Meet Lorenza Munoz

We recently connected with Lorenza Munoz and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lorenza , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience: the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. I am an immigrant. As an immigrant, there is perhaps nothing more important than being able to withstand and recover, to morph into the shape you need to be in order to get ahead in life. My parents, brother and I left our native Mexico when I was 6. My parents did not leave out of economic necessity but rather out of a whimsical sense of adventure. They wanted a new canvas to paint on, a new place where my brother and I could be raised without the traffic, pollution and corruption of Mexico City. We landed in Huntington Beach–a city in Orange County, California–a place about as different from Mexico City it might as well have been Mars. Huntington Beach is a city on the sea. And so, in certain seasons, a thick, moist fog would roll in as blinding as an avalanche. One morning in 1st grade, as I got to the school bus stop, I stood to the side of all other kids—minding my own business or creating imaginary conversations in my head, most likely, since I could not understand what anybody was saying or communicate what I was thinking. All of us kids waited there longer than usual. And then out of the fog, a mom appeared (this was the 70s and so there were no helicopter parents huddled waiting for the bus with us). The kids gathered around her. I stood on the outside of the circle trying to make sense out what she was saying. But as she mouthed words none of it made sense to me. And then, all of the kids started following her in the direction opposite from where I lived, like little chicks following the mother hen. So I followed the flock. We kept walking and I noticed that kids were disappearing, one by one, going into houses as we walked into a neighborhood. This was strange to me since I thought this mom was walking us to school. And then after a few minutes of walking, I realized that all the kids had left, and it was just me and the mom and her kid. As they walked to their front door, I followed them. The mom turned to look at me and asked me something, which I did not understand. And then she opened her door to me and brought me into her home. I remember her kitchen was warm and small, with yellow flowered wallpaper on the walls and a phone that attached to the wall and had a long cord. She called the school and must have told them she had a kid who did not speak English standing in her kitchen. Somehow, I understood when she asked me my name. I told her my name. And then asked me what car my father drove. I was very proud that I could say the make and model because it was unforgettable to me—a Ford Fiesta! I may not speak English, but I wasn’t so dumb I could not remember Fiesta. We sat at her kitchen table and waited for what I soon realized would be my father picking me up since my mom did not have a car at the time. And then there was a knock at the door and it was my dad. He greeted the mom and thanked her. I thanked her as well and then I noticed, to my horror, that my dad was not driving the Fiesta. He led me to this new car and opened the front door for me to get in. As I sat in the car, the tears began to stream down. What was this car he was driving? Where did it come from? I had been so proud of myself for being able to do one thing right on that morning with me telling that nice mom the name of my dad’s car. But I couldn’t even get that right. And then my dad looked at me tenderly and said, “The Ford is in the shop, honey. This is a rental car.” Great, I thought. Just my luck. But even as I cried and sulked in the car, my dad took me to school. There was no buffer. I would go on to face the day. I made it my mission to learn English. I found books that taught me what it was like to be an American kid–Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume were my go-to’s. I listened to music like Donna Summer, memorized the complete soundtrack to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (the 70s Peter Frampton version) in my room on my record player and watched the movie Grease over and over (also memorizing every single song). Resilience, I found, came from jumping back into the fray, going back to the jungle gym and negotiating a turn at the monkey bars or standing in line to play handball or making new friends on the playground. And, I found, venturing back into the fray was much more sustainable and successful if I came at it from a place of joy, not dread.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am the CEO and founder of Artemis Muse Productions, a strategic consulting firm specializing in curating awareness raising events, connecting and engaging industry leaders and strengthening brands around business initiatives with a particular focus on the entertainment industry. I get tremendous joy out of connecting people, building community and implementing ideas into action. Prior to founding Artemis Muse, I was a senior executive at Amazon MGM Studios and EVP of global Member Relations and Awards at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the Academy, I oversaw world-wide activities and initiatives for the organization’s 9,000+ filmmakers and artists. She led the creation of the Academy’s inclusion initiatives for women, underrepresented groups and the Oscars, including devising strategy to bring the Academy out of the Oscars-so-White controversy. Before transitioning to entertainment, I spent more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times, writing over 3,000 articles spanning entertainment, business, and government coverage. I continue to write and I am currently working on a memoir about my experiences as an internationally ranked swimmer.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Find what you love and what brings you joy.
Be excellent at what you do.
Don’t let them put you in a box.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

I love being part of a collaborative team and often, being an entrepreneur of a new company means that you are on a journey alone. It is hard to keep inspired and to keep pushing forward without a team. To try to overcome this, I have created different circles of friends and colleagues who I can touch base with regularly and ask questions, see where and if we can collaborate and also to remind myself that what I am doing is worth it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artemismuseproductions.com
• Instagram: @artemismuseproductions
• Linkedin: @lorenzamunoz

Image Credits

I have the rights and credits to all photos submitted.