Eva Longoria Is All About Championing Women — and a Shot of Tequila

Many know Eva Longoria for her notable movie and television roles. She rose to international stardom in 2004 with the debut of Desperate Housewives, where she took on the character of Gabriella Solis — the well-off wife of Carlos, played by Ricardo Antonio Chavira — and has since starred, produced, and directed dozens of on-screen projects. But "actor" is only one of Longoria's many titles.

Off-screen, she's an activist, podcast host, entrepreneur, mother, and most importantly a proud Mexican-American — all of which fuel her sense of purpose.

Take her podcast, Connections, as an example. In each 30-ish minute episode, she has thought-provoking conversations with leaders across various industries and gives a platform to many Latinx voices. (Check out her episode with Chilean author Isabel Allende where they cover the topic of aging — it's a treat). Then, there's the film projects she produces: such as the Reversing Roe documentary — and the ones she directs — such as the upcoming "Flamin' Hot" feature, which shares the story of Richard Montañez, a Mexican-American janitor who invented who came up with the Cheetos spinoff and disrupted the food industry. In 2023, she's starring in CNN's upcoming six-part series, Eva Longoria: Searching For Mexico — a spin-off of Stanley Tucci's hit show Searching for Italy — where she'll travel to different regions in Mexico to discover their cuisines and uncover hidden gems. Most recently, though, Longoria launched a tequila brand that's more than just something to add to your bar cart — it's a vessel for female upliftment.

"Casa Del Sol is an amazing tequila brand, and I know this is going to sound crazy, but it's Mexican-owned," she jokes to InStyle during an Instagram Live. "Our distillery is 100% Mexican-owned, and that's really rare."

She goes on to elaborate on why having a Mexican-owned tequila brand is so important, pointing out that many companies on the market right now only feature white men on motorcycles for their ads. If you know, you know.

"When I joined Casa Del Sol, I was so impressed that it was Mexican-forward, it was about Mexican heritage, it was about honoring the region.... and keeping the success there — not just going into this region, exploiting it, and selling tequila over the world."

Beyond the actual tequila — of which Casa del Sol offers three types: añejo, blanco, and reposado — the company does a lot of work to empower the workers and honor the land.

"We have a lot of women in key positions. Tequila's the number one spirit preferred by women, and yet you don't see a lot of female tequilas. Not that this tequila is for women, but our master distiller is a woman, which is really rare," she begins. "Our CEO of the distillery is a fourth generation tequila maker, first woman to take over the distillery. We have our VP of operations is a woman. Almost our entire team are women, and that's important. [This] is not a celebrity brand, it's a tequila brand that is Mexican-forward and honoring and supporting all the amazing women behind it, trying to forge a path for themselves in a very macho industry."

Apart from the making of the tequila, Longoria shares that there are women who work on the vegan leather necks that go on the bottles from the comfort of their homes.

"We send this material to their houses, they cut it, they stamp it, they sew it, and they send it to the factory and then we can compensate them for that work," she describes. And doing so gives them the opportunity to make a fair wage without having to abandon their families and responsibilities in the home, which in turn gives them financial independence.

Longoria is well-versed in the space of uplifting women. After all, she has partnered with L'Oréal Paris's Women of Worth initiative for nearly 20 years. The annual program gives 10 women $20,000 each to support their charitable causes, giving more depth to the brand's signature slogan: "Because you're worth it."

"To be part of a company that their sole mission is to make sure you value yourself worth really has been an honor," says Longoria of their ongoing partnership.

As time has gone by, not only has Longoria's career flourished, but her relationship to aging has as well. When speaking about what it was like to watch herself grow up on television, she laughed and pointed out how humorous it is when people ask what she does to stop aging. "You can't! It's going to happen — I embrace it," she says, adding that she associates aging with wisdom, intellect, experience, and the evolution of who she is.

"That doesn't mean I don't like to take care of myself. I do lasers and peels and massages and creams and hyaluronic acid. I want to look my best, but it doesn't own me."

Cheers to that! And of course, we cheers with a Casa del Sol margarita — Longoria's favorite drink.