Meet Jessica Molina: Latina.com’s Most Ambitious Host
Originally Published on Ambitious.com | 08/03/2015
Jessica Molina (LinkedIn) is a producer and entertainment correspondent for Latina.com where she hosts the Latina Lowdown series and interviews top celebrities like Channing Tatum, Mixed Martial Artist Ronda Rousey, Jessica Alba and Jada Pinkett Smith – just to name a few. She also hosts The Sala, her own videos series that shares the stories of amazing entrepreneurs, artists and activists who are boldly following their dreams.
So just how does a Jersey girl go from freelancing behind the camera to packing up her bags and moving 3,000 miles away to become a host for Latina.com?
We talked to Jessica Molina as she revealed 8 not-so-tidy realities that helped her overcome fear and make her aspirations a reality.
Reality 1. Find Your Source of Inspiration
“The Sala is a space for me to help share the stories of people doing it in the middle of the damn thing,” she told me as we spoke about what she passionately called her baby.
“They’re in the trenches. They’re figuring out their voice. They’re real people doing real things.”
Realty 2. Take Risks To Get Answers
“There’s something about those moments when people care about you where they unintentionally start to impart their fears on you. I know I would not have realized the answers if I stayed and waited for it the answer to hit me.”
Jessica told me about how uncertain she had been, even though a move out to Cali had always been in the back of her mind.
“I had to jump on that plane, move 3,000 miles across the country in order for it to be ‘this is where you’re supposed to be.’ ”
Instead of asking friends and family about what she should do, Jessica took a leap of blind faith and booked a one-way plane ticket to California. The same day she flew out to L.A. she received an email from Latina.com saying: “Hey! It would be great if you work with us on the west coast!”
Her move is an incredible reminder that while we don’t always have the answer to every question, sometimes we have to stick our neck out and ask them ourselves.
Reality 3. Rise Above Your Own Insecurities
Jessica wasn’t always the woman in front of the camera. It may be a bit of a surprise, especially if you watch Jessica’s videos as she talks animatedly with celebrities and local entrepreneurs with the ease of a natural. But there was a time when she, like many of us, didn’t feel she would be successful in that scene.
“Being Latina and having always been curvy, I knew there was an image that the media presents as ‘this is beautiful’…..And that just wasn’t me. I really had to sell my insecurities to myself literally sitting on my bed and having a conversation with myself saying, ‘You’re being so ridiculous right now! People are approaching you because they see potential in you so are you really going to let your poor body image get in the way of your gift!?’”
Reality 4. Ambition Is a Lot Like a Burger
“Whatever it is you want to do, purpose is the one motivating factor that needs to be behind it all.” Jessica explained.
“Say you’re a hungry vegetarian and your friends bring you to a burger joint — you’re going to do whatever you can to satisfy your hunger that sticks within your diet’s guidelines. You shouldn’t just give up your beliefs to satisfy a craving. That’s how it should be with purpose and ambition. You want something, you’re so hungry for it, but you should know what you are willing and not willing to do to make it happen.”
Reality 5. It’s O.K. To Delay Gratification
“If I had hit a certain level of success by the time I was 23 or 24, I can guarantee it would not have been nearly as fulfilling.” Jessica herself admitted that there was a time she almost let herself give in to today’s instant gratification mentality.
“You see other people that are younger who have what society defines as ‘success’ and you start to think ‘I could be too!’ There must be something wrong with me. If that mentality had continued when I was younger, The Sala would not have been conceived, because it is about the community and not about myself.”
The ideas generated from experience and the results we have to wait for are the ones that provide the greatest satisfaction.
Reality 6. Don’t Wait For An Opportunity: Create It!
As a Latina, Jessica found there were very few spaces for Latina women to feel empowered and lend their stories or express themselves without the need to sacrifice their voice.
Instead of waiting for a platform to be created or given to her, she did it herself by building The Sala. With this new platform, she can give a voice to young women and showcase other ambitious, confident Latinas who look like them and have similar goals and passions.
“If you want to paint, start painting. You want to host a show? Take out your cell phone! You don’t even need a camera! Start doing videos. Put it on Youtube. With all the apps that are coming out, you don’t have to wait for someone to hire you for the job that you want to do!”
Reality 7: Surround Yourself With Successful People And Success Will Follow
“Finding someone to mentor you is imperative, especially when you’re in the arts.”
Jessica expressed regret that she didn’t do enough interning to find someone to help advise her. Still, she’s proud that today we have technology that can help us move forward into our dream field — whether or not we have an official mentor.
