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Think about your life. What makes

0:37

you, you? Is it your experiences,

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your passions, your culture? All

0:42

of these things make each of us unique

0:45

and they shape our point of view, helping

0:47

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thing that is. I'm a firm believer

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we should all embrace each and every

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aspect of ourselves to find strength

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and inspiration from within. And

1:01

Eva Longoria is doing

1:03

just that. She is an

1:06

award-winning

1:06

actress, director, producer,

1:09

activist, mother, and so

1:11

much more. While you may know

1:13

Eva's brilliant work on screen, you

1:16

might not be as familiar with her philanthropic

1:18

work off screen. Following a

1:20

lifetime of activism, Eva pursued

1:22

her master's degree in Chicano Studies,

1:25

strengthening her connection to her Mexican

1:27

heritage and igniting her

1:30

passion to serve her community.

1:32

She champions Latina women using

1:35

her own voice to inspire others

1:37

to find theirs. In 2012,

1:40

she founded the Eva Longoria Foundation

1:42

with a mission to help Latinas

1:44

build better futures for themselves

1:47

and their families through education

1:49

and entrepreneurship. And now, she's

1:51

focusing her efforts on establishing a

1:53

national museum celebrating

1:55

Latino culture, all while

1:57

working on her latest project.

1:59

acting a new film about the little-known

2:02

story of the Mexican American

2:04

man behind flame and hot

2:06

cheetos I sat down with Eva

2:08

as part of our inspiring America series

2:11

and boy did she inspire

2:13

me and now I know she'll inspire

2:16

you too. I'm hoda kot

2:18

be welcome to a bonus episode of

2:20

my podcast making space.

2:30

I'm Eva.

2:38

Even there's a phrase that I love and

2:40

a friend of mine pointed that basically

2:43

is life gets greater later. I

2:45

feel like I'm looking at you and

2:48

that's what I see you're in

2:50

a moment, you have a beautiful 4 year-old

2:52

son. You have found

2:55

your purpose what does life feel like

2:57

being in this moment right now for you.

3:00

You know, it's so funny you say that because I

3:02

have always felt like my

3:04

greatest success is ahead of me

3:07

I can't wait for that to happen.

3:10

You know people look at me and they go my God, what was it like

3:12

being on that big show and you've

3:15

accomplished so much and but as if

3:18

my greatest success is behind me and

3:20

I'm like oh I mean it's that

3:22

was great, but wait till what's coming next

3:25

and that's my point of view in life I can't wait

3:27

to see what's around the corner and I kind of live

3:29

life that way like you know

3:32

I didn't I didn't peak at high school. No you did

3:34

not. Well can I just talk

3:36

about something for just a moment because I have

3:38

whole interview can be totally happy I've

3:41

adopted children for me later in life

3:43

and it's been such a life

3:46

shift like how has your

3:48

life changed since he stepped

3:50

into it.

3:51

I mean obviously in every

3:53

way but probably the biggest way

3:55

is that he's the center of the universe now

3:58

where before you know we were.

3:59

We had a career and we had our partners

4:02

or we had, you know, things to do.

4:04

And now he's

4:06

the center of the universe. And it makes everything actually

4:08

a lot easier in life. It makes it

4:11

easier for me to say no to things.

4:13

It makes it easier for me to schedule

4:15

days and weeks and, you

4:18

know, work. Everything is centered

4:21

around him and his needs and

4:23

his priorities that it's actually,

4:25

for me, makes life a lot easier. How

4:28

has he changed you? You know

4:30

what? I have way more anxieties about

4:33

the world. Yeah. About the

4:35

world. What's ahead? Yeah. Like, I've always been

4:37

philanthropic. I've always been

4:39

an activist and an advocate. And

4:42

I always believe what I've read and said

4:45

on stages. And now there's

4:47

this urgency to make the

4:49

world a better place. Before, I was like, yes, this is important.

4:51

We've got to change the world. But now I'm like, if

4:54

we don't change the world

4:57

that he's going to get and live in and inherit,

4:59

it's going to be ****ed. Yeah.

5:03

So we've got to do more. So

5:07

it's given me this urgency

5:10

in my activism, in my philanthropy.

5:12

All of the goodness in you came from

5:14

your upbringing. All the goodness.

5:17

My family. I'm trying to picture you as a

5:19

little girl. Yeah. What it was like growing

5:22

up being you in this family of

5:24

overachievers, really. Yeah. I mean, you

5:26

grew up with some just A plus.

5:29

Women. Women. Yeah. I mean, no kidding. Specifically

5:31

women. Yeah. So tell me about that upbringing

5:33

for you. It's so funny. Yeah. I'm like the

5:36

disappointment in my family. If you could believe

5:38

that, because it's like, oh, she's the actor.

5:42

I'm like, well, I'm accomplishing some good stuff,

5:44

I think. No, but I come from a family of educators.

5:47

I come from a family of independent women.

5:50

I come from a family that

5:53

really values intelligence

5:56

and resourcefulness and

5:58

discipline and so.

