Hollywood, CA – October 10, 2014 – (HISPANICIZE WIRE) – Award-winning journalist, TV host and critically acclaimed author Bel Hernandez Castillo will receive the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at Latina Style’s 16th Annual Los Angeles Business Series. The award ceremony will take place on October 17, 2014 at 1pm at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. (www.latinastyle.com).
“In the twenty-two years since first publishing we have seen Latino Hollywood become a force that can no longer be denied. And we are proud to have been the first trade to many Latinos working in Hollywood today”
Ms. Hernandez Castillo an NCLR ALMA award recipient, has also been honored by the Hispanic Public Relations Association and La Opinion. In 2014 she received the LULAC Positive Images Award. She was the first Latina on the board of the Peabody Awards to eventually become Chairman of the Board.
Often called “The Latina Barbara Walters”, Ms. Hernandez Castillo is an industry pioneer. In 1992 she co-founded LATIN HEAT the first (and still only) entertainment trade publication focused on the business of Latino Hollywood, where she is President & CEO. The unparalleled coverage of Latinos in the industry propelled Latin Heat into a Hollywood mainstay. Soon Latin Heat was presenting yearly entertainment conferences supported by Hollywood networks and studios. In 1998 Latin Heat added their presence on the web and in 2006 went completely online.
“We filled a need, when the other trades were not interested in covering Latinos in entertainment,” said Hernandez-Castillo. “In the twenty-two years since first publishing we have seen Latino Hollywood become a force that can no longer be denied. And we are proud to have been the first trade to many Latinos working in Hollywood today.”
Always ahead of the curve, in 2006 Latin Heat began producing video content for it’s website and in 2008 produced their first web series. The company became Latin Heat Media, LLC.
In 2012, Latin Heat Media in partnership with CBS produced the first English-language TV talk show. HOLA! LA is hosted by four Latinas in Los Angeles where 48% of the population is Latino. Hernandez Castillo is the creator, executive producer and on-camera host for the show. [http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/category/hola-la/].
Hernandez Castillo is the Co-Founder of The LatinHeat Media Institute (LHMI) nonprofit organization. In partnership with the National Hispanic Media Coalition she created the Latino Premiere Club (LPC) whose goal is to empower Latinos and give them a voice on upcoming film and television projects.
In November of 2012 Ms. Hernandez Castillo added author to her long list of accomplishments as one of eight authors of the anthology 8 Ways to Say I Love My Life published by Arte Publico. The theatrical production of monologues based on the book won an Imagen Award for best Live Theatrical Presentation.
Through her work, Ms. Hernandez Castillo fulfills the Latin Heat Media mission of creating content by Latinos, about Latinos to universal audiences.
She is married to actor/writer/director Enrique Castillo and is a mother to three grown children, Sol, Alma & Karina.