“I've always defined leadership as [being] someone who's able to work with a team and lead from behind, lead in the trenches. You wouldn't be asking someone to put effort into something without actually having experienced that yourself. And being able to rally people—give them a really good structure, give them a vision of what they're fighting for, what they're building for.”
“I like to be able to establish three-to-five year goals, and then compressing them into 18 months. It keeps folks not only focused, but [feeling] that every single email that's sent out, every single event that they're putting together, every single point of communication that they're doing with their community, it's led by a vision that can be accomplished in record time.
...By putting a focus on what we can do and accomplish in this field, that allows our entire community—not just our team—to really go and break it down into manageable pieces. So I define leadership as being able to define that goal, accomplishing it and making sure that every single member of that team is supported.”
— Ben Lopez
Nominated by Marcos Nájera:
“As Executive Director [of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers], Ben oversees a multitude of groundbreaking programs… With a selfless ease, he matches top agencies in the world with Latinx creators. His aim is always to help underrepresented voices find paths to expression. He crafts opportunities to help people move their careers forward. In return, he often sacrifices family time and even sleep. But Mr. Lopez is undeterred in his vision. Words alone simply do not convey his conviction and passion for the work.”