15 Most Influential Latina Women Of All Time

Portrait of NASA Astronaut Ellen Ochoa wearing a blue flight suit – WIkimedia commons

15 Most Influential Latina Women Of All Time

Latina women have been at the forefront of contributing to helping break down barriers in various industries, going to unseen territories and ventures and paving way for many behind them, all while creating inspiration for generations to come to fearlessly chase their dreams. From the entertainment industry to governments to business moguls and human rights activists, it goes without saying that Latina women have indeed stamped their mark in the world.

From household names like Jennifer Lopez to Shakira to others like Eva Perón and Ellen Ochoa who are equally as impactful, we can see Latina women are significantly contributing to moulding culture and history in their respective fields. In this article, we’ll look at these and more influential Latina women of all time, highlighting their most remarkable achievements.

1. Ellen Ochoa

Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center. In 1993, Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Ochoa became director of the center upon the retirement of the previous director, Michael Coats, on December 31, 2012. She was the first Hispanic director and the second female director of the Johnson Space Center.

2. Shakira

Colombian pop star Shakira performs at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Jan. 18, 2009 – Wikimedia Commons

Shakira is a Colombian singer and songwriter. She has been referred to as the Queen of Latin Music and is noted for her musical versatility. She made her recording debut with Sony Music Colombia at the age of 13. Following the commercial failure of her first two albums, Magia (1991) and Peligro (1993), she rose to prominence in Hispanic countries with her next albums, Pies Descalzos (1995) and Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998). 

Shakira entered the English-language market with her fifth album, Laundry Service (2001), which sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Buoyed by the international success of her singles “Whenever, Wherever” and “Underneath Your Clothes”, the album propelled her reputation as a leading crossover artist. Broadcast Music, Inc., described Shakira as a pioneer who extended the global reach of Latino singers.

3. Eva Perón

Eva Perón was an Argentine politician, activist, actress, and philanthropist who served as First Lady of Argentina from June 1946 until her death in July 1952, as the wife of Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón. In 1951, Eva Perón announced her candidacy for the Peronist nomination for the office of Vice President of Argentina, receiving great support from the Peronist political base, low-income and working-class Argentines who were referred to as descamisados or shirtless ones.

Eva Perón has become a part of international popular culture, most famously as the subject of the musical Evita (1976). Cristina Álvarez Rodríguez has said that Evita has never left the collective consciousness of Argentines. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the second woman elected president of Argentina, claims that women of her generation owe a debt to Eva for “her example of passion and combativeness”.

4. Carolina Herrera

Fashion designer Carolina Herrera by Christopher Peterson – Wikimedia Commons

Carolina Herrera is a Venezuelan fashion designer known for her personal style, and for dressing various First Ladies, including Jacqueline Onassis, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump. Her socialite grandmother introduced her to the world of fashion, taking young Carolina to shows by Balenciaga and buying her outfits at Lanvin and Dior.

Carolina Herrera presents her Ready-to-Wear Collection semiannually at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. Her work has seen her receive so many accolades. She received the Fashion Group International Superstar Award, the Style Awards Designer of the Year in 2012 and the “Mercedes-Benz Presents” title for her 2011 collection. She has been on the cover of Vogue seven times. Read more incredible facts about Carolina Herrera. 

5. Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of guarachas, earning the nickname La Guarachera de Cuba. In the following decades, she became known internationally as the Queen of Salsa due to her contributions to Latin music.

Her musical legacy is made up of a total of 37 studio albums, as well as numerous live albums and collaborations. Throughout her career, she was awarded numerous prizes and distinctions, including two Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards. In addition to her prolific career in music, Cruz also made several appearances as an actress in movies and telenovelas.

6. Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo by Guillermo Kahlo – Wikimedia Commons

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artefacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country’s popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society.

Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy. In addition to belonging to the post-revolutionary Mexicayotl movement, which sought to define a Mexican identity, Kahlo has been described as a surrealist or magical realist. She is known for painting her experience of chronic pain.

7. Dolores Huerta

Huerta is an American labor leader and civil rights activist. She has received numerous awards for her community service and advocacy for workers’, immigrants’, and women’s rights, including the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award, the United States Presidential Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

She was the first Latina inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, in 1993. Huerta is the originator of the phrase “Sí, se puede” As a role model to many in the Latino community, Huerta is the subject of many corridos, Mexican or Mexican-American ballads and murals. In California, April 10 is Dolores Huerta Day.

8. Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Supreme Court justice by Steve Petteway – Wikimedia Commons

Sonia is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since August 8, 2009. She is the third woman, the first woman of colour, the first Hispanic, and the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court.

During her Supreme Court tenure, Sotomayor has been identified with concern for the rights of defendants and criminal justice reform and is known for her impassioned dissents on issues of race, ethnic, and gender identity, including Schuette v. BAMN, Utah v. Strieff, and Trump v. Hawaii. Read more interesting facts about Sonia Sotomayor. 

9. Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. She is noted for her work on stage and screen in a career spanning over seven decades. Among her numerous accolades, she is one of the few performers to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony and the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Academy, Emmy and Tony awards.

10. Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez sings “This Land Is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful” during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II) – Wikimedia Commons

Jennifer Lopez s an American actress, singer and dancer. For her first leading role in Selena (1997), she became the first Hispanic actress to earn over US$1 million for a film. She went on to star in Anaconda (1997) and Out of Sight (1998) and established herself as the highest-paid Hispanic actress in Hollywood.

Lopez is considered a pop culture icon and is often described as a triple-threat entertainer. With a cumulative film gross of US$3.1 billion and estimated global sales of 80 million records, she is considered the most influential Hispanic entertainer in North America.

11. Joan Baez

Joan Baez is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more than 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish and English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages.

Baez displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights, and the environment. Baez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7, 2017.

12. Sylvia Rivera

Marsha, Joseph and Sylvia march down Seventh Avenue in 1973 by Gary LeGault – Wikimedia Commons

Sylvia Rivera, a mixed-race Venezuelan-Puerto Rican trans woman, was a trailblazing LGBT activist who fought tirelessly for trans rights. She is often credited with putting the “t” in LGBT activism. Rivera founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) organization with Marsha P. Johnson, which provided a home for trans people living on the streets in the 1970s in New York.

Rivera dedicated her life to helping others as an outspoken advocate for LGBT people, ethnic minorities, and the homeless. Sylvia’s Place and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project were named in her honor, and both organizations continue to work for the safety and rights of LGBT people today.

13. Julia de Burgos

Julia de Burgos was a Puerto Rican poet.  As an advocate of Puerto Rican independence, she served as Secretary General of the Daughters of Freedom, the women’s branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was also a civil rights activist for women and African/Afro-Caribbean writers.

14. France Córdova

France A. Córdova official photo by National Science Foundation – Wikimedia Commons

France is a science and education leader, a wife, a mother, and a visionary. Córdova was the first Hispanic woman to serve as Chancellor of a University of California campus. She was also the youngest and first woman to be appointed as NASA’s Chief Scientist.

Córdova’s scientific career contributions have been in the areas of observational and experimental astrophysics, multi-spectral research on x-ray and gamma-ray sources, and space-borne instrumentation. President Barack Obama appointed Córdova to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution in 2009, and she served until 2014.

15. Sofia Vergara

Sofia Vergara is a Colombian and American actress and model. Vergara rose to prominence while co-hosting two television shows for the Spanish-language television network Univision in the late 1990s.

In 2009, she began playing Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the ABC comedy series Modern Family for which she was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and eleven Screen Actors Guild Awards. Since 2020, Vergara has been a judge on America’s Got Talent.