5:59

I am very grounded in that

6:02

upbringing. I also am very grounded

6:04

in my immediate family,

6:06

my older sister's special needs. And

6:08

so I was born into her world. I

6:11

don't really know any

6:12

other way to be or any other dynamic

6:15

in a family other than being selfless, because

6:18

everything revolved around my older sister

6:20

who had special needs. Could we go to Disneyland? We

6:22

can't go because Lisa can't endure

6:24

the ride or can we go to dinner at this place where

6:26

we can't go because Lisa probably won't last

6:29

for the whole dinner. And everything was, can

6:31

Lisa go? Can Lisa do it? And

6:34

growing up that way makes you selfless in

6:37

everything you do, but really it

6:39

put me in somebody else's shoes.

6:42

Did you feel

6:42

protective of her? And

6:44

you were much younger, right? I'm the baby. She's

6:47

about nine years older than me. So in

6:49

what ways did you try to protect her, do you remember?

6:52

A hundred times, a hundred times. And I was

6:55

a feisty, if you think I'm feisty now, you

6:57

should have seen eight year old Eva. I was

7:00

fit to be tied. I remember, you

7:02

know, my mom wanted her to have a

7:04

very

7:05

normal high school experience and she had to be integrated

7:07

into mainstream

7:09

high school. She used to be in a segregated

7:11

high school where it was all special needs and

7:13

it was great for her, but then she had to be integrated

7:16

into mainstream school. My mom was terrified.

7:18

My mother was like, people are going to be mean

7:20

to her. I don't know. But my

7:22

mom's like, she's going to have a normal high school experience. My mom bought

7:25

her a Letterman. She bought her the graduation

7:27

ring. She was in basketball and she

7:29

was in cheerleaders. And

7:31

one day she came home without her Letterman. Her

7:34

jacket? Without her Letterman jacket. Yeah.

7:37

And my mom was like, where's your Letterman jacket? And

7:39

it had been stolen. Somebody stole

7:41

it off her body. And

7:44

I was like nine. And I was like, I'm

7:47

going to kick their ass. I was ready

7:49

to go to this high school and find whoever took

7:51

my sister's Letterman jacket. And I said,

7:54

Lisa, who stole your jacket?

7:56

And she said, somebody who must

7:58

have been cold. Somebody who

8:00

must have been cold. And I was like, ugh.

8:03

Like, she didn't think it was a mean person.

8:05

She thought, oh, somebody must have needed it more than

8:07

me. She did. And so she's

8:09

taught me a lot about compassion

8:13

and putting yourself in other people's shoes. And

8:15

she was like, there's no bad

8:17

person in the world. There's just people who make bad

8:19

decisions. Wow.

8:21

How wise is she? My special

8:23

needs sister teaching me this. Yeah. Wow. So

8:25

it's funny because you talk about being of service

8:28

and volunteering and all those things. And I once

8:30

Maria Shriver's a dear, dear friend of mine and her

8:33

mom started the Special Olympics and her dad started the Peace

8:35

Corps. Yes. And I said, how did

8:37

they teach you about service? Yeah.

8:40

And she said, they never said the word.

8:42

They just did it. They just did. Sounds like what

8:44

you guys did. My earliest memories

8:47

of my childhood are Special Olympics. Like,

8:50

if I think about it, the earliest memory,

8:52

I think I was three, was at a Special

8:54

Olympics and I was a hugger. My mom made us

8:56

all be huggers. So you stand at the end of the

8:59

finish line so that the kids can run to

9:01

you. And I loved that job. I

9:03

loved it. I was like, I had took so much pride

9:05

in being a hugger and everything.

9:09

We volunteered at the Boys and Girls

9:11

Club because they wouldn't let

9:12

my sister participate unless

9:14

a sibling was with her. We were at the

9:16

Salvation Army and we had to volunteer

9:19

there in order for her to take karate

9:21

classes. So there was a lot of bartering with

9:24

our services to these

9:26

organizations as long as my sister could

9:29

participate. And I loved it. Actually, I loved

9:31

it. My mom, my aunts, you know,

9:33

introducing us to the word volunteer and volunteerism

9:36

was a huge lesson. But looking back,

9:38

I didn't think of it as work. I thought it was like,

9:41

oh, we all have to chip in. I

9:43

used to thought, I thought

9:44

charity was a person. I thought,

9:46

I was like, she's so nice. Who

9:48

is this woman that keeps helping us? Charity

9:51

is so sweet. My mom's like, no, we're working

9:53

for charity. Where

9:56

does she live? Yeah, it's interesting

9:58

when you think about your.

9:59

your upbringing because obviously

10:02

people look at you and they think you are

10:05

Mexican-American. So I was looking back and I was

10:07

like, I'm first generation, my parents

10:09

came in from Egypt and like, I wonder, second generation,

10:11

third generation, fourth generation,

10:13

you're ninth generation, right? Nine, wow.

10:17

13 in the Americas, nine generations of American.

