Gloria is a champion for women, the Latino/a/x/e community and other disenfranchised voices. She is an executive committee member for The Television Academy. She helped Amazon in supporting their inaugural Inclusion Playbook - providing a template for how to make content in an inclusive and responsible way. Her advocacy includes being a founding member of the UNTITLED LATINX PROJECT, a group of Latine show runners who advocate on behalf of the Latine community (by such efforts as the Dear Hollywood initiative) to help studios identify ways to support and tell Latine stories. As an ambassador for the non-profit ReFrame, which celebrates and encourages gender parity in front of and behind the camera and a partner with the Latinx House/Adelante she supported up and coming Latina directors and DPs by having them shadow on the set of With Love. Alongside the Latino Film Institute, LACollab and Amazon she also mentors with The Youth Cinema Project to strengthen the Latino pipeline to Hollywood. Her mentor efforts also include working with the Pillars Artist Fellows, co-founded by Riz Ahmed to support Muslim writers and directors. To offer free advice to new artists at the beginning of their careers, she partnered with Buzzfeed’s Perolike to release a web series titled: “Hollywood 101”which is her 11 part master class offered for free on Youtube for new writers offering advice at the beginning of their career.
It is dire. The latest Annenberg study shows that the numbers are even lower than they were a few years ago. So things are getting worse. So, I just have to roll up my sleeves and keep at it!
It means that we should look at our population and try to make sure what we see on screen reflects what society actually looks like. Latinos are 19% of the population and less than 5% of the leading roles on our screens. That is not accurately reflecting society. We need to do better and we need people to talk about it, understand how important representation matters and to support it when it exists by watching, sharing on social media and showing up to the box office.
I wanted to show an affluent Latino family that has benefited off of generational wealth. That exists and we never see it. Also, this family is loving and accepting of their 2 LGBTQIA+ family members. Any weirdness happened ages ago and now all thats left is the love. This show is about love and joy and what it looks like to thrive without the trauma that too many of our stories on TV have.
I ask for help. And I hired people that are great at what they do and I let them do their job so I can do mine.
My mom. She came to this country not speaking a word of English and managed to graduate from an American high school at 16 years old. She rebuilt her life in a country that was foreign to her. She walked so I could run.
I’m not inspired by trends. I’m inspired by hard work, dedication to craft and kindness.
My family. And coffee.
