Sandra Avila, Avila Entertainment founder and producer, has been with NALIP for over a decade. She has previously participated in NALIP’s Latino Media Market and Latino Lens programs, and her membership with the organization has been symbiotically significant.

South Texan native, Avila was born a “television baby.” Influenced by what she saw on the screen, she worked for Showtime for seven years and was also a part of MAYA Entertainment. She was pursuing a law degree, but soon realized she was not passionate about the subject matter. Her experience in entertainment and her knowledge of law led her to create her own company, Avila Entertainment.

“There’s something about being a producer. You’re constantly in a free-fall state, because you don’t know when the money is going to come, when the next job is going to come, so it’s embracing jumping off the cliff without the net,” she says. Being at NALIP for over a decade, Avila has utilized the Latino Media Market to get Latinx content out to the world. She has mentored previous Latino Lens creators and helped catapult them to HBO Latino. Avila recognizes NALIP as a place to create a network and opportunities for underrepresented creators.

Avila has dedicated her life to becoming the entertainment mogul of her dreams. Her advice to current and future content creators is that there is always work and that you just have to find it. “This is the business. This is the way it works, and you can make it happen,” she says.