10:19

How did your family

10:20

talk to you about where you were

10:23

from and what you were about? It was ingrained

10:25

in us. My dad, if I still go home

10:27

today for dinner, he'd be like, and you know where

10:29

we came from. Yes, dad, I know where

10:31

we came from. There was a very strong sense

10:34

of where we came from and remembering it and

10:36

honoring it and celebrating

10:39

it. And so I've always

10:41

felt very proud to be Mexican,

10:44

but I was in the

10:45

United States. And so I really

10:47

straddled this hyphen of Mexican-American

10:49

and I loved apple pie, but

10:52

I love enchiladas. There's just such a

10:55

straddling that you have to do an identity

10:57

when you're Mexican-American. I always say I'm Texican.

11:00

Texican? Oh, did you grow up right on

11:02

the border? I grew up in Texas,

11:04

South Texas. South Texas. I loved

11:06

a story you told about when you, it

11:09

was very easy to cross over the border and

11:11

how your dad sort of explained the long

11:13

line. Yeah, I used to think,

11:16

we used to go across the border all the time

11:18

when we were little, we would go for lunch. My parents

11:20

would go for a margarita. It was just such

11:22

a porous process.

11:25

You just go and come and

11:27

come and go. And

11:29

all we had to do when we crossed back

11:32

was say US citizen.

11:34

And I thought that was a magic word. I

11:36

thought it was a secret.

11:39

And so I asked my dad, I said,

11:42

does that, and I saw the long line of people

11:44

waiting to cross. And I said, dad, do they

11:46

not know the magic word? And

11:48

my dad was one that taught me, it definitely is a magic

11:50

word. The luck that we had to be

11:53

born in this country, by

11:56

this invisible

11:58

line and border. They're

12:00

definitely magic words. U.S. citizen.

12:03

So when you told your family

12:05

that you wanted to try acting,

12:07

were they like, go girl? Or were

12:10

they like, no, we're not doing that?

12:13

Well, I didn't grow up wanting

12:16

to be an actress. I went to college.

12:18

So I graduated with my bachelor's degree.

12:20

And I said, I think I'm going to be an actor. And

12:22

because I- Why did you say that? Like, what made

12:25

you- It was a long process. But what

12:27

happened was I was in my senior

12:29

year in college, and I ran

12:31

out of money. My Pell Grant ran out. My

12:33

financial aid ran out. I had five

12:36

jobs. I could not pay my senior year. I

12:38

just was like, I'm at the finish line. And I can't

12:41

pay it. My family couldn't pay it. And

12:43

so a girlfriend of mine said, you should

12:45

join the scholarship pageant.

12:47

It was a beauty pageant, but it was called the scholarship

12:50

pageant. And she's like, yeah, if you win, you get tuition

12:52

and books and room

12:55

and board and stipend. And

12:57

so I was looking at the

12:58

prize list. And if I had gotten

13:01

fourth place, I could have my books covered. And

13:03

I said, OK, if I could just get fourth place, if I could

13:05

just get fourth place, that's all I wanted.

13:07

Because then I was going to patchwork the rest

13:09

of it. That'll pay for my books. And then my other

13:11

job will pay for this one class. And then I was

13:13

trying to figure out how I was going to

13:15

pay for my senior year. And

13:18

then I ended up winning

13:20

the pageant. And I remember telling

13:22

my mom to us, mom, I need a

13:24

dress. I think it's called a gown. Like,

13:27

I was not a beauty person. That

13:29

was not my thing. And my mom was like, what

13:31

are you doing? And I said, I'm going to be in this pageant.

13:34

And she's like, oh, honey. Yeah. Do

13:36

you think that's a good idea? Because

13:38

she thought I was going to lose my mom. I

13:41

was like, thanks, mom, for the confidence. And

13:43

then I won. And she was the only one that came. Like, I

13:45

didn't even buy my family or anything. And my mom was

13:47

like, I can't believe you bought it. I

13:50

got it all. But that's what paid for

13:52

my senior year. And so then I finished college.

13:54

And then in this prize package

13:56

was a trip to Los Angeles. And

13:58

I was like, oh, well, that'll be good. fun. Yeah, I'll go

14:01

there. I'll go there for two weeks and

14:03

have fun. It would be my graduation gift to myself.

14:06

And I came to LA and I was like,

14:09

I think I'm going to try this. I mean, just one day,

14:11

just one day. I had never even heard

14:13

the word actor, acting.

14:15

I had never been out of Texas, really. And

14:18

so I arrived in LA with palm trees

14:20

and you were like, all these people.

14:22

And I was like, this is so beautiful. And

14:24

I said, I think I'm going to try this. And my mom said, well,

14:27

you could get a job because I had my

14:29

degree. She's like, you

14:31

could work anywhere. You have your education. I said,

14:34

okay. I felt

14:35

confident. I was like, I'm going to be

14:38

fine. And within two

14:40

days, had a job. I went to a temp

14:42

agency. I got a job there.

14:44

I went to go be at temp because I was like, I can

14:46

type. I can answer phones.

14:48

I can do a lot of things. And they hired

14:50

me. And so I ended up

14:52

being a headhunter and pursuing acting.

14:55

Is that such a funny road you went?

14:58

What were your jobs that you had when

14:59

you were in college? Oh, yeah. Oh,

15:01

let's hear. I want to hear. You

15:04

know, I worked at Wendy's my whole life. Like, yes,

15:06

flipping burgers is my thing. And

15:09

so Wendy's was always one of them. And

15:11

then I was a car mechanic. I worked at

15:13

a car shop and I would deliver parts

15:15

to garages, but I would also change

15:18

oil. And then I was

15:20

a dental hygienist. Assistant.

