15
departed) Jane, as an exaggerated version of herself, squeez-
ing it into her schedule because, as Urman says, “When the
community calls, she shows up. And there’s nothing jaded
about Eva. She’s truly excited to be making art.”
Cherry, who worked with Longoria on Devious Maids,
says she was a hands-on executive producer, helping
shape the story of Latinas with lowly jobs and big dreams.
“It could’ve been eyebrow raising because we had
Latinas as houseworkers,” he says. “But she guided me
through the cultural pitfalls, explained Latino commu-
nities and helped find writers and actors.”#MeToo
Along with Reese Witherspoon, Brie Larson and other
high-profile women in Holly wood, Longoria co-founded
Time’s Up in the wake of revelations about Harvey Wein-
stein, saying that the prime movers “couldn’t just let this
be about a sex scandal.”
Longoria became one of the first content creators
to take the 4% pledge (north of 100 producer-artists
have now signed on to hire a female director within 18
months), and she helped spearhead the “wear black” ef-
for t at t he 2018 G olden Globes to d raw public at tention to
sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.
“It’s not just that we can count on her, no matter
where she is in the world or what she’s doing,” says Re-
becca Goldman, Time’s Up interim CEO. “She’s leading
and driving this movement forward. And I have no doubt
that she’ll still be doing it five or 10 years from now.”
The nonprofit group, which houses a multimillion-
dollar legal defense fund for women battling discrimina-
tion and abuse on the job, will focus on women’s issues
ahead of the 2020 election, asking candidates to discuss
pay equity, family leave, child care, reproductive health
and other key ( but often ignored) topics.
Longoria, who counts legendary civil rights leader
Dolores Huerta as a mentor, says she considers it her re-
sponsibility to be politically engaged, even in a divisive
climate and at the risk of turning off right-leaning fans
because, “This is too important to think about ratings or
box office.”High bar for brands
Turning down far more offers than she accepts, Longo-
ria says there’s a “high bar” for her brand partnerships,
set in part by a L’Oréal alliance that started in 2005.
(Under her own brand, she’s debuted everything from a
New York Times best-selling cookbook to fragrances to a
clothing line at JCPenney.)
“I remember the L’Oréal slogan, ‘Because you’re
worth it,’ from when I was a little girl,” she says. “That’s
not just about hair color and lipstick—it’s about female
empowerment.”
The beauty-products giant, while supporting her fa-
vorite causes and enlisting her to direct global ads, has
recruited her for its initiatives like Women of Worth
(honoring community leaders across the country) and a
Cannes Film Festival program that puts standout wom-
en on the red carpet.
“A lot of endorsement relationships are short term
and transactional, and that’s the opposite of what we
have with Eva,” says Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle, deputy
general manager, L’Oréal USA. “She’s a true ambassador
and the total embodiment of our brand values.”
Consumer-facing messages play a part in her brandADWEEK
®
| AUGUST 26, 2019T. L. S TA N L E Y IS A SENIOR EDITOR AT ADWEEK, WHERE SHE SPECIALIZES IN
CONSUMER TRENDS AND POP CULTURE, BRANDS AND CREATIVITY. @TLSTANLEYLAEva Longoria’s
assistant Aileen
Hernandez shot this
behind-the-scenes
photo of Longoria with
(from left) makeup
artist Elan Bongiorno,
photographer Gizelle
Hernandez, hair
stylist Ken Paves
and wardrobe stylist
Charlene Roxborough.BEACON AWARD
BEHIND THE COVER
Celebrity cover shoots are notorious for being incredibly
brief—sometimes you have just 15 minutes to get the shot—and
stressful. Our three-hour session with Eva Longoria was neither.
Her glam team—wardrobe stylist Charlene Roxborough, hair
stylist Ken Paves and makeup artist Elan Bongiorno—have been
with her for upward of 15 years and took turns cheering Eva
on, trading quips and training their iPhones on the action to
capture video and images for social. The location helped set
the breezy vibe: an airy Studio City home owned by Longoria
and her husband, José Bastón. And we had a photographer,
Gizelle Hernandez, who connected personally with the
assignment. “Eva is doing work that resonates powerfully for
me as a fellow Latina and artist,” says Hernandez. “I was so
honored to photograph her.” —Kristina Felicianodecisions, as do the inner workings of the companies
themselves. If Indra Nooyi hadn’t been CEO of PepsiCo
in 2012, Longoria might not have agreed to sta r w ith chef
Michael Symon in a Lay’s potato chip campaign dubbed
“Do Us a Flavor.”
“She’s so impressive and smart and kind, and she had
a great vision for the company,” Longoria says of the for-
mer CEO. “I’m looking deeper than ‘How much?’ and
‘What do I have to hold?’”Foot on the accelerator
There’s no slowing down in her future, though Longoria
says she’s cherry-picking projects to be able to spend as
much time as possible with her now-14-month-old son.
She has another directing job set to announce soon, for
her second feature film, along with activity around the
upcoming presidential election as part of a jam-packed
schedule that makes her friends and colleagues marvel.
“I want to know what she’s done with the time-space
continuum,” Haubegger says, only half-jokingly.
“I’m astounded by the scope of her imagination be-
cause that’s where it all starts—with ideas and a desire to
change things,” Cherry says. “She’s fearless, she has a lot
of tools, and she knows how to use all of them.”EVA’S HEROES: COURTESY OF EVA’S HEROES; FOUNDATION: COURTESY OF
EVA LONGORIA FOUNDATION; CANNES: VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR KERING; DORA: VINCE
VALITUTTI/PARAMOUNT PICTURES; PADRES: COURTESY OF PADRES CONTRA EL CANCER; GRAND HOTEL: REBECCA YALE; FOOD CHAINS: JOHN LAMPARSKI/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES