“People tend to put you in a box—you know, you’re Mexican, and you’re this way,” says Ignacio “Nacho” Jimenez, who this year won a James Beard Award for his New York City cocktail bar Superbueno, about his early experience trying to make a life and career in the U.S.
It’s a familiar feeling for many Latinos in the U.S., despite their diversity of identities and national backgrounds.
And, research shows, there are an equally diverse range of ways in which Latino immigrants and their descendants are crucial parts of the country. An October 2024 fact sheet by the nonpartisan American Immigration Council cited a study that found that communities with higher shares of Latinos were “associated with decreases in the number of homicides, assaults, and burglaries.” Latinos start more businesses per capita than any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S., notes a December report by McKinsey. And while Latinos represent just under 20% of the U.S. population, they account for over 30% of the country’s economic growth, according to UCLA research published in April.
America’s largest racial or ethnic minority is filled with creators, problem solvers, and role models across industries.
TIME marked Hispanic Heritage Month by highlighting several of them in 2023 and 2024, and is now shining a light on 12 new Latino Leaders including Jimenez, as well as Hollywood stars like The Bear’s Liza Colón-Zayas, Isabela Merced of The Last of Us and Superman, and SNL’s Marcello Hernandez; changemakers like Shark Tank’s Daniel Lubetzky and women’s-sports investor Emma Rodriguez-Ayala; and storytellers like novelist Isabel Allende.
As accomplished as these leaders are, they’re as focused on giving back as they are on their own successes. “I’m actively trying to work as much as I can so that I can have the means and the power to do more and help more people and create a name for myself,” says Hernandez, “but also to represent for Latinos, which is really important to me.”
Read the full list of 2025 Latino Leaders here.
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