For Jennifer Lopez, showcasing her Latinity is just who she is.
Since the beginning of his career, the multi-faceted artist has proudly represented his Puerto Rican roots. And with her various fashion, beauty and production ventures, Lopez, 53, has become one of the most successful Latino artists and entrepreneurs.
Now she gives back to her community and helps hundreds of other Latino entrepreneurs. Lopez and her Limitless Labs Foundation, home to all of her philanthropic and values-driven work, are partnering with nonprofit Grameen America to invest $14 billion in Latina-owned businesses by 2030.
“We’re changing lives,” Lopez told NBC’s Morgan Radford in an exclusive interview. “We want to take the Latino entrepreneur, empower them, give them an opportunity where there was none – you know, me growing up the way I did, we weren’t even in the conversation of this way.”
“The opportunity to do something is all anyone wants,” Lopez continued. “No one wants handouts, but this opportunity can change your life.”
According to the 2020 State of Latino Entrepreneurship Report from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Latino entrepreneurs, along with their Latino counterparts, are one of the fastest growing groups of small business owners in the States. together and build businesses six times faster than others. racial or ethnic groups.
But Latino and Latino business owners are still 60% less likely than their white peers to get loans approved by national banks, according to the Stanford report.
Lopez shared that it took her a while to realize she should own some of her own businesses.
“Even in my own business, I was like the artist making billions of dollars for other people, and I didn’t even really realize it, just like happy to be in the room,” Lopez said. . “And then I started to realize, wait a minute. I can make my own perfume, I can do it my way, I should own part of this business.”
Lopez and Grameen America President and CEO Andrea Jung announced the initiative at the Raising Latina Voices event, kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month presented by Bank of The West with support from Meta at Universal Studios Backlot on September 17 in Universal City, Calif.
Lopez will serve as Grameen America’s national ambassador, championing and mentoring the organization’s network of more than 150,000 women-led small businesses in predominantly Latino communities across the United States.
Lopez credits her mother, Guadalupe Rodríguez, and her family for teaching her to accept her differences early in her career despite Hollywood stereotypes.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage
“It’s just who I was. And I think my mom and my family raised me to be proud of who I was. And so when I went into those worlds, like Hollywood, where we weren’t represented at all, I almost felt like a unicorn,” Lopez said. “And I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m Latina. I’m Jennifer Lopez from the Bronx and my parents are Puerto Rican, I’m Puerto Rican.
“I was just proud of that. And it was important to me because it shaped everything I was,” she continued. “It made me feel special…Even the whole body, sort of was such a thing. It was like everyone was like size zero models, tall, blond, you know, beautiful, a certain type of beauty, but there were other types of beauty that I grew up with.
Lopez added that she didn’t have a “magic formula for success,” but wanted to share her journey and what worked for her.
“What I learned is if you can follow your heart, if you can be true to yourself, and you can work really hard,” Lopez said. “The difference between succeeding and not succeeding is not giving up. And I just didn’t give up.”