Reporter
Award-winning filmmaker and owner of Maya Cinemas Moctesuma Esparza shared his inspiring success story at CSU Bakersfield as part of a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on Tuesday.
Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Esparza attributed his inspiration and motivation to both his father, who instilled in him that he could do anything and encouraged him to pursue an education to achieve his goals, and to Chilean philosopher and politician Fernando Flores.
“The second most important influence in my life was Fernando Flores,” Esparza said. “He focused on the work of Heidegger…[who] had one idea. That language creates reality. What you say, what you think, what you listen to creates your individual reality, and creates our group reality and it literally creates the reality that we all live in together.”
Upon the discovery and practice of this philosophy, he found that the power to personal success lay within him and how he handled outside situations.
He emphasized greatly on the weight and power words, and our mindsets, have on the outcome of our situations and achieving our goals.
“It wasn’t so much that I had goals. It was that I had the ability to move through what showed up,” Esparza said. “It is how you navigate those events, how you hold them in your own mind, that determines your ability to prosper.”
Captivated by his passionate speech, students and faculty were highly intrigued with what Esparza had to say.
“I think it was definitely, absolutely true. Completely. [Words] affect the way you are viewed and how you want to be viewed” said Wendy Melendez, a fourth-year business major who felt extremely motivated and enlightened by his speech.
“It’s extremely empowering to be like ‘okay this isn’t a crazy thought.’ Especially in the Latino culture where you know journalism or film production isn’t exactly the number one thing you go to” expressed Melendez. “Especially within the arts or something outside of practical everyday stuff you hear, to see that coming in and saying this is where we are at, you can do it too, is extremely cool.”
Esparza encouraged faculty and students to be proactive and intentional in their interactions.
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get. If you don’t knock, the door doesn’t open” Esparza shared.
The talk given by Esparza was part of a series of events celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month which are guided to empower Latinos and Latinas, to take pride in their roots and strive for their dreams.