Latino Business Speakers Bureau: Lorenza Munoz
story by: David Gomez
Lorenza Munoz is on a mission;she wants to see a world where those without a voice or representation have an opportunity to speak and be heard. Approximately five years ago, she was invited to lead an initiative of inclusion for the Academy Awards after the movement of #oscarssowhite brought attention to the lack of diversity atthe Oscars. It was a telling moment that forced an entire organization to self-reflect and the beginning of a fundamental change in the industry.
Lorenza was born in Mexico Citybutimmigrated to the US with her parents in 1977. She arrived in Orange County, to a community that was not very diverse. She remembers that her parents sent her to the school bus stop hoping she would figure out how to get to class and figure things out on her own. They did that not because they didn’t care, but because they truly believed she was capable of taking on those challenges. She was not familiar with the English language and on one occasion she got lost after school. Thankfully, one of her professors was able to help herand she made it home safely. Her ability to overcome difficult situationsfrom such a young ageprepared her for the challenges ahead of her and gave her a good reason why she should give a voice to others who did not have a voice.
After Lorenza completedher education atUCBerkeley, she was hired by theLA Times as a writer and found that herpassion to give others a voice could makean impact in the lives of many people. Her work as a writer was influenced because of the commonalities that she had as animmigrant when she first arrived in the US. Some of the immigrants that she met while she was in school were refugees. Shefound that she wanted to tell their stories and highlight their struggles. Although her storycame from a different origin, she acknowledges that being an immigrant is a challenge and many of the struggles remain the same for all newcomers. This awareness is what allows Lorenza to identify areas where diversity and inclusion need additional efforts and attention.
Our world has changed tremendously over the last few decades. Diversity is part of the makeup of the US, however, inclusion hasn’t always followed the diversification of the workplace. Even when we were called the melting pot, not all our cultures and races have coalesced. It is a challenge to overcome. Even when there were efforts to have a more representative workforce some industries have had a blind spot. Lorenza has been a great influence and an agent for change in bringing awareness to those blind spots and to show areas where there still room for inclusion and outreach. The last few years have shown an improvement in the efforts to diversify the Hollywood industry. The proportions are closer to reality, although not yet perfectly. However, the improvement is noticeable in the types of films that have reached mainstream award recognition such as the award of best motion picture forthe Korean film Parasite, and the first Mexican indigenous female actress to receive an Oscar nomination for best actress -Yalitza Aparicio for the film Roma.
Lorenza recently joined Amazon Studios as the Senior Global Awards Executive where she will focus on inclusion and diversity for the global catalogue. The future looks brighter when leaders like Lorenza are at the forefrontof change. She has a clear vision of how diversity should look and the proven record of leading organizations to those goals.