The founder of Latinas in Beauty transformed an experience of absence into a cultural force that is rewriting the future of the industry.
Some figures don’t arrive to occupy a space—they arrive to create a new one. That is the story of Emily Pérez. Her life proves that absence—when faced with clarity and strategy—can become a compass. That the silence of underrepresentation can be transformed into a collective voice capable of shifting entire industries. And that what once felt like invisibility can, with intention, become a future map.
Founder of Latinas in Beauty, Emily is not merely leading a platform—she is the architect of a movement that is rewriting what it means to belong, to lead, and to transform within the global beauty industry.
From invisibility to a collective voice
Emily’s childhood in the United States, after emigrating from Brazil, was marked by being “the first”: the first in her family to enter Corporate America, the first to navigate spaces where no one looked like her.
“I thought merit would speak for itself. But I quickly realized that merit without voice becomes invisible,” she recalls. That realization became her mission: to ensure other Latina women did not have to repeat the same script. Latinas in Beauty was born not as a side project, but as the response to a historical debt.
The act of founding: moving from ‘I’ to ‘we’
Over a decade in multinational beauty corporations gave her experience, but not structural change. The real leap was another: to build a space of her own. A place to share resources, generate opportunities, and—above all—recognize the collective power of a community that sustains the market but rarely stands at its center. Emily puts it simply: “Progress wasn’t going to come from waiting for existing structures to let us in. It would come from building our own room.”
The impact of institutionalizing a movement
In 2024, Latinas in Beauty was officially established as a nonprofit organization. That act was not administrative, but political: the confirmation that the Latina community in beauty could no longer be treated as a footnote.
“It was the physical manifestation of our conviction: we are stronger together,” she explains. This step gave the movement another scale: what began as a grassroots network became an entity with the power to sit at corporate tables and declare: investing in us is not philanthropy, it is strategy.
Diversity, equity, representation: when words regain weight
In corporate contexts, these terms are often repeated until they lose meaning. Emily restores their force through lived experience:
- Diversity is embracing the richness of difference.
- Equity is acknowledging that not everyone starts from the same place, and using privilege to level the ground.
- Representation is deliberately deciding that all voices belong at the table.
But she goes further: Latinas in Beauty is not an inclusion initiative—it is a business and future strategy. “Latinas are driving market growth. Our influence is undeniable. Ignoring us is not only unjust, it is irrational from any business perspective.”
Tenacity: the true name of our strength
When speaking of Latino leadership, the word resilience is often invoked. Emily chooses another: tenacity.
“Resilience implies resistance. Tenacity implies strategy. It is the fierce refusal to give up, the stubborn intelligence that not only climbs barriers but dismantles them.”
Mentorship, mirror, and legacy
Mentorship stands at the heart of her vision. If she could return to her 20-year-old self, Emily would be unequivocal: “Never question whether you belong here. You did not arrive by luck—you arrived through ingenuity, discipline, and vision. That ability to carve paths where none exist will be your greatest strength.” Her view of the future is equally clear: “I want it to be said that Latinas in Beauty was not just a platform, but the turning point that redefined the industry.”
Global by definition
Though born in the U.S., Latinas in Beauty was conceived with a global vocation. Canada, Mexico, Peru, the U.K., Australia—messages of interest are arriving from everywhere. “Our community knows no borders. What we build here belongs to Latinas worldwide,” Emily affirms.
That global resonance may be the greatest proof of its power: what began as one woman’s effort has become a transnational cultural movement.
Epilogue: the map rewritten
Emily Pérez’s work is not measured only in impact, but in meaning. She has shown that beauty is far more than aesthetics: it is identity, economy, and cultural power.
And she has reminded us that representation is not concession—it is justice. Latinas in Beauty is not merely a network. It is a manifesto. A blueprint for the future. A map that transforms the invisible into visible, the individual into collective, and the fragmented into a global force.
