Born into a rural indigenous community in central Oruro's Carangas Province, Espinoza began her professional career in the field of education, working as a schoolteacher and administrator and serving on her local school board.

[1] The town, according to Aymara indigenous custom, is situated in the Mallcunaca Ayllu, a subdivision of the Corque Marka in the Jach'a Karangas Suyu—a region roughly corresponding to the borders of Oruro's Carangas Province.

[5] Nearing the turn of the century, Espinoza began playing an active role in her region's trade syndicates, which had increasingly begun promoting the entry of women and the peasantry into their ranks.

[10] The established alliance between indigenous and peasant advocacy groups with the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP) provided an opening for her to contest public office in that year's general election.

[6] She was nominated for a seat in the Chamber of Senators, a position she won despite her less advantageous placement at the bottom of the party's electoral list, a product of the MAS's sweep over nearly the entirety of Oruro's parliamentary delegation that cycle.

[18] At the end of her term, Espinoza was not nominated for reelection,[19][20] reflecting the MAS's general disinterest in developing long political careers for the party's elected legislators in favor of promoting the incorporation of new faces in parliament.