Vilma Espín Guillois was born on 7 April 1930, in Santiago de Cuba. She was the daughter of a wealthy Cuban lawyer, Jose Espín and wife Margarita Guillois. She had four siblings, Nilsa, Iván, Sonia and José. Espín attended Academia Pérez-Peña for primary school and studied ballet and singing at the Asociación Pro-Arte Cubano during the 1940s. In the 1950s, she studied chemical engineering at Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba (one of the first women in Cuba to study this subject). While attending Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, she played volleyball, tennis, and was a soprano in the University Choir. In university, Espin met her mentor Frank Pais in a university group called Oriente Revolutionary Action (ARO), which was responsible for the assault on the Moncada barracks. After graduating, her father encouraged her to attend MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts to complete her post-graduate studies in the hopes that visiting America would dissuade her from becoming involved in socialist activity. When she finally acquiesced, her brief academic career at MIT left her with even more animosity toward the United States, as she officially joined the 26th of July Movement on her way back to Cuba through Mexico. Espin only completed one semester at MIT.