By Nilki Benitez

Bel-lissima! Latin Heat's CEO and founder, Bel Hernandez, curtsied out of the limelight to promote Latinos in Hollywood.

Bel Hernandez is a Hollywood star, but she's not your typical star. Although her talent has graced television and film heavy-weights such as L.A. Law, Beverly Hills 90210, Born in East L.A. and Selena, today, Bel Hernandez's star shines brighter off camera than on.

As co-founder and president of Latin Heat, Hernandez has lead the only trade publication focused on Latino talent in Hollywood into a multi-media company which includes a magazine and website, as well as film and TV production and consulting.

Bel Hernandez

Hernandez is also President of the Latino Entertainment Institute and has served on the Board of the George Peabody Awards. Hernandez' level of success is extraordinary, her commitment to the Latino community; exemplary.

When asked about her success on and off camera in Hollywood, Hernandez states, "My tenacity for working to accomplish a goal, came from my mother. (She) was always a forward-thinking woman who worked hard to buy a house, and provide for her children."

Growing up in Boyle Heights, an area of East Los Angeles, things were not easy for the Hernandez family. "I remember having butter tacos for dinner. However, we were too busy trying to survive and (there was) no time to feel bad about what we didn't have. It was always about what we could obtain."

Her family was very close and although all six siblings went their separate ways in adulthood, they have remained close thanks to their mother "(She) was the glue that held us together. We always get together for all the holidays and the special occasions. She is now 86 years old, drives a truck, and likes to surf the Internet and collect recipes she tries out on her family."

Despite the hardships of a family struggling on minimum wage incomes, young Bel Hernandez was a dreamer. "My face was always buried in a book. I woke up reading and went to bed reading by the streetlight outside my window. When I was sent on errands, I would walk to the store with a book in hand and read all the way to and from," she recalls. However, as a young child and into high school, Hernandez' only aspirations were to become a secretary.

"There was a lack of role models for me. No one I saw on TV looked like (me). I didn't know of any Latino doctors, lawyers...so up until high school that is what I wanted to do," Hernandez reflects.