2022 Latinx Oscar Moments That Made History

Rachel Zegler, Ariana Debose, Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo.

Last night millions of people tuned in to watch the 94th annual Academy Awards ceremony. In recent years the awards have faced serious and widespread criticism for their constant lack of diversity amongst the nominees.


Their dwindling audience numbers changed this year, but even with the increase this was the second least-watched year for the award show. Regardless, it’s nice to see an increase in nominations for people of color at a time when it’s people of color keeping the movie industry afloat. Latinos had a decent amount of nominations this year for movies including West Side Story, Encanto, and CODA and with nominees Ariana Debose, Eugenio Derbez, and Lin Manuel Miranda, among others.

Despite the low ratings, the 2022 Oscars produced some Latinx moments that have everyone talking.


The Encanto Live Performance of We Don't Talk About Bruno

This moment inspired all kinds of different reactions. When the performance began it seemed like a normal performance of the beloved chart-topping hit song with the original recording cast. Opening with Carolina Gaitan and Mauro Castillo, the performance got off to an excellent start. The rest of the cast trickled in including Stephanie Beatriz, Adassa, and Diane Guerrero, and all seemed well up until that point.


Then, the song took a sudden hard right and took us on a journey we weren’t expecting. Meghan the Stallion, Becky G, and Luis Fonsi took over the performance, and this is where most of the critique and Twitter hot-takes come in. People felt upset that the moment had been taken from the cast of the movie and “ruined” the much-awaited live performance of the popular song.



Watch for yourself. It’s uhhh, interesting…

2022 Oscars Live 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' Performancewww.youtube.com


Rachel Zegler Gets Invited 6 Days Before The Event After Fan Outrage

Fans were furious to find out that Rachel Zegler, who plays Maria in Spielberg’s West Side Story, had not been invited to the ceremony. Many naturally wondered how it was even possible not to invite the star of a movie that inspired 7 nominations. The slight came to light when a fan asked Zegler what she was wearing to the Oscars, to which she responded: “I’m not invited so sweatpants and my boyfriend’s flannel”

After the academy received a fair amount of backlash from an incensed audience, Zegler received an invitation and was asked to present an award just 6 days before the ceremony. Some noted that her not being invited might be due to scheduling conflicts, as she is currently filming Disney’s remake of Snow White in the U.K, but, Zegler previously expressed her desire to attend and said: “she had tried everything.”

Zegler, in true Latina form, also didn’t miss the opportunity to drop some shade during her presentation. In response to Jacob Elordi’s comment about never imagining being at the Oscars, she quipped, “6 days ago I never thought that I would be here.”

Ariana DeBose becomes the first Afro-Latina, openly queer Oscar Winner

Ariana DeBose who played Anita in the musical West Side Story, made history as she became the first Afro-Latina openly queer woman to win this award. Her Oscar for best-supporting actress was much deserved as her performance as Anita has been described as both impactful and breathtaking.

As DeBose accepted her award, she left us with a powerful message on why representation matters, she said in her acceptance speech "Lastly, imagine this little girl in the back seat of a white Ford Focus. Look into her eyes, you see an openly queer woman of color and Afro-Latina who found her strength in life through art, and that's what I believe we're here to celebrate," she said. "So to anyone who has ever questioned your identity -- ever, ever, ever -- or you find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us."

Encanto Wins Best Animated Feature Film

The movie that had us all singing and dancing in our living rooms, won the Oscar for best-animated feature film. For the Latinx community the significance of this film goes well beyond just being entertaining, but being a much-needed accurate representation of Latino families and the complicated dynamics of Latino families. It touched on subjects like immigration, fleeing homelands due to violence, generational trauma, and the pressures of being a Latina daughter. For that and many more reasons this moment will go down in history as a win for Latinos.


Lupita Nyong'o's reaction to the Will Smith/Chris Rock slapping incident represented all of us.

There are plenty of hot takes on the incident itself, so we’ll bow out of adding yet another, however, Lupita Nyong’o’s reaction has been flooding our timeline all day long, and we just have to say: Yeah Lupita, we had the exact same reaction.


Honorable mention: Dos Orugitas by Sebastian Yatra

Another live performance that was a display of Latino excellence was Dos Orugitas by Sebastian Yatra; the tear jerking song that plays during one of the saddest parts of the Encanto movie. The song and Yatra’s performance were simply gorgeous. No mash-ups needed.


Sebastián Yatra - Dos Oruguitas (Live from "The 94th Academy Awards")www.youtube.com

woman surrounded by colorful illustrations
Image by Sayuri Jimenez.

Nathalie Molina Niño has never been one to shy away from breaking barriers, and now, she’s focusing her attention on a new mission: demystifying corporate boardrooms for women, especially Latinas. Molina Niño is the President of Known, an asset management and financial services firm, a veteran tech entrepreneur and builder capitalist, and a board member at the iconic lingerie Brand, Hanky Panky, and others.

Like many corporate boards, Hanky Panky hadn’t publicly disclosed its board composition until recently. After the brand survived the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Molina Niño decided it was time for more women, specifically more Latinas, to know what it means to be on corporate boards.

Coincidentally, the decision to finally be more vocal about this topic aligned with the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, which served as the perfect kick-off to the work.

