Lesson #5: Stay True To Your Roots

“At the beginning, when I first started doing music and movies, I had this attitude that I didn’t have to be like anyone else,” says Lopez. To be sure, Lopez’s success came about as a result of her staying true to her roots, to who she was and where she came from. She had a strong family upbringing and knew that in order to reach the top, she didn’t have to try and be something that she wasn’t.



Proud of her Puerto Rican background, Lopez was able to both promote and capitalize on her ethnicity in everything from films to her music to her fashion design. She has released a Spanish-only album and has starred in numerous Spanish language films. Lopez has managed to not only stay true to her Latina roots, but to capitalize on the unique possibilities she has been offered because of her background. In signing a partnership with the U.S. Spanish-language network Telemundo, Lopez said, “I see this opportunity as a way to connect to the Spanish-speaking audience in a difference and more profound way than I’ve ever been able to do in the past. I want to tell the stories of Latinos who grow up here and live the American dream.”

Key to understanding Lopez is also to know how little success has changed who she is. “I’m still the same person I was before,” she says, insisting that working in show business does not necessarily transform someone. “I like myself and want to stay the way I am…My workplaces might be different, but I’m not too different from other people.” Lopez has been able to remain relatively unaffected by fame due to her upbringing and the people that surround her. “That’s the good thing about having a family that does not give a hoot about anything to do with fame,” says Lopez. “They will keep you in line.”

Lopez also credits her success to the fact that she grew up completely isolated from the industries in which she now works – her New York home was a far cry from the lavishes of Hollywood. “I think being from the Bronx and having the upbringing I had, not growing up around the business, around Hollywood or around the music business was a great advantage to me because…I know what it's like to be somebody who is working nine to five and getting on a train every day and who wants more,” she says.

By staying connected to her family, to her Puerto Rican background and to her community, Lopez was able to connect to a niche market and help drive her career in its early stages. She was then also able to rely on those connections once she achieved success in order to stay grounded, focused and committed to her original values and goals. “I just work hard and I’m grateful for everything I have. I just don’t let my head get crazy, and I think that’s because of where I’m from.”

Lesson #5: Stay True To Your Roots

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