Watch Eva Longoria's Full Toast at TIME's Latino Leaders Event

TIME

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Transcript

00:00 I gotta say, thank you Jess,

00:01 thank you for choosing us and me.

00:05 This is really an honor, especially in the inaugural issue,

00:08 like why wasn't there one before?

00:10 We forgive you.

00:12 But watch out 'cause the doors are open now

00:17 and you're gonna get so many calls from Latinos

00:19 going, "Why wasn't I on the list?"

00:20 (audience laughing)

00:23 And I was on my first car, my first like cool car

00:28 that didn't cost $300, 'cause when I moved to Hollywood

00:31 I bought like a roller skate, was a Nissan Ultima.

00:34 (audience cheering)

00:36 It was.

00:37 I know, maybe they'll give me one for free now.

00:41 (audience laughing)

00:43 - Absolutely!

00:44 - You see, ask and you shall receive.

00:49 But I will say, first of all, it's really fucked up

00:53 I'm last 'cause I've been drinking.

00:55 (audience laughing)

00:56 Jess, that is not cool.

00:59 Tequila.

01:00 Although y'all don't have my tequila here,

01:02 so I'm really pissed off at you guys.

01:04 But we're gonna fix that.

01:06 All right, okay, I wrote stuff down.

01:09 I'm gonna hurry up and talk 'cause I know a lot of us ladies

01:12 are wearing Spanx.

01:13 (audience laughing)

01:16 But I come from a really large family from Texas.

01:22 I'm a Texican, and I had a lot of amazing role models

01:27 and I've really dedicated my life to Latino causes

01:32 with my foundation and parental engagement programs

01:37 and entrepreneurial programs and educational programs

01:40 and scholarship programs and all of that work

01:42 is so important to me.

01:44 So anytime I'm recognized for that,

01:47 my heart fills with joy and pride

01:51 because it really is gonna be not only my legacy,

01:54 but our legacy.

01:57 And I really thought too long and hard

02:01 about how to scale what I'm doing

02:04 and how to make it more efficient and sustainable.

02:08 And I quickly realized nothing shifts culture

02:13 more than media, more than what we're doing here.

02:17 And I've been behind the camera for over 12 years now.

02:22 And I remember, I'm so happy Dolores is here

02:27 because I thought you left.

02:29 Because this is Dolores' eighth event today,

02:35 and she's 93.

02:37 I've had one and I'm exhausted.

02:38 (audience laughing)

02:41 But I remember I wasn't even famous when I met Dolores.

02:44 I was on Young and the Restless, a struggling actress.

02:47 And I met Dolores through a friend

02:51 and I was hanging out with her.

02:53 And she told me, she said,

02:55 you know, what are you doing?

02:58 She was talking to me and she said, you know what?

03:00 One day you're gonna have a voice

03:02 and you better have something to say.

03:04 (audience laughing)

03:05 And I was like, me?

03:06 I'm gonna have a voice, oh my God.

03:09 And I never forgot that.

03:11 And she's been a mentor ever since.

03:13 She's the reason I got my master's in Chicano Studies.

03:16 (audience applauding)

03:20 She knows it.

03:21 But I wanted to get behind the camera

03:24 because I knew I would have a bigger impact

03:26 in the changes I wanted to see in the world

03:29 and specifically in our country

03:30 and specifically in our community

03:32 because that's how we're gonna shift culture.

03:35 And that's where we see how policy affects people.

03:39 And I knew I wanted to have the opportunity

03:42 to tell our stories from our perspective

03:46 and not for us, for everybody.

03:48 So it's not by us, for us, it's by us, for everybody.

03:52 And I wanted to create heroes for us

03:57 that look like us on the small screen, on the big screen.

04:00 And I made a movie.

04:03 It's a damn good movie.

04:06 And it's called "Flaming Hot."

04:07 Yes.

04:08 (audience applauding)

04:12 And I really knew early on the responsibility I had

04:17 when I got to tell this story.

04:20 It's the story of Richard Montanez.

04:22 He was a Mexican janitor who worked at Frito-Lay

04:25 and invented the number one snack in the world,

04:29 the Flaming Hot Cheeto.

04:30 It's a multi-billion dollar brand today

04:35 and it came from the brain of one of our own.

04:38 And I remember early on in the process,

04:41 I told Frito-Lay through Cesar Conde

04:45 that you may make Flaming Hot Cheetos,

04:51 but Latinos own the brand of Flaming Hot Cheetos.

04:55 This is our brand, we made this brand.

04:57 And so they understood that and they let us make this movie.

