Sí TV has recruited top talent for its "Take the Lead" campaign: Desperate Housewives' Eva Longoria and Comedy Central's Carlos Mencia appear in new public-service announcements with positive role models for the next generation of Latino leaders.
"I embrace the opportunity to be able to give other Latinos a platform and a voice," the South Texas-born Longoria says in her 60-second spot.
"I really take to heart that responsibility of representing not only my community but giving back to it," she says, after saying her mother inspired first her older sisters and then her to attend college.
"I'm lucky, I want to be like my dad," Mencia, who was born in Honduras, says in his spot, also an interview with someone holding a Sí TV mike.
"I want to inspire the little white kid from Oklahoma as much as I inspire the little Latino kid from Laredo, Texas," he adds. "I think that when you work hard, and you apply your craft and you wait for the opportunities to come and you take advantage of those opportunities, that you'll be successful."
Earlier PSAs - available at www.sitv.com/take-lead - feature such "Latino Leaders of Today" as CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D.-N.J.) and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The English-language network, aimed at young Latinos, also is pairing Latino leaders of today with those of tomorrow in a mentoring role. The effort kicks off in California, with state senators, business leaders and a news anchor signed on as mentors. Six young "mentees" will be selected from applications on SíTV.com.
As the campaign moves beyond California, 19 million-home Sí TV will work with affiliates to pick mentors and mentees and co-brand the PSA campaign, officials said.
