The tone was lively while also sobering at TIME’s second annual Latino Leaders celebration in Los Angeles on Thursday, as guests acknowledged both the strides made and the challenges that remain in amplifying Latino voices, perspectives, and power across industries.
Latinos—the fastest growing ethnicity in the U.S.—make up nearly one-fifth of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But they also face barriers, from under-representation in media to harmful stereotypes about the community, which honorees mentioned throughout the night.
“Not long ago, there were very few opportunities for Latinos in Hollywood. Fortunately, I can say that these days I feel optimistic,” said actor Camila Mendes, who added that diversity can be a solution to the lack of originality in Hollywood. But “as proud and excited as this makes us for the future,” she warned, “we cannot allow ourselves to get complacent. Representation is a constant pursuit.”
Mendes was one of 17 people, including actors, playwrights, corporate execs, and other U.S.-based Latinos selected by TIME for their influence and leadership in their respective fields—some of whom gathered at the celebration in Los Angeles on Tuesday, including Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera, influencer Tefi Pessoa, and political strategist Ana Navarro.
The evening featured toasts from several honorees, including actor Wilson Cruz, who sang a snippet from Hector Lavoe’s “Mi Gente,” and many anecdotes honoring immigrant parents and loved ones for their support. Cruz, who broke barriers as the first out gay actor to play an out gay character on prime time television, centered his speech on the importance of love. “As Latino people, we’ve been very fortunate to have that love modeled for us by people who fought and bled and even died for our ability to experience more of that love than they did,” he said, listing out prominent Latino civil rights forebears like Dolores Huerta, a Latino Leaders honoree in 2023.
Pride in heritage was a key theme throughout the night. Marketing guru Claudia Romo Edelman, who first learned of the word Hispanic after immigrating to the U.S. a decade ago, called for mobilization efforts to help Latinos be proud of their identity and reclaim their Latinidad from any negative connotations others put on it. “We’re going to unify, equip, and mobilize [to] change the perception of Latinos,” she said during her toast. “We shouldn’t stop until everybody in this country—not only Latinos—until everyone in the country knows that Hispanics are positive contributors to the country, that we are the economic driving force of America.”
Michelle Freyre, global brand president at cosmetics company Clinique and Origins, echoed that sentiment when speaking about the importance of authenticity. “Latinos sometimes think they won’t succeed, especially in a leadership position … if they’re too authentic, if they’re too passionate. I hear that a lot,” she says. “I have really now started to make it a real part of my journey to help those young Latinos erase that from their mind. I believe that authenticity is our superpower, and that we cannot succeed without this superpower.”
Comedian George Lopez shouted out his hometown—“It’s always nice to be in Los Angeles and honor people from everywhere else,” he joked—before thanking TIME for the recognition and musing on his time working in Puerto Rico on Blue Beetle, the first film to feature a Latino superhero. “There’s a lot of movies about superheroes. Some can fly, some throw fire, some don’t die, but there has not been any superhero near the power of the Blue Beetle, because the Blue Beetle started out as a white man in the ’40s and ended up as a young Latino in 2022.”
The night culminated with a performance by 2024 TIME Latino Leader María Zardoya, lead singer of The Marías, who honored her mother before singing “No One Noticed” and “Lejos de Ti” from the band’s latest album, Submarine.
Latino Leaders was presented by Nissan.
