Sherline Luna Gamboa: Turning Struggles into Strength, and Strength into Service

Sherline Luna Gamboa was born in Ciudad Del Carmen, Campeche, Mexico, on a small island where her family stood out in every way. They were the only Black family in their community, and from an early age, Sherline witnessed the heavy weight of racism and injustice. She watched her father, a skilled painter, pour himself into projects for schools, courthouses, and businesses, only to be denied payment and told to leave because of the color of his skin. What should have been the stability of a working man's wage became a cycle of financial hardship and humiliation that etched itself into Sherline's memory.

At twelve years old, Sherline's family migrated to the United States. The move was both a relief and a new challenge. Gone was the four-bedroom home they once lived in, replaced by a cramped one-bedroom house. But in the U.S., she discovered things that felt miraculous — like turning a knob to get hot water instead of leaving buckets in the sun. She also discovered the double edge of identity: she finally saw people who looked like her, but her accent and background made her a target for bullying. She felt caught between worlds — never fully accepted in one, yet never fully belonging in the other.

By thirteen, Sherline was already working in a car wash to help her parents put food on the table. At fifteen, like her mother before her, she was married, and shortly after, she gave birth to her daughter, Melody. While other teenagers were navigating high school crushes and weekend games, Sherline was juggling diapers, marriage, and ESL classes. Yet she excelled. She graduated high school with honors, pushed herself into medical assistant training, and interned at major institutions like UCLA and USC.

But the medical field proved too heavy for her spirit. Watching patients suffer in internal medicine drained her emotionally, and she turned to new paths, eventually managing a factory where she provided jobs for her family. Even in leadership, however, her heart longed for more — for purpose.

Sherline's journey was never linear. She endured widowhood, abusive relationships, family conflict, and the crushing cycles of poverty, depression, and even addiction. There were years of darkness, marked by drinking, jail time, and what felt like endless pain. But at each breaking point, she found within herself the courage to begin again.

She relocated to Houston, Texas, determined to create a new life. Drawing from her experience at Liberty Tax and Jackson Hewitt, she dreamed of building her own business. Early partnerships dissolved in betrayal, but those lessons forged her independence. This time, she would not lean on fragile agreements or the wrong people. She wrote a letter to Jehovah, asking Him to be her business partner, and from that moment forward, she stepped into a new season of faith and resilience.

In 2020, amidst the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sherline launched Quality Tax Service. It was not without fear — she wrestled with questions of whether she should protect her family by retreating to land she bought in Kansas or step boldly into business. She chose courage. She chose to bet on herself.

There were seasons when the business struggled, and Sherline drove trucks under her company, Quality Logistics, to keep her family afloat. There were seasons of heartbreak, like when her daughter left for college, leaving her in an identity crisis so deep she had to be hospitalized. Yet even in her lowest moments, Sherline refused to let go of the vision that had been birthed out of her struggle.

Today, Sherline Luna Gamboa stands as the Founder and Chief Executive of Quality Tax Service, operating under the Phoenix Arise Group. Her firm is a certified MBE, WBE, and DBE enterprise, trusted nationwide for tax preparation, bookkeeping, tax planning, and business advisory through its Virtual Finance Office and Physical location in Arlington, Texas. More than that, she has become a community leader, serving with El Club del Éxito, the Americas Chamber for Business, and the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce. She hosts vision board parties, workshops, and empowerment events that inspire people to dream bigger and take action.

Sherline's story is not simply about business success. It is about a woman who has risen again and again from the ashes of hardship, who has turned wounds into wisdom, and who has proven that no matter where you start, or how dark the night may seem, you can rise, rebuild, and lead. This is her origin story — one that continues to unfold as she writes not only her own legacy, but helps others build theirs.