye-opener. I was shocked to learn that here in the United States there could be such poverty." At thirty, she entered a doctoral program in public policy.
"It was a conscious decision. It wasn't like the piano."
At Centro Presente, Letona reconnected "with aspects of my life that I'd forgotten or hadn't known or buried." Having cared for her sisters when they came to America, Letona now reassures an extended family of new immigrants, "Where you come from is good. Who you are is beautiful."