15:22

So I would just be there sucking the spit

15:24

while an actual dental

15:27

hygienist would clean teeth. And then I

15:29

was, I worked at the school

15:31

in the intramural department and

15:33

I worked for retail a million times.

15:36

I mean, you named the store at Ross. I

15:38

worked everywhere. I can't believe you were doing

15:40

all that studying, making

15:43

the grades, trying to figure out how to

15:45

pay for your senior year. I've always

15:47

had no less than four jobs at

15:50

like rotating because this one only paid that and

15:52

this one only paid this. And I did a lot. I

15:54

am a jack of all trades.

15:58

Coming up, how evil.

15:59

landed the role that would change

16:02

her life and what inspired

16:04

her to pursue a master's degree in Chicano

16:06

studies

16:07

while acting, that and more when

16:09

we come back.

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17:15

You read wild stories in the news and magazines

17:18

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17:20

never get to read because someone for some

17:22

reason doesn't want it published. Those

17:25

stories are killed. I'm

17:27

Justine Harmon, and on my show, Killed,

17:29

we bring those dead stories back to

17:31

life and dive into why they were stopped

17:33

in their tracks before getting published. All

17:36

episodes of Killed season two are out

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now. So listen to Killed wherever

17:40

you listen to podcasts and get the stories that

17:42

you were never meant to hear.

17:47

When you hit it

17:50

in

17:51

Hollywood, which is, you know, for some people,

17:53

look, only a few people get it. We

17:56

watch the Oscars and say, wow, look at all these

17:58

people. but only

18:00

a few people get to have a magic moment like you had

18:03

and that you will continue to have. To

18:06

have that moment on Desperate Housewives,

18:08

to be at the top, what was life

18:10

like when it was at its best,

18:13

when everything was at its peak, when

18:15

it came to happen? At its peak. At its peak. At its

18:17

peak. Okay, good. Because it was a different time.

18:20

It was a really fun moment

18:23

in television history. Not

18:25

only Desperate Housewives, it was Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy,

18:28

Lost. We

18:29

revitalized the network at the time

18:32

and scripted TV. And

18:35

Desperate Housewives was a dramedy, so it was kind of different

18:37

and it was odd and it was weird and it was great.

18:39

But when I moved to Hollywood, I was

18:41

an extra for two years and then I got one

18:43

line and then I got three lines and then I got

18:45

five lines and then I got a part. And

18:48

so I really had touched every rung of the

18:50

ladder. Like I really, by

18:52

the time I got Desperate Housewives, it

18:54

wasn't a surprise to me.

18:57

I think it was a surprise to the world because

19:00

nobody had heard my name, but I had been working

19:02

towards this moment. And I was like,

19:05

I deserve this moment. I

19:07

worked very hard for this moment. That's big, I

19:09

think. I think not having any

19:11

imposter syndrome, not having, I didn't go to

19:13

acting school, not having any of that. No, no,

19:16

no. I was like, I

19:18

prepared

19:19

for this opportunity. Of course I should

19:21

get it. And not in an ego way, not

19:23

in a narcissistic way. That's not at all. I'm

19:25

just saying I wasn't discovered at Starbucks.

19:29

Like I was an extra stealing

19:31

toilet paper to get by. And

19:34

stealing bananas from craft services to

19:37

eat and live in Hollywood. And

19:39

so by the time Desperate Housewives came along,

19:41

I was very solid in who I was and what

19:44

I wanted. And it

19:46

was overnight in

19:48

the sense of press and like

19:51

household name and things like that. So

19:53

I never changed, but everything around

19:56

me changed. Like I

19:58

remember

19:59

when they said. we were gonna be on Oprah. And

20:02

I was like, where can I be on Oprah?

20:05

It was just like, that's

20:07

amazing. I'm gonna be on the cream couch.

20:09

What am I gonna wear? I savored every

20:12

first,

20:13

every first. My first up fronts

20:15

in New York, my first press

20:17

interview, my first golden

20:20

globes, my first red carpet,

20:22

my first time somebody gifted me something,

20:25

they gifted me shoes. And I was

20:27

like, I can keep these? You

20:29

would have thought I was like, oh my

20:31

God, this is amazing. But I remember Helen

20:33

Hunt told me that. And I had met her somewhere

20:36

and

20:37

she said, remember this

20:39

moment because there's not gonna be another moment

20:42

like a hit TV show. She

20:44

said even her Oscar

20:46

didn't compare to Mad About

20:48

You. Yeah, she said that the birth of a

20:50

hit is different. It just lands

20:52

differently and you're living in people's houses

20:55

every week and there's just something

20:57

special about that. And she told me that and I was like,

20:59

oh my gosh, I'm gonna remember every

21:01

moment. So I was really grateful

21:04

for

21:04

the opportunity, but I was prepared for it. So

21:07

you're riding high, everything is

21:09

great. Meantime, you're like, you know

21:11

what, I think I'm gonna get my master's. So I think

21:13

I'm gonna start studying all over

21:15

again. Usually when you're at the top

21:18

and you're like riding high, you're

21:20

not thinking about what's my master's gonna

21:22

be at. What made you decide that

21:24

was the time you wanted to start studying? Well,

21:26

my mom bothering me about it because everybody

21:28

in my family had a master's degree and she was like, well,

21:31

you're the only one. I was like, what,

21:33

think I'm doing okay, mom.

