Entertainment Executive & Producer Elvi Cano is an Activist, Too

For film and event producer Elvi Cano, equality means not being put into a box or a certain position because you’re a woman, or Latina, or any other group that’s had to work harder to get a seat at the table.

“When we talk about minorities, it’s funny,” Cano says to LATV’s Carolina Trejos, “because women are 50% of the world, so we’re not a minority, but we are a minority in positions of power.”

Cano moved to Los Angeles fifteen years ago to continue her multi-faceted career in entertainment. She has organized and produced the Recent Spanish Cinema Series, several Oscars viewing parties, special events involving the Spanish Royal House, and a film festival in Los Angeles and Miami. In 2014, she helped launch the Platino Awards, deemed the ‘Latino Oscars’, which established an international platform linking Ibero-American, Spanish, and Latino filmmakers. And for decades, she’s sourced and managed talent.

“My day-to-day varies a lot,” Cano says. “[But that’s the] good thing about being independent: you can choose your own projects.”

Last year, she needed a change and returned to production. She currently works on a handful of TV projects and also produced the inauguration event for the Cervantes Institute in Los Angeles.

“It’s very rewarding when you produce an event, like the Platino Awards or the film festival at the Egyptian Theatre, and you get a full house [or] … a lot of media exposure,” Cano says.

Viewers don’t always see past the red carpet, the hustle behind-the-scenes. Cano is a skilled multitasker and prepared to work long hours, oftentimes in different time zones. That’s what it takes to pull off events at this level.

sourced from IMDb

And it’s seldom fair.

“I think women [make] a lot of compromises still nowadays,” Cano says.

For mothers who work, it’s especially difficult to show up for your family and your job at the same time. With limited maternity leave and already unequal wages, many women must choose between the two.

“I’m not a mother, but … I see it with my colleagues, my sister,” Cano says. “It’s amazing when I see a woman go through pregnancy, deliver the baby, then take care of the baby, and work at the same time. They are like super women.”

For Cano, this gender inequity prevents women, and Latin women specifically, from being offered positions with decision-making power.

“I think the most uncomfortable, dismissive, machista situation is when it’s very clear you have a chief excellence in what you’re doing,” Cano says, “but you’re not getting the same salary, credits, or position title [as male colleagues, so] you have to ask for it.”

Changing the workplace for women starts with changing your perspective. Cano’s recipe toward progress includes (1) acknowledging and paying attention to what is happening to women globally, (2) reforming education and providing girls role models to look up to, (3) involving men in the conversation and encouraging them to speak up, and (4) lastly:

“As a woman, you have to be an activist,” she says.

Learn more about Cano and other incredible women on LATV’s special, Mujeres in Charge, on the LATV+ app. Download the app here!