This weekend, the National Hispanic Media Coalition hosted its annual Impact Awards gala. The National Hispanic Media Coalition is the leading Hispanic advocacy group that celebrates creators, activists, and leaders in entertainment. Their goal is to ensure that the public is fairly recognizing the Latinx community. This is by building opportunities, resources, and connections in today’s entertainment industry.
This year, the Impact Awards were held at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. The star-studded gala welcomes around 500 attendees, hosted by actress Justina Machado and actor Jacob Vargas. There were many highlights from the event that brought the Hispanic entertainment community together to inspire.
Over the course of the night, many Latinx stars recognized their magnificent hard work and influence in the entertainment industry. America Ferrera earned the Outstanding Series Producer Impact Award and thanked everyone for allowing her to share her voice.
“Thank you to our allies in the room – those of you who are not particularly from the Latino community – and yet, you have the capacity to see the value of our lives, of our stories; you invest your money in our storytellers and give real creative power to our voices.” She continued, “If you empower us, we will deliver beautiful content and voracious audiences – and we promise to make it a party!”
Jay Hernandez received the award for Outstanding Television Performance. He shared that it feels powerful to have Hispanic individuals be heroes in stories.
“They use words like ‘criminal,’ ‘illegal,’ ‘drug runners,’ ‘animals’ – these are terms that describe us in media. But in Magnum P.I., a remake of an absolutely iconic American show, a guy with a ‘Z’ in his last name gets to be the hero.”
Hiram Garcia presented the Outstanding Film Producer Impact Award to his sister, Dany Garcia. She talked about her last name being significant as an entrepreneur.
Turning to thank her husband, Dave Reinzi, the honoree explained the significance of her surname as an entrepreneur: “[He] understands that having a credit with the last name ‘Garcia,’ means so much more than just me getting credit – it means something to our community.” She added, “I was always emboldened by the fact that the steps I was laying down would make the path easier for those who would come behind me.”
Meanwhile, there were many more individuals who were recognized for their accomplishments in the Latinx community. Isabella Gomez received the Impact Award for Outstanding Performance for her role as Elena Alvarez in the TV series One Day At A Time. CEO and chair of Warner Bros, Ann Sarnoff accepted the Visionary Impact Award for the upcoming film, “In The Heights”. Nely Galan, the first Latina president for Telemundo, presented the Trailblazer Impact Award to Ozzie Areu, the first Latino to own a major production studio. Last but not least, executive producer Amy Lippman received the Outstanding Television Impact Award for the TV series Party of Five.
President & CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Brenda Victoria Castillo says that it’s an honor to recognize the group of visionaries who promote equality and opportunities for the Latinx community in media.
“NHMC has come a long way in paving a path for Latinx to work in front of and behind the camera. We can’t have a coalition without collaboration, without building bridges. Our honorees are helping to build those bridges and we applaud and acknowledge their efforts with our Impact Award.”
Follow the National Hispanic Media Coalition on their socials below to keep up to date on their work.
