“I emigrated at six years old, in those years of my childhood I felt Mexican, very Mexican, but on that trip I realized that I wasn’t, they called me ‘la Pocha’, she said.
It was supposed to be a paradise, where she would supposedly reunite with her passion, Mexican folkloric dance, start a job, and reside in a paradisiacal place, Acapulco. Instead, Bel Hernández and two friends had to go every day to buy a dozen tortillas and jalapeño peppers to feed themselves.
“We didn’t have money or work, and I liked tortillas with chiles,” she says with a laugh.
After a complicated life where they had to move with her mother and siblings from Zacatecas to Tijuana and then to Los Angeles, Bel Hernández was looking for a space in the country where she was born, a reunion with her culture, with her people.
“I emigrated at six years old, in those years of my childhood I felt Mexican, very Mexican, but on that trip I realized that I wasn’t, they called me ‘la Pocha’, they didn’t say it as an insult, but to establish that I had lived in the United States,” she adds, the Founder/CEO at Latin Heat Media; Co-Founder of LATINAFest; Producer; TV Host and Author.
The family’s arrival in Los Angeles was not easy at all. They had many needs; at Christmas, they had to go for toys and clothes to Toy’s Drives because they didn’t have money. Her mother had remarried, but her stepfather didn’t take care of her four children, only the two he had with her. The children had to endure her absence; the mother had up to three jobs every day to get through the days.
“My mom was a maid, she worked in factories, whatever. She always took care of us,” adds Bel.
They lived in the Boyle Heights area, she managed to stay away from drugs and gangs. Instead, she was lucky to experience the beginnings of the Chicano movement, which she fully integrated into. She studied at one of the epicenters, Rosevelt High School.
“I attended marches, I was educated in this movement, it made me develop a social conscience, I understood that Latinos were not given resources, they wanted us to leave High School and become simple employees. We raised our voices, there I learned not to remain silent,” says Bel.
“I longed so much to reconnect with my culture, to feel Mexican that I immediately embraced it. I was never a popular girl in school, but dancing gave me the opportunity to feel that freedom I was looking for,” she adds.
And then another important event happened; Bel Hernandez became a Folkloric Ballet dancer.
“I longed so much to reconnect with my culture, to feel Mexican that I immediately embraced it. I was never a popular girl in school, but dancing gave me the opportunity to feel that freedom I was looking for,” she adds.
At the same time, she became part of Graciela Tapia’s Folkloric Ballet; she already felt that belonging.
Some friends told her that there were auditions to be part of a dance company in Mexico, which would tour Europe. She auditioned and was one of the three selected.
However, that trip to Europe never happened, nor did she join that company when they told her she could join them in Acapulco. It was a two-year stay in Mexico and she wasn’t interested on that.
“I felt different in Mexico; I realized that I wasn’t really Mexican. There I socialized, through dance, with the highest in society. It was another world; upon my return to Los Angeles, I realized that I belonged to a group of Mexicans who had to fight for everything, which was denied to us, we were seen as second-class citizens,” she recalls.
A friend told her that they needed folkloric dancers in a play by Luis Valdez, Zoot Suit. She auditioned and not only got that role but also met her husband, actor Enrique Castillo.
Zoot Suit has been one of the classic works of the Chicano movement; every night its performances hosted the most relevant and important people in cinema and culture. Luis Valdez “was a God,” within that movement.
However, that social consciousness, that understanding that Latinos were not well received in Hollywood permeated the environment.
“Yes, I participated in commercials, some small roles in movies, took classes. Latinos are not given access to funds; something has changed now, but not completely, even if you have the best stories,” she says.
Another turning point came in her life.
Luis Valdez was working on his story about Frida and Diego, the iconic Mexican artist couple. This time he was lucky, and the project was approved, but a group of Mexican-American activists took to the streets to protest because the role of Frida was intended to be given to the Italian actress Laura San Giacomo.
“Imagine! An Italian in the role of one of the most Mexican women in history. Of course, we got angry, we went out to protest. On one occasion, all the women dressed like Frida. Can you imagine? It had a lot of impact; the producer New Line Cinema decided to suspend the project. Luis blamed us, he said we had sabotaged the project when what we really wanted was to fight for the rights of the Latino artistic community and our culture,” she adds.
Valdez’s reaction didn’t end there.
Valdez said that for his fellow Latino critics “to suggest that I have been somehow selling Latinos short… is to completely distort the situation. It is difficult enough to make movies about strong women… it is damn near impossible by Hollywood standards. And then to expect me to introduce an unknown in the lead is to expect too much.”
After that, she decided to found the magazine Latin Heat and later Latin Heat Media, a multimedia company that includes a news and entertainment website (www.latinheat.com); TheTRENDTalk TV show which currently airs on the local L.A. MeTV station, Facebook Watch, IGTV, and YouTube; and is co-founder of LATINAFest, an outdoor festival that celebrates everything Latina with vendors, food, and activations and a focus on LATINApreneurs.
Latinos needed a means of communication that informed them about what was happening among them and the industry, discrimination and injustice against Latina artists.
She currently serves as the Chair of the Farmworker Justice Advisory Council. She also serves on the advisory board of the Mexican American Cultural Education Foundation, according to her website.
In 2021, she began her work on the Credentialing Committee of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (producers of the Golden Globes).
On her page, Bel adds that she is most proud to be the mother of three children Karina Noelle, Sol, and Alma Castillo; a “Nana” to Amada and Kean Castillo and Jack Day, and to be married to actor/director Enrique Castillo for 37 years!
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