Honoree: Lorenza Muñoz

Senior Executive ✧ Amazon MGM Studios

Lorenza Muñoz is a senior executive at Amazon Studios and a member of the original movies team. Throughout her career, she has championed the expansion of inclusivity by connecting and elevating creative talent from all backgrounds, particularly those from underrepresented communities. At Amazon, Muñoz’s focus is talent and industry relations, inclusive storytelling and nurturing the next generation of filmmakers to share their stories.

Prior to Amazon, Muñoz was executive vice president at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in charge of global member relations and the Awards department. Among her achievements was her work leading the response to the Academy’s #OscarsSoWhite controversy, which resulted in the largest and most diverse incoming member class in the organization’s history. During her time, the Academy held more inclusive Oscar nominations and created unprecedented representation and inclusion standards for Oscars eligibility in the Best Picture category, to increase equitable representation throughout the entertainment production community.

Earlier in her career, Muñoz was a journalist for the Los Angeles Times for more than 15 years. At the Times she covered city leaders in politics, business, civic life and the entertainment industry, as well as more personal stories exploring the unsettling challenges facing immigrants who integrate into American culture. In addition, she was assigned to an influential group that dramatically increased coverage of Latin-related stories and change-makers in the region.

Truly multi-talented, for two decades Muñoz swam for the Mission Viejo Nadadores, where she competed in the Pan Am, Pan Pacific and World Championships and later, for her alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley.

Born in Mexico City, Muñoz has always approached life as an exploration of new ideas and cultures, being a steadfast believer in the power of storytelling and art to impact change in the world and in people’s hearts. She also believes a person’s value comes not from what they know but what they share, a principle that she works to demonstrate daily.