05:01 And I wanted to tell Richard's story

05:04 because I don't know if you guys have seen it,

05:06 but it's an amazing story.

05:09 Rags to Riches, American Dream, Success 101.

05:12 And it's a really lesson about,

05:17 I remember reading his story and I was like,

05:18 I am Richard Montanez.

05:21 We are all Richard Montanez.

05:22 We've all been told no.

05:24 No, that job is not for somebody who looks like you.

05:26 No, that job is not for you because you're a woman.

05:29 No, maybe you shouldn't dream that big.

05:32 And Richard dared to ask, but why not me?

05:35 Why can't ideas come from somebody like me?

05:38 Why can't great things come from somebody who sounds like me,

05:40 who has an accent, whose name ends in Z?

05:43 Mine doesn't and I get really annoyed at that

05:48 'cause I'm like, I'm Latino.

05:49 Like, your name doesn't end in Z.

05:51 But I will say, we all had so much to learn from Richard

05:59 and we were shooting the movie and he was just amazing.

06:01 But I really quickly realized when I was on set

06:05 how Hollywood defines what heroes look like

06:08 and they never look like us.

06:10 And when we screened at the White House,

06:14 on the lawn was a thousand Latinos,

06:17 President Biden introduced the film.

06:19 It was so beautiful because everybody

06:22 was seeing themselves reflected back.

06:24 And they were laughing and they were crying

06:26 and they were saying, "Cabrones" and "Pendejo"

06:29 and they were saying all the things you know in the movie.

06:32 And I thought, you know what?

06:34 The moment was so big for me because it was just surreal

06:39 for people to go, oh, I identify with that

06:43 because if he went through all of that

06:46 and accomplished what he did, maybe I can do the same.

06:49 And that was the point of the film.

06:51 And so I know tonight they told us to talk about

06:54 what we recommend to the next generation of leaders.

07:01 And I always say like not only to dream,

07:04 dream but dream big and not just to dream big

07:08 but to put the work in and ask, why not me?

07:13 Why not me?

07:14 Why can't good things come from me?

07:16 And I know a lot of younger generations get a slack

07:21 for like, you guys don't work hard like we did.

07:24 I went to school in the mud and walking.

07:29 My parents said that.

07:30 Now I hear myself saying that to my son.

07:31 I'm like, you know how easy you have it.

07:34 So don't be afraid to put the work in,

07:36 especially because we're Latinos,

07:38 especially because we're women.

07:39 And I showed up to do this film with no problem

07:45 out hustling everybody in the room,

07:49 with no problem outworking everybody in the room.

07:52 I know I was gonna have to work faster.

07:54 I was gonna have to work harder.

07:55 I was gonna have to work cheaper

07:56 just to prove I was worthy of the job,

07:59 a job that I knew I was worthy of.

08:01 So don't carry a chip on your shoulder because of that.

08:05 Be fueled by that.

08:07 Put the work in and show them,

08:09 okay, yeah, we did make the right choice.

08:11 And I think there's no easy path to achieving success.

08:16 I think anybody on this list will tell you that.

08:18 You know, it's not like we just make these lists up

08:21 because we were lucky.

08:25 We worked really hard.

08:27 And I remember during the press conference,

08:30 so many journalists would see the billboards around town

08:35 and they would see all the success we had

08:37 and they'd go, "Can you believe this?"

08:39 And I'd go, "Yeah."

08:40 (audience laughing)

08:42 I was there.

08:43 I did the thing, I did the work for that.

08:45 I dreamt that.

08:47 So can I believe it?

08:48 Yes, I deserve it.

08:50 We deserve it.

08:52 And so recognize your worth in that.

08:54 Recognize that we are worth the opportunity.

08:58 The last thing I will say is, you know,

08:59 Latinos are the fastest growing demographic

09:01 in the United States,

09:03 but our demography is not our destiny.

09:07 So don't sit back on that.

09:09 Just because we're a large group

09:11 doesn't mean we're a powerful group.

09:13 So let's use that power at the voting booth

09:15 in corporate America, in Hollywood, at the box office.

09:20 Throw that weight around.

09:23 And I think we have to show up for each other.

09:25 We have to continue to be heard.

09:27 We have to continue to be seen.

09:29 And I want to thank you, Time Magazine,

09:32 for uplifting everybody's work on this list.

09:35 And I do want to stress, we're not just Latino leaders.

09:37 We are leaders.

09:39 Too many.

09:40 You are leaders.

09:42 Punto.

09:43 So I am humbled.

09:45 I'm humbled to be in your company.

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