FILE - This May 22, 2013 file photo shows actress and recording artist Jennifer Lopez at a news conference announcing Viva Movil by Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas. Lopez says Latinos in the United States are starting to realize their power in politics and media, and that makes the timing good for her latest undertaking: Lobbying for greater diversity in TV programming. The actress and entertainer spoke Wednesday, June 12, at the Cable Show, a communications convention, ahead of new programming set to launch July 18 on the NUVOtv network. Lopez serves as chief creative officer of the English-language Latino channel. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Invision/AP, file) (INVISIO2013)
Jennifer Lopez has harnessed her Latino roots to bolster her multimillion-dollar business. And now she is urging others to do the same.
"There's a big revolution going on, it's like a media and cultural revolution of Latinos here in the United States," Lopez said Wednesday to The Associated Press.
"We're realizing our power. We're realizing that we matter here. You know, we're not just, you know, the guys working behind the scenes in the kitchens and as a plumber."
Lopez has recently taken on two separate endeavors as the creative chief officer for companies looking to specifically target the Latino market. Along with joining NUVOtv network, Lopez has also teamed up with Verizon for its Viva Movil brand.
On Wednesday at Cable Show, a communications convention, the entrepreneur spoke about the English language Latino channel set to debut on July 18.
"Singing and acting and dancing and performing live, it's always going to be my passion," she said. "But at the end of the day, when you're given the opportunities to be more creative, to create things more from the ground up, to really, really do things like NUVO, which is really for me empowering a community, that means so much to me."
She said businesses are getting on board too because of the tremendous buying power of Latinos, which is also why she joined forces with Verizon. The entertainer is opening a chain of 15 cell phone stores with bilingual staffers starting this month to cater to the Hispanic market.
The first of the “Viva Móvil by Jennifer Lopez” stores opened this week in Brooklyn across from the newly built Barclays Center.
Boasting a bilingual staff and play area for kids, Lopez played an integral part in helping to create the store’s glistening white design.
As one customer told The New York Daily News, “You can feel her [presence] in this store.”
“This is beautiful. You kidding me? J-Lo is my girl,” 58-year-old truck driver Edgar Cody added.
Viva Móvil’s general manager Miguel Montero said, “Latinos are shoppers. The experience of having a cell phone includes the experience of buying a cell phone.”
While Lopez, 43, continues to undertake creative ventures, she said she will never stop performing.
"The world is realizing that women are not even coming into their own until they're in their 40s, that they have so much to offer. That you can stay in shape, that your life is not over once you have kids and it becomes only about your kids, that to be a great mother, or great parent or great woman in this world you have to be a great individual first, you know what I mean, and that's very empowering and we're all realizing this," she said.
"It's a new day for women, it's a new day for Latinos, it's a new day," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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