Live Breaking News & Updates on Versus The Mainstream Culture
Stay updated with breaking news from Versus the mainstream culture. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
you just received the jane fonda humanitarian award, glamour uk women of the year, latino power list. and now us, bbc 100 women, it s a pleasure having you with us. thank you. and thank you for the, for the honour of being on the list with such incredible other women. 0k. let s start with an easy question. let s talk about your name, america. mm. what s the true story behind your name? yeah. well, i m named america after my mother, who is also named america. and it s true, growing up in the united states of america, everyone assumed that it was a, it was a patriotic homage by my immigrant parents. but the truth is, is that in latino america, the name america is much more common. and so my mother is actually named after a very obscure holiday that she was born on, called dia de las americas. and i was due on her birthday. and so i was also named america. so that, so my name is very central american and latino americana. that s a name that you didn t love when you were yo ....
For, i know that the vast reality for latinos in this industry is that it s as difficult today as it was 16 years ago or even 22 years ago when i started out to build a career and to tell stories and to be seen and to be reflected in our culture. and so, um, so, you know, i think that it s complicated to reconcile sort of the almost fairy tale story of myjourney with what i know is the reality for the vast majority of people like me. mm. talking about representation, you were the first ever latina to win an emmy award for a leading role. why do you think it took until 2007 for a latina to get there? well, it s 2023. ....
I felt at home on stage, creating, rehearsing, directing, learning choreography in my den with my sisters and my friends. and that s, i felt at home in my creative life. and, um, that is where i. ..kind of came to know myself, because it s true, i was kind of not fully one or the other. in some ways, fully both, and yet not completely anything, you know. mm. and like so many people s experiences, especially in the united states, growing up between a culture at home that you re rooted in versus the mainstream culture that is very dominant and also doesn t really reflect you. it s a.it s a pretty. ..confusing space to try to grow up in and find your identity. and so for me, i clung to art ....
And for so many of us, there are so many of those experiences that have never been shared in culture or shared in mainstream media. and the truth is, is that, you know, so many of us underrepresented communities are stilljust fighting to be visible, you know, never mind exploring all the different versions of our creativity and our expression. we re just trying to exist, you know, to look up and see ourselves in the picture. it is a human need to be seen and to be mirrored and to know, oh, i m here, i exist, i m real, and my experiences are real. and i mean, ithink that s what art and storytelling and culture does for some more than others, and why it is such a cathartic experience to see feelings like anger expressed when that s something that you ve lived with but have been told always is not appropriate to express as women, ....
As women of colour. but i m interested and curious in, in all the different versions of that unexpressed experience. and i think for women and for women of colour and underrepresented communities, there is so much expansion that should and can and needs to happen for our own artistic and creative expression that just there has not been room for. and so when we get to kind of push a boundary further and further and further and see versions of ourselves that we ve never gotten to see expressed in the culture, it feels like a win, it feels like victory, it feels like catharsis and also like validation. like, yes, i too am here and have this experience of life. feminism. feminism takes on many different fights. which one is yours? i think for me, in my own ....