Gato Grande: There are many opportunities for Latino women in the industry in the US

Carla González, president of Gato Grande – MGM, was the fourth female guest of the WAWA Inspiring Minds cycle, an event that took place on Thursday, the 8th, from a Zoom Webinar. At that conference, the executive talked about her beginnings, her successes, and what it means to be a woman in an industry-led mostly by men.

González commented that ironically, “although the entertainment industry is mostly led by men, in the United States there are many opportunities for Latin American women due to inclusion initiatives developing in the country, unlike in Mexico or Latin America where it still continues the industry being somewhat ‘macho’.”

The executive, who served as showrunner in the first season of the successful biographical series Luis Miguel, indicated that although she loves being on set, and her passion is writing, directing, and being on a day-to-day basis, she had to learn to delegate in order to make her company grow and to become a leading industry executive. “For Gato Grande to continue growing I had to leave the set. Each production we do can take two years from writing to air. All that time I hired highly trained professionals to be in charge of creativity, while I devoted more to financial and legal functions to continue the growth of my company.”

It is because of decisions like these that Carla González was recently named one of the 100 most influential women in the audiovisual industry by Forbes magazine.

González also announced that in Gato Grande they have 28 projects, the majority in English and for the Anglo market, but with a lot of Latino participation both in front of and behind the cameras. “We try to be a bridge for Latino professionals so that they reach the top of entertainment in the US,” she said.