21:34

Looking back, if I knew what I knew

21:36

now, I wouldn't have gotten it because it was so

21:38

hard. How were you jamming in your studies? I

21:40

went to night school. I would be on set every

21:43

day and then at seven o'clock, I'd get out

21:45

of set and I'd drive to night school from

21:47

seven to 10 30 at night. So I'd only

21:49

have it Monday, Wednesday, Thursdays. But like,

21:51

it's all encompassing. Yeah.

21:54

Like the studying and the studying and the, you

21:57

know, the difference between a master's degree and an undergraduate

21:59

degree is it's very.

21:59

specialized. It was very intense

22:03

in a subject. But what led

22:05

me to, other than my mother bothering me about

22:07

getting a master's, was I was

22:09

doing a lot of advocacy. And

22:11

I had a big platform. And

22:14

people would invite me to so many things

22:16

and come and give a keynote and come and give a speech.

22:18

And they would write this talking

22:21

points for me, or they would give me

22:23

the facts. And I would look at the facts.

22:25

And then I'd write a speech based on these facts. And then

22:27

I would look at the facts. And I was like, wait, is this true?

22:30

And I was constantly asking why. And I wanted

22:32

to be more articulate and well-read,

22:35

you know, literate

22:37

about what I was. What subject did you get your

22:39

master's in? Chicano studies, which

22:41

is Mexican American history in

22:44

the United States. And I thought, I

22:46

have a lot of questions. And I just want to understand

22:48

where we've been so I can help my community

22:51

go to where we need to be. And so

22:54

that's what really inspired me to go back.

22:56

Because I just wanted to take one class. And I took

22:58

one class and I was like, Oh my God, my head like,

23:01

it's loaded like Chicano 101. And

23:03

then I took a second class, which was Chicano

23:06

feminism. So it was all the women in the movement and the

23:08

civil rights movement. And I was like, Oh my God, it's

23:10

fascinating. And I said, okay, let me just take one more class. And

23:12

then they go, ma'am,

23:14

you have to enroll.

23:15

So you

23:17

did. And I did. And I tried to do it quietly.

23:19

I didn't want anybody to know

23:23

because I don't know, I didn't want

23:25

anybody to know. And then it came out in the press

23:28

that I was getting my master's and then I felt the pressure to finish.

23:31

But then I was like, now

23:35

I have to finish. And so yeah, my

23:37

thesis was about

23:40

Latinas and STEM fields and how, you know, we

23:42

need more representation in STEM fields,

23:44

you know, engineers and mathematicians and

23:46

biologists. And so that's

23:50

what led me to

23:51

the master's degree. Did you always feel

23:53

completely connected to your heritage

23:57

without question? Not only

23:59

without question, but also

24:01

without knowledge that I was different.

24:04

Like growing up in Texas, I lived in a Mexican

24:06

neighborhood. We're all Tex-Mex.

24:09

And it wasn't until my mom

24:11

made me take the gifted and talented test

24:14

and I passed and I had to go to a different school. And

24:17

I remember it

24:18

was on the other side of town. I had to take a bus

24:21

and I got on the bus with my bean taco

24:23

that I ate every day, my whole life, and

24:26

all the kids staring at me going, what

24:28

is that? And all the kids had

24:31

a Pop-Tart.

24:32

And I had never seen a Pop-Tart. Yeah. I was

24:34

like, what's that? And they're like, what's that? I

24:37

was like, it's a bean taco, don't we all? Don't you all eat

24:39

bean tacos? Everybody at my other school

24:41

ate bean tacos. I remember somebody

24:43

goes, she's Mexican. I was like, what is

24:45

that? I didn't know what that meant. I

24:47

said, is that a bad thing? Is that a good thing? What

24:50

is that? And I remember going home and begging my mom to buy Pop-Tarts.

24:53

I was like, I just want a Pop-Tart. I

24:56

was like, you know, we're not buying Pop-Tarts. Because

24:59

I think it's natural for a kid to want to fit. Because we had the

25:01

same thing

25:02

when kids were invited over to our house. My

25:04

friends were like, they couldn't understand my dad. I was

25:06

like trying to explain. I remember

25:09

my dad one time was like, so you're a lifeguard,

25:10

do you enjoy it? And I go, the person was like,

25:12

what? Do you like being a lifeguard?

25:15

Answer him. Like I couldn't believe they

25:17

didn't understand. I remembered struggling

25:19

a little because you want to fit. You want

25:21

to fit in. You want to be asked to

25:24

the prom or whatever. Well, not like that. And society

25:26

tells us to assimilate. Yeah.

25:28

And

25:30

so it tells you to quiet the other

25:33

and bring up the American. And

25:36

so there was that pressure my parents had felt.

