Eva Longoria on Finding Great Mentors and Achieving Big Goals The actor, producer, and director breaks down how she is helping women create a better future for themselves and their families.

Eva Longoria is a consummate multi-hyphenate, an actor, producer, director, entrepreneur, designer and, perhaps most impressively, staunch activist and philanthropist through the Eva Longoria Foundation. The Foundation seeks to help Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship.

I spoke with Eva about her multi-faceted career and how a willingness to commit first and then deal with her fear later has resulted in her success. What was most striking about our conversation was her belief that we can all learn the skills we need in order to achieve our goals, regardless of how big they are or where we are starting out. We discussed the best way to work with mentors, trusting our instincts as women, and the importance of using gratitude as a light to guide the way towards our true path.

"When I look back, I've never had to look for role models," she told me. Instead of turning to famous people, Eva started with the women in her direct community, learning from her mothers and aunts. When she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting with just $22 in her pocket, it was her mother's conviction that she could figure out anything that helped her to break into an acting career.

In the above video, she shows us all that we can tackle our biggest dreams and the importance of using our voice, tools and resources to help lift up those around us.

Note: Video produced by Kari Jones. A special thank you to our incredible venue partners at Convene DTLA for hosting us in Los Angeles.