"Something that rarely gets talked about and I think almost gets kept opaque by design is boards,” she explains in a recent Instagram announcement. “[This Latinx Heritage Month], that’s what I’ll be talking about.” Her goal? To equip more Latinas with the knowledge they need to navigate onto for-profit boards, where they can thrive and build multi-generational wealth.

For-profit corporate boards often feel like an exclusive club. And in many ways, they are, especially for Latinas, who hold the smallest percentage of board seats in Fortune 500 companies compared to other racial groups. According to the latest report from Latino Board Monitor, while Latinos hold 4.1% of these board seats (compared to 82.5% held by white people), only 1% go to Latinas. Molina Niño, a first-generation American of Ecuadorian and Colombian descent, is part of this boardroom minority.

When asked about her experience as a Latina board member during a recent Zoom interview, she said, “It’s been lonely. There’s not a lot of Latinas on boards.” She went on to explain that even serving on boards of Latina-founded businesses gets lonely because, “A lot of the times, people who serve on their boards represent their investors and, as a result, [...] you still don’t see a lot of Latinas on those boards.”

This lack of representation drives Molina Niño’s determination to increase Latina presence in corporate boardrooms. By sharing her insights, she hopes to give Latinas a roadmap to claim their seats at the table. “If you don’t know where to go, it’s impossible to figure out how to get there,” she says.

The Road to the Boardroom

Getting onto a for-profit corporate board isn’t an overnight achievement, but it’s not an unattainable dream either. People often think you need to be a CEO or have a certain type of background, but that’s one of the biggest myths about boards in Molina Niño’s experience. What they’re really looking for is expertise — whether that’s in finance, marketing, sustainability, or even technology. If you have that expertise, you’re already an asset. It’s simply a matter of which road you should take.

Understanding what boards are and how they operate is key to unlocking opportunities. For-profit boards serve as the governing body for companies, overseeing direction and financial stability, and guiding CEOs and executives in decision-making. But Molina Niño emphasizes that not all for-profit boards are created equal.

“There are two kinds [of for-profit boards] [...]. There’s the publicly traded business board and then, on the privately held side, there are, I would argue, two types of boards [...] the traditional business board and the venture-backed business board,” explains Molina Niño. Traditional businesses are often family-owned or long-established and may only form boards to meet requirements, like securing financing or transitioning through an ESOP. Venture-backed boards, on the other hand, are typically filled by investors who hold major stakes in the company.

According to Molina Niño, understanding the difference between them is how you can create a successful strategy. With publicly traded business boards, the whole world is privy to them, so, “The way that you get in there is a little bit more transparent. Sometimes those publicly traded companies will hire a recruiter to help them find new board members,” explains Molina Niño. For private companies, on the other hand, there’s no legal requirement to make announcements. As a result, most people don’t know anything about them or their inner workings.

“Usually what happens in traditional businesses that don’t have venture-capital investments is that the Founders, Executives, or the board members, if one existed already, they usually go to their friends,” and people they deem experienced to fill board seats. In other words, it’s the founder’s decision, and that’s an entirely different approach than hiring recruiters. When it comes to venture-backed business boards, the seats on the board are filled by whichever investor writes the biggest check.

This is why an understanding of the different types of boards and acknowledgment of their own strengths is what will help Latinas define a sound strategy. Whether that’s working with a recruiter, networking and connecting with founders to build trust, or making the biggest investment.

The Path for Latinas

For Molina Niño, the key to getting more Latinas into corporate boardrooms is education. Knowing what a board looks like and how it functions is how you can position yourself to get on it. In openly talking about this, without the mystique it’s usually shrouded in, Molina Niño is providing women, especially Latinas, with invaluable insights. “If we had Latinas understanding what are the three types of for-profit boards I think that, on their own, they would be able to figure out what their best chance is and adjust their careers to make themselves more competitive,” states Molina Niño.

When asked about the impact of increased Latina representation in boardrooms, Molina Niño flips the narrative. “Boards don’t help Latinas by offering them seats; Latinas help businesses thrive by being on their boards,” she says. “The whole point of sitting on a board is that you have experience and expertise, and as Latinas, you also have some cultural experience that everyone wants. [...] At the end of the day, we [Latinas] have to realize that we have a ton to offer and we have to be selective about where we put that expertise,” she explains.

As demand for access to the Latina consumer rises, Molina Niño predicts that more Latinas will find themselves recruited into boardrooms. But she’s not content to sit back and wait for that moment. By openly sharing her journey and insights, she’s making sure other Latinas know their worth and have the tools to claim their place at the table. “I realized that quietly being on boards that helped me personally is not helping other Latinas. [...] I was lucky enough to have friends who could advise me and share their experiences, so that’s why I’m doing this,” she stated.

With Hispanic Heritage Month as the backdrop, Nathalie Molina Niño’s mission is clear: “My goal is just to give Latinas enough information so they can make a plan for how to eventually get on a board that they’re paid to be on and that will eventually help them build generational wealth.”

flags of latin american countries fly behind performers wearing culturally traditional clothing

Ever noticed how September in Latin America is just one big celebration? As we wave goodbye to summer and avoid winter as long as we can, the streets come alive with parades, music, and festivities. Many Latin American countries celebrate their freedom this month, commemorating their hard-fought battles for independence from colonial domination. Let’s dive into these significant days and understand what makes each unique.

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