25:39

Like make sure you don't speak Spanish. You

25:42

don't want her to have an accent. You want her

25:44

to feel American. You want her to fit in. And so that

25:46

pressure that they had, because

25:48

I still yell at my mom because I didn't grow up speaking Spanish.

25:51

I'm like, I can't believe you didn't teach me Spanish. And

25:53

she was like, no. They wanted you

25:55

to be like red, white, and blue. Yeah. Red,

25:57

white, and blue. I'm very proud of it. American.

26:00

Yeah, but I'm also very very

26:02

proud of my my culture my heritage. Coming

26:07

up next how pursuing her master's degree

26:09

allowed even to connect to her heritage

26:12

on a much deeper level and how

26:14

following her passion helped Eva find

26:16

her voice on and off screen

26:19

pursuing projects that inspire stay

26:21

with us.

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You

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27:30

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27:32

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27:34

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27:37

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27:59

I'm

28:00

so enthralled by you. I'm sure I'm not even following

28:02

anything I'm supposed to be. I am mastered. What

28:05

did your master's degree give you that you didn't

28:07

have before you earned it?

28:15

I think in

28:17

my advocacy and my political activism

28:20

that I wasn't just a dumb actress. You

28:22

know, a lot of people are like, shut up and act. You're

28:24

an actress. What do you know? I feel

28:27

like I had to work

28:30

a little harder to prove to people

28:32

that we all should have an interest and

28:34

a vested interest in what this country

28:37

does and looks like for everybody.

28:40

Well, activism, philanthropy,

28:41

they're all, they've been with

28:43

you throughout your life. This

28:45

wasn't anything new. Are you just turning

28:47

up the volume on things that have always

28:50

been inside or

28:50

is this as loud as it used to be, but now we're just

28:52

paying more attention? I feel like it's as loud as you think.

28:56

I was eight marching the Capitol steps with my

28:58

family because there was a tax on

29:01

prescription meds that affected my sister. And

29:03

I remember we all had to go to Austin and

29:05

march on the steps of the Capitol. And I was

29:08

like, what are we doing? I

29:10

was only eight and I was holding a sign of some sort.

29:12

And so yeah, for me, I just had

29:15

the spotlight. And so I was like,

29:17

okay, I'm going to have the microphone

29:19

on the spotlight. I'm going to

29:20

share it with the right people. And the philanthropic

29:23

arm of your life, is that the same? That's always

29:25

been there. Now people

29:27

may be paying more attention.

29:28

Yeah, I think it's just that. Yeah,

29:31

I think that it's, you know, louder.

29:34

When we talk about inspiring, because this

29:36

is

29:36

for inspiring America and I'm

29:38

looking at you, I'm completely inspired. You

29:41

have a way

29:43

of just making you believe

29:46

in possibility. Like when you said, I got my

29:48

master's, I worked five jobs, I went to night school,

29:50

you just do it. Who growing up

29:52

inspired you?

29:54

Well, other than my

29:56

sister, Lisa, my mom, I mean, my mom had

29:59

four girls. a

30:01

special needs daughter, a full-time

30:03

job, and

30:05

was a human taxi driving us to this

30:07

school, that school, picking us up, band practice, this,

30:10

this, my sister's therapy, zit-a-blah-blah, and

30:12

she would always have dinner on the table at 6 p.m.

30:14

for my dad.

30:15

Oh, my gosh. Always. There was

30:17

never a missed

30:19

dinner, and I just look at her

30:21

life and I go,

30:23

how did she do all that without a cell phone? And

30:25

I look at my life and I go, well, I'm not doing

30:27

enough. I really feel like

30:30

I'm not doing enough. So.

30:32

Do you really?

30:34

Yes. Yeah, I mean, my team is like exhausted,

30:36

and I'm like, yeah, but we have four more hours. We can, you

30:38

know, we can do this, we can do that. And

30:41

it's just my perspective of the day. Like,

30:43

I think the day has more time than we think.

30:45

And so I am very efficient with it, and I don't

30:48

waste anything. When do you feel at peace?

30:51

At home with my family,

30:52

with my son, I

30:55

feel just utter

30:57

peace, just like this is my why. Your

31:00

why? My why. Mm-hmm.

31:03

He's my why for everything. Ha ha ha.

31:06

That's beautiful. So you

31:08

don't stop. That's your

31:10

life. You are directing this

31:12

film, which I am excited about.

31:15

Just, first of all, just tell me about it. It's

31:17

a biopic. It's the true

31:19

story of Richard Montanez, who

31:22

had a huge hand in

31:24

developing the number one snack in the world,

31:27

which is the Flaming Hot Cheeto. Of course. And

31:30

he was a Mexican janitor who worked

31:32

at the factory and spent 42

31:35

years at PepsiCo working his

31:37

way up. And it's just a beautiful

31:39

story about his life, about his perseverance

31:42

and his inspirational, motivational

31:44

story. This man shouldn't be alive, much

31:46

less successful. And it's really a movie

31:49

exploring the theme of

31:51

how opportunity is not distributed equally.

