America Ferrera

America Ferrera, the award-winning actor and activist famous for her roles in *Ugly Betty* and *Real Women Have Curves*, passionately discusses the urgent need for authentic representation in Hollywood. She recounts her struggles with stereotypes and industry biases, emphasizing how her identity has always been a superpower, not a barrier. Ferrera calls for a shift in storytelling to reflect diverse cultures and resonates on how visibility shapes self-worth and aspirations. Her journey is a powerful reminder of the impact of presence in media.

In a captivating conversation, America Ferrera, an award-winning actress, director, and activist, explores the integration of identity in leadership. She shares her journey as the child of immigrants and the transformative role storytelling has played in her career. Ferrera emphasizes the significance of representation in media and its impact on cultural identity. The dialogue touches on personal growth, self-leadership challenges, and the power of embracing one's whole self to create meaningful change.

“Our discomfort and our grappling is not a sign of failure,” America Ferrera says, “it’s a sign that we’re living at the edge of our imaginations.” She is a culture-shifting actor and artist. John Paul Lederach is one of our greatest living architects of social transformation. From the inaugural On Being Gathering, a revelatory, joyous exploration of the ingredients of social courage and how change really happens in generational time.John Paul Lederach is a senior fellow at Humanity United and professor emeritus of international peacebuilding at the University of Notre Dame. He is also the co-founder and first director of the Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. In 2019 he won the Niwano Peace Foundation Peace Prize.America Ferrera is an Emmy Award-winning actor and producer. She’s known for the movies Real Women Have Curves and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and for the TV series Ugly Betty. She also stars in and co-produces the current NBC series Superstore. She’s the co-founder of Harness, a grassroots organization for social healing.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org. This interview originally aired in June 2018. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Explore reflections on childhood experiences and the impact of films, collaboration with actors, financial management tips, emotional highs and lows of the Oscars, challenges of dialects and character creation, struggles and uniqueness of dyslexia in memorizing scripts, Canadian comedy talent, visual aesthetics in film creation, themes of love and betrayal, music evolution, and home-based music creation.

Trailblazing actress, America Ferrera, discusses her breakthrough role in 'Real Women Have Curves,' making history as the first Latina to win a best actress Emmy for 'Ugly Betty,' and earning an Oscar nomination for a showstopping monologue in 'Real Women Have Curves.'