Gen X may know Daisy Fuentes greatest for her breakthrough TV spot as MTV’s first Latina VJ again in 1993, concurrently internet hosting each MTV in English and MTV Internacional in Spanish. However earlier than she was a lauded tv star turned speak present host, Fuentes was a globetrotting little woman whose household moved from Cuba (the place her dad was from) to Spain (the place her mother was from) with a purpose to escape the Castro regime. They finally settled in New Jersey the place she began her younger profession by getting into the world of modeling, which parlayed right into a gig because the climate individual for Spanish-language station Telemundo—which is exactly when MTV took discover of this quickly rising star.
Thirty years and 135 IMDB credit later, Fuentes, now 56 and chiller than ever, has a brand new calling. Alongside along with her husband, pop-rock mogul and Grammy-winner Richard Marx (“Infinite Summer season Nights” may come to thoughts), Fuentes has embraced veganism with the identical fierce dedication and drive that, earlier this 12 months, led Folks en Espanol to call her one of many “25 Most Highly effective Girls.”
For Fuentes, the dedication to replicate her worldview by the use of her food plan shouldn’t be solely a nod to animal and environmental safety, but in addition to her bigger-picture view of what it means to be constantly compassionate. Fuentes is, at her core, an activist, utilizing her large platform to talk for the marginalized—whether or not it’s her fellow immigrants, her BIPOC sisters and brothers who’ve been pushed to the margins for much too lengthy, or the billions of farmed animals exploited for a grossly unsustainable and unjust meals system.
VegNews’ Jasmin Singer sat down with Daisy Fuentes to debate her journey to veganism, her rabble-rousing methods, and the place, precisely, tequila suits in (spoiler alert: tequila all the time suits in).
Daisy Fuentes/Instagram
VegNews: We love that you simply and your husband Richard Marx went vegan collectively. Inform us a bit extra about what the last word impetus was for you two to go vegan.
Daisy Fuentes: Richard had been a vegetarian since he was in his twenties, and was pescatarian once I met him. So it was a bit simpler for him to make the swap. By means of social media, I grew to become extra conscious of what was actually happening [for animals]. We lastly determined to look at a number of documentaries—and as tough because it was, then we watched a number of extra. I noticed I’d by no means made a connection or actually thought of my meals and what it actually was. We additionally realized about meals as medication. It was all too apparent. We had all this new info, and we couldn’t keep the identical. I imagine with information comes accountability; we determined we needed to make a change and evolve. Like most vegans, I solely want I’d completed it a lot sooner.
Daisy Fuentes/Instagram
VN: And there’s one other approach you’re channeling your compassion: trend! How has your veganism impacted your trend traces?
DF: My trend sense has additionally advanced. I not care about sporting the “it” designer of the second or getting that must-have bag each woman desires. I’m extra conscious of what I’m shopping for and what I put my title on. My model doesn’t take a look at on animals or use leather-based or suede. I additionally don’t assume we must always have to decide on between paying our mortgage or getting that designer bag. I don’t need to be a slave to trend, however I nonetheless need to look trendy and know the tendencies, so I can translate them to be extra inclusive, wearable, and reasonably priced.
Richard Marx/Instagram
VN: You’ve been within the leisure business for over three many years, however you’ve mentioned that you simply solely lately began to essentially settle into a piece/life stability. What shifted?
DF: I bought married. I’ve been busy working for many years, however discovered actual love and married later in life. I now need to get pleasure from this a part of life extra. I hate that even when I reside to be 90, I received’t get to spend sufficient time with the love of my life—whom I solely met in my forties! I’ve bought clear priorities now. I don’t must, or need to, do the whole lot; I need to get pleasure from life. I need to study myself, my husband, and the universe. I need to spend extra time with household and fewer time doing issues I don’t completely love.
Richard Marx/YouTube
VN: Talking of you and your husband, you began a podcast collectively—Tequila Discuss—that began through the beginnings of the pandemic and ran the next two years. How did the concept come up, and what was that like?
DF: It began as one thing we did a number of instances on Instagram Stay, whereas we have been having a drink. We love to speak and we love tequila. Some individuals thought we must always make it a daily factor. We talked about the whole lot you’d speak about when having a drink with a good friend … present affairs, popular culture, tales within the information. We vented, we bought philosophical, mentioned the world—I cherished it.
Daisy Fuentes/Instagram
VN: Extra importantly, what’s your favourite strategy to drink tequila?
DF: I’m a purist. Añejo tequila on the rocks with a lime wedge.
Daisy Fuentes/Instagram
VN: Tequila apart, how are you training self-care nowadays?
DF: I’ve embraced dwelling in a less complicated approach. So many luxuries and acquisitions have change into so foolish and pointless. I meditate and spend numerous time in nature. I reside on the seashore and that’s been my remedy. I’m grateful daily that I get to roll off the bed and onto the sand with my husband and our candy canine. We hike a few of the most stunning trails on the planet proper in our yard—the Santa Monica mountains. However most of all, I’ve realized that I like being dwelling, cooking, studying, and studying. When the world offers me lemons, I get some tequila and make the perfect of it.
Daisy Fuentes/Instagram
VN: And what’s been the most important factor you’ve realized about your self lately?
DF: That I like being genuine. I like dwelling my fact, talking my fact, and never worrying about what individuals consider me. I used to be busy simply working and doing what individuals do whereas life was passing me by. I want I lived in accordance with my values sooner. I ought to’ve discovered my voice once I was youthful. I need to encourage younger individuals to search out their voice, their causes. To maintain an open thoughts, and to vary it as typically they should. To query the whole lot, and rise up for what’s proper.
VN: What offers you hope?
DF: Youthful generations. They know and perceive a lot greater than many adults who’re close-minded and caught of their methods. Individuals who rise up for others and in opposition to injustice give me hope. Even when it’s all dangerous information and individuals are at their worst, there are all the time some good individuals serving to and making a distinction. They provide me hope.
For extra on vegan celebrities, take a look at:
