In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we present to you lovely readers a list of Hispanics and Latinos influencing today’s world through media and the arts.
1. Bamby Salcedo
A nationally recognized Latina transgender activist, she has brought a voice to her trans community as well as the overlapping communities that have affected her such as migration, HIV, LGBT and incarceration and Latin@ communities. She is a founder of the Los Angeles-based TransLatin@ coalition, which is “an organization form[ed] by Trans Latin@ immigrant leaders who have come together in 2009 to organize and advocate for the needs of Trans Latin@s who are immigrants and reside in the US.” She is truly amazing and powerful!
2. Carolina Herrera
This lovely businesswoman is a fashion designer who has made dresses for celebrities such as first ladies Michelle Obama and Jackie Onassis, Dianna Agron, Jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara and Anna Wintour. Herrera has earned many awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2008. To this day, she still designs clothing, perfumes and accessories. Carolina Herrera is astounding!
3. Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz is an extraordinary writer and professor of creative writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Diaz focuses a lot on the immigrant experience in his writing and includes both English and Spanish in his books allowing the reader to enter Hispanic/latin@ culture. He has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao as well as the MacArthur Fellowship in 2012 and the Honorary Doctorate at Brown University. Junot Diaz’s books and stories are a must-read!
4. Jorge Ramos
Jorge Ramos is worldly famous for calling out Donald Trump during a press conference on his immigration policy. He is also the man who bluntly asked Fidel Castro when he would hold democratic elections and then got slugged by Castro’s bodyguards. The truth is all that matters to him, even if it means putting himself a risky situation. He is confident and brave to ask the hard questions to get the answers that need to be released!
5. Lionel Messi
A native of Argentina who has established records for goals, Messi has won many awards such as La Liga Championship and led his team to second place in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil! Messi has a worldwide recognition as the best player in soccer!
6. Julia Alvarez
This Dominican-American essayist, poet and novelist has gained national recognition after releasing her novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, which speaks about being a Latina immigrant in the U.S. in 1991. Her writing influenced many Latino/a writers such as Angie Cruz and Junot Diaz.
7. Patricia Velasquez
She is a lesbian actress and fashion model that has been on the cover of Vogue, Bazaar, Marie Claire and other international magazines. She was a Victoria Secret model and was in numerous films where she received awards such as the “Best Actress” award in the “Women’s feature” category in the 2015 North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film festival. In addition, she wrote a book called Straight Walk: A Supermodel’s Journey of Finding her Truth. Lastly, with us thinking she can’t get any cooler, she is an award-winning activist in UNESCO and also won a humanitarian award through LA Femme Film Festival in 2015.
8. Rita Moreno
Moreno is an incredible dancer, singer and actress. Best known for her role as Anita in West Side Story’s film adaptation, she went to have a successful Broadway career. She is the first and only Latina to win the prestigious EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony). She is truly remarkable!
9. Rigoberta Menchú
Rigoberta Menchú dedicated her life to helping the world recognize indigenous people in Guatemala, and over time, through all of South America. She has promoted indigenous rights all throughout Guatemala and recieved the Asturias Award in 1998 and a Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. She also ran for president of Guatemala in 2007.
10. Shakira
Despite being a worldwide pop star, Shakira is known for giving back to her community through her foundation Pies Descalzos. She has raised millions of dollars to improve education in her hometown as well as throughout Latin America. As a UNICEF ambassador, she is committed to make a global impact for the people in need.