31:54

Everybody can have talent, but not everybody gets the

31:56

opportunity. And he really

31:58

faced a lot of

31:59

a lot of adversity in his life that

32:02

said, no, no, no, no, no, ideas don't come from people

32:04

like you. Like you, God. Or,

32:06

you know, no, no, no, no, that job isn't for somebody who looks

32:09

like you. And no, no, no, no, no,

32:11

that line is not for

32:13

people like you. And he always was like,

32:16

but why not? But why not? But why

32:18

not? And so his tenacity and

32:20

drive is so inspiring and motivational.

32:23

Like this is not the history of the Cheeto.

32:24

This is the story

32:27

of Richard Montanez.

32:28

And it's beautiful. I love that you chose that.

32:31

Was that a layup when you learned about it? You're like,

32:33

that's the one. That's the one. You can tell.

32:35

It was, everybody goes, how did you find this story? I said, no,

32:37

this story found me. I was

32:39

sent the script and it

32:42

was an okay script. And I cried

32:44

four times.

32:45

Like I was like, what is this? Like,

32:49

who is this man? And the fact that he was

32:51

Mexican-American and I didn't

32:53

know this story, that he was a hero in

32:55

our community and I didn't

32:58

know it. I was like, everybody needs to know his

33:00

story. It was one of

33:02

the few times that I read something and I said, only

33:04

I can do that. I am the one

33:07

that's gonna bring this story. I have

33:09

to do it. And so my agent was like, you

33:11

should go in on it. You're not gonna get the job. Not because she

33:13

didn't believe in me. She was just like, look, you haven't done a feature.

33:15

You don't really have the

33:18

body of work to prove you

33:20

can do this story. And I said, well, I

33:22

don't have the body of work until I do the movie.

33:26

It was like the chicken or the egg. I'm like, right, but I have to do the movie

33:29

and I have to prove to them I can do it. And so I

33:31

basically like acting. I auditioned and auditioned

33:33

and auditioned and told them my vision and pitched

33:36

them my ideas and showed them everything I wanted to do

33:38

and how I wanted to bring his story to life. And

33:41

they finally hired

33:42

me to do it. And then we did the movie.

33:44

That's what you do. You don't ever

33:47

stop. That's why you're sitting here. You're

33:49

like, they said no. So here's what I did. So

33:52

far, that's like your thing. They said no.

33:54

So I did a different

33:54

pitch. Then I went ahead and

33:56

I got it. What you're doing is you're shining

33:59

a light on someone.

33:59

who deserved a light to be shined on them for years.

34:02

With your foundation, you

34:04

do something similar. It's like, you're like, you know what?

34:06

A lot of people who get to the top of the mountain are happy and

34:09

they just pack their bags and go, you're like, you're

34:11

coming up here with me. I want you to come

34:13

up here with me. Your foundation is

34:15

about that, upward motion. Yeah,

34:17

I mean, you know, there was this such movement of like

34:20

leaning in, you know, lean in, lean

34:22

in. And I was like, no, reach back, reach

34:24

back. You've got to pull

34:26

people with you and you

34:28

can't just keep moving forward by yourself. You've

34:30

got to look back and you've got to say,

34:33

who else is behind me? Keep the door

34:35

open, let everybody in. And

34:37

so that's what the foundation does, is really

34:41

helping

34:41

Latinas specifically reach

34:44

their full potential. And that's a big, it's

34:46

a big idea. Just telling people you believe

34:48

in their potential is huge. And

34:51

then giving them the infrastructure and

34:53

the tools to reach that potential.

34:57

Because confidence

34:57

is something that you got when you were young and

35:00

that's been in you, which is why you're here. And it is

35:02

an interesting thing. You're like, I want to help you too.

35:04

You're not sure you can do it, but I believe

35:07

you can do it. Or people want permission,

35:09

right? They go, I want to do this, I

35:11

just don't know if I can. I give you

35:13

permission. Do you need somebody here to say,

35:16

you need permission to be great? I give

35:18

you permission to be great. Go and be great. And

35:21

then they feel like, okay,

35:23

I can. I can do this. I

35:25

mean, you inspire people, you're inspiring me. So

35:28

do you hear from people who say,

35:30

because I saw that, because you did that, because

35:33

you spoke here, will you tell me just

35:35

the feeling of like that? Gosh,

35:38

a lot of times, so many times. And I get so many

35:41

wonderful, beautiful people that come up to me and restaurants

35:44

are somewhere random. I was like in Dubai

35:46

and some Chicana, Mexican-American

35:49

came up to me and she's like, I'm studying here

35:52

because you spoke at Harvard. And

35:54

you said to travel,

35:56

like travel the world while you're

35:58

young, right? Before kids and that. I travel the

36:00

world, go experience different cultures.

36:03

And she can tell me that. She's like, and I'm here because

36:05

of you. I was like, well Dubai's a little far, but

36:07

I'm going to have

36:08

your ear. You did it. Or

36:11

in my activism, I've had a lot of

36:13

people off the streets and

36:15

all sorts of people who just come up and they

36:17

say, thank you for fighting for me.

36:19

And then I go, oh, and then you're just

36:21

reminded why you're doing it. They

36:24

feel like they don't have a voice. I'm not speaking for

36:26

them, but I encourage them to speak for

36:28

themselves. And I think that's

36:31

super rewarding. Are you hopeful? So

36:33

super hopeful.

