HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH 2011
Written by The American Latino Team
As Hispanic Heritage Month, 2011 draws to an end, we at americanlatino.com want to remind all of our members and visitors that although Heritage month draws to a close, we will continue to feature stories about our people and varied cultures and backgrounds. We at americanlatino.com are proud of our heritage and our contributions not just in the United States, but the world over and not only during Hispanic heritage Month but throughout the year, each and every day.
We wish to encourage and inspire you all, to be the best that you can be. To strive toward your dreams and never waver or give up in your hopes for the future. To make this world a better and safer place by caring and helping one another. We want you all to maintain your humanity and faith and be there for one another, be kinder to each other and together help build a better world.
Throughout the year we will continue to publish stories of your achievements with the hope that your stories will inspire and motivate others thus creating stories of your own. In our community section, you will find many various video postings on such subjects such as arts, music, and current events not only from the U.S. but throughout our South American countries as well. Videos that will make you want to get up and dance, videos that will inform and educate and videos on the countries many of our members and their families come from.
In our topics section and on our home page, we will be introducing you to many new contributing writers from various fields and locales that will bring you exciting and informative stories on a continuous basis. We also invite any of you with a flair for writing and something to share to submit your own articles which will be reviewed by our editor and then published on our site.
We invite each and every one of you to explore, utilize and become a part of americanlatino.com and look forward to having you as vital members of our community as we wish to be a vital, reliable and trustworthy resource of the communities we all share and live in.
Please enjoy our continued celebration of fellow American Latino citizens who have contributed to our great nation and continue to inspire and make us proud of who we are.
Shakira: Born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll on Feb. 2 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia, has gone on to become an international success with her unique voice and great dance moves. What many people are not aware of is that she is a great philanthropist as well. In 1995 she founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation which is a Colombian charity with special schools for poor Colombian children; she got the name for the foundation from her third studio album entitled Pies Descalzos which was released in 1995. She also performs at many various charity events such as VH1'S Save The Music Foundation and the Party in the Park concert for the Prince's Trust.
Gloria Estefan the Queen of Latin POP born Sept. 1 1957 in Havana, Cuba, with over 100 million albums sold worldwide and the winner of seven Grammy awards is the most successful crossover performer in Latin music to date. In March of 2010 along with her husband producer Emilio Estefan Jr., she invited other artists to record "Somos El Mundo" a Spanish version of Michael Jackson's "We Are The World" all the money of the sales of the song went to Haitian relief. In addition to her seven Grammy Awards she has received many other awards; in 1993 she was awarded the Ellis Island Congressional Medal Of Honor which is the highest award that can be bestowed upon a naturalized citizen. She has also been honored with the Hispanic Heritage Award and the National Music foundation's Humanitarian of the Year award in 1993. She has just released her eighth English spoken album in Sept. of this year and continues to entertain and give the world more.
Salma Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico on Sept. 2, 1966 to a father of Lebanese descent and a Mother of Spanish descent. At the age of twelve she was diagnosed with dyslexia which did not deter her dreams and went on to become an actress after studying International relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. In 1989 she landed the lead in a telenovela titled Teresa and by 1994 starred in the film "El Callejon De Los Milagros"( "Miracle Alley") which went on to win more awards than any other film in the history of Mexican Cinema. She moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991 where she studied under the great Stella Adler but was limited in her fluency of English due to her suffering from dyslexia. Still she persevered and landed the starring role opposite Antonio Banderas in 1995's "Desperado" She has since went on to found the film production company Ventanarosa producing many films including "El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba" which went on to be Mexico's official selection for submission of Best Foreign Film at the Oscars in 1999. She also co-produced "Frida" for which she earned an Academy Award nomination. She is a naturalized United States citizen and in 2009 she married French billionaire and PPR CEO Francios-Henri Pinault with whom she has a daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault with. She is quite active in philanthropic work including increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants. In 2005, she testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the judiciary supporting reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. She has also teamed up with UNICEF and Pampers to help stop the spread of life-threatening maternal and neonatal tetanus. In 2010 she earned a nomination for the VH1's Do Something Awards.
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