Jennifer Lopez Talks About Being Proud of Her Latina Roots and Giving Back to Her Community

Singer 🎤Jennifer Lopez is giving back to her fellow 💃Latina community.

Lopez, who is Puerto Rican, has been labeled one of the most successful 💃Latinaartists. She is also an actress and entrepreneur with her beauty brand called JLO Beauty.

As Forbes reported in 2021, Lopez is one of America’s wealthiest self-made women.

Now, she is using her influence to help other 💃Latina entrepreneurs along with her Limitless Labs foundation.

She is also partnering with the non-profit Grameen America to put $14 billion into 💃Latina-owned businesses by 2030, per Today. (1:30)

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Lopez explained her vision, saying, “We’re changing lives. “We want to take the Latino entrepreneur, empower them, give them opportunity where there wasn’t — you know, me growing up the way I did, we weren’t even in the conversation in that way.”

“The opportunity to do something, that’s all anybody wants. Nobody wants a handout, but that opportunity can change your life,” she continued.

As NBC reported in February 2021, “Latinos are starting businesses at a faster rate than the national average across several industries, growing 34 percent over the last 10 years compared to just 1 percent for all other small businesses.”

Latino-owned businesses are less likely to have loan applications approved than white-owned businesses.

Lopez explained during the NBC interview how she decided that she should own a part of her own business.

“Even in my own business, I was like, the artist who was making billions of dollars for other people, and not really even realizing it, just like happy to be in the room. And then I started to realize, wait a minute. I can make my own perfume, I can do this in my own way, I should own a part of this business,” she said.

Lopez also praised her mother, Guadalupe Rodríguez, and family for helping her embrace her 💃Latina roots.

She said: “It’s just who I was. And I think my mother and my family raised me to be proud of who I was. And so, when I went into these worlds, like 🎬Hollywood, where we were not represented at all, I almost felt like a unicorn. I’m 💃Latina. I’m 🎤Jennifer Lopez from the Bronx and my parents are Puerto Rican, I’m Puerto Rican. and I think it made me feel special.”