36:34

I'm like the optimist. All

36:36

my friends are like, could you turn down the

36:38

optimism? I'm like, but this can happen. We can

36:40

do this. But you do believe it. And are you optimistic

36:43

for the country for the future? Oh,

36:46

that's what you were talking about. I'm

36:48

super optimistic for our country, mostly

36:50

because of

36:51

our youth. You see

36:54

how much the younger generations

36:57

care about this world,

36:59

about the environment, about social

37:01

issues.

37:03

You get inspired. You go, I think we're gonna

37:05

be okay. If

37:07

that 18 year old is

37:10

as active as she is at 18, imagine the woman

37:13

she's gonna be at 30. Imagine the woman she's gonna be at 35.

37:16

And so I do have a lot of hope because of

37:18

all the young people I meet across the country. Is

37:20

there a quote or

37:22

a mantra or something that you live by that

37:25

just kind of front and center for you? I

37:28

have so many. Give me my iPhone, I have a list. No,

37:30

but probably the one I love most, and

37:33

it's probably my daily

37:35

guide as Maya Angelou. And

37:38

she says, people will forget what you did.

37:40

They're gonna forget what you said, but they will

37:43

never forget how you made them feel. And

37:46

I never forgot that. I said, you

37:48

know what? When people have an encounter

37:50

with me, they don't care what I said, but

37:52

they remember how they felt. Can I tell you something?

37:54

Yes. I feel good. That

37:57

makes me feel good. But that's

37:59

why you're the...

37:59

with the movie, people go, you know, what

38:02

made you, you

38:03

know, sign on to this movie? And I said,

38:05

I want people to feel inspired.

38:08

And I didn't think, oh, I want to go do a biopic. I want to do

38:10

a Mexican-American story. I want it to be about a guy. I

38:12

want it like, I didn't really set guidelines about

38:14

the kind of movie I wanted to make. I want to make a genre movie.

38:16

I want to make, like I said, I want to make a movie that

38:18

makes people leave the theater feeling

38:21

inspired, feeling like they should have a conversation

38:24

about what are they scared of and what can I accomplish? What can

38:26

I conquer? And that's the

38:28

movie we made. It's going to be, it's

38:30

going to make people feel really good in a time

38:32

where I think people need to feel good. People do.

38:34

So you decided you were going to learn Spanish. It wasn't spoken

38:37

in your house, but you were going to learn it. When did you

38:39

decide

38:39

to learn it? And what was that process

38:41

like for you? Hard. You know what?

38:44

My second language is French because of

38:46

my husband at the time was French.

38:49

And so I learned French and I was speaking French

38:51

and I was fluent in French and I would do interviews in French. And

38:53

then when I would do press, people go, right,

38:56

but you're going to do an interview in Spanish, right? And I would

38:58

be terrified. I would be like,

39:00

I don't speak that well. And

39:02

so it was because of that. Like

39:04

I wasn't feeling Mexican enough.

39:07

Like I felt

39:09

a little bit of a fraud. Like I was like, I'm Mexican.

39:11

I don't speak Spanish. Yeah, I'm proud

39:14

to be Mexican, but I don't speak Spanish. And language

39:16

is such a big part of culture. Language

39:18

is really an entryway into

39:21

understanding a culture in its

39:23

entirety. But

39:25

at the same time, I

39:26

don't think people need to feel less than

39:28

if they don't speak their native tongue. I think

39:30

you can still have like I did. I had such

39:33

ties to being Mexican, even

39:35

though I didn't speak. And so I just

39:37

had this sudden urge to like, I need to speak

39:39

Spanish. I need to speak Spanish. And I was 40 when

39:42

I started. Wow.

39:45

And now I'm fluent because I live in

39:47

Mexico City, but it's been 10 years

39:49

of learning and it's

39:52

been fun and I make mistakes all the time. Yeah.

39:55

And I think especially when I'm in Mexico,

39:57

there's a great appreciation of the Mexican people.

39:59

that I'm even trying it was a journey

40:02

it was hard but it's been one

40:04

of the greatest accomplishments of my life is to

40:07

be able to to do an interview in Spanish talks

40:09

that to to argue politics in Spanish

40:11

and now I now I can

40:13

got the hang of it. I'll still

40:15

make mistakes.

40:26

Hey guys, thank you so much for listening to this

40:28

bonus episode of making space and

40:30

if you haven't already follow making space

40:33

and check out all of our other episodes from

40:35

the last 3 seasons available wherever

40:37

you listening now.

41:02

I can't keep this in anymore. I can't even

41:04

believe I'm saying this to be honest, you

41:06

know, you can tell me anything I capital

41:09

VFD for to capital Z lowercase M underscore

41:11

lowercase P capital L reverse slash apostrophe lowercase

41:13

RS. I know how you feel just

41:16

between us. I am underscore

41:18

comma dash underscore dollars on capital G lowercase

41:21

W comma forward slash dash dash reverse slash.

41:23

No way. I am so glad we had

41:25

this conversation. I know me too

41:28

turn on total privacy with end-to-end encryption

41:30

WhatsApp

41:31

message privately.