Beatriz Acevedo is being feted for her social media skills…
The 45-year-old Mexican entertainment executive and Emmy-winner is among this year’s honorees in the Social 25 as part of the upcoming Social Media Week Los Angeles conference and other festivities.
Acevedo is the founder and president of MiTu Network, which provides Spanish-language lifestyle programs on YouTube. When the network launched, it had 30 channels with about 15 million monthly views. MiTu now has more than 700 channels, and about 100 million monthly views.
MiTu provides content in English, Spanish and Portuguese, because many Latinos, Acevedo said, though they are Spanish speakers, prefer to search in English and watch English videos. Most traditional networks offer only game shows, soap operas and sports in Spanish, but MiTu provides “culturally relevant content,” including shows on Mexican cookery and raising bilingual children — free of charge.
“You have to pay a high premium for most Spanish channels, except for us,” she said.
Acevedo joins actors Sophia Bush, Caitlin Crosby and Marlon Wayans; Endemol Beyond USA president Will Keenan; Russell Simmons and Steve Rifkind of All Def Digital; Beats founders Jimmy Iovine, Doctor Dre and Ian Rogers; Danny Gabai of Vice Media; and YouTubers Grace Helbig, DJ Skee; the Fine Brothers; Jonathan Skogmo of Jukin Media; the 26MGMT management company and Meridith Rojas of live-event company Digitour on the list.
The L.A.-based list recognizes the year’s “25 most outstanding individuals, companies, and brands influencing the future of social media.”
Honorees will be part of an event on September 22, opening night of Social Media Week Los Angeles.
Other honorees on the list include: Matt Pohlson and Ryan Cummins of charity Omaze; Sean Rad of Hollywood’s favorite hook-up app, Tinder; Jim Redner of virtual-reality company Oculus Rift; Jonathan Shokrian of online retailer MeUndies; author and speaker Marianne Williamson; and musician ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, whose social-media-driven latest album was the biggest in his decades-long career as a parodist.
The list also includes chef, author and starter of the food-truck revolution Roy Choi; Tony Horton of Beachbody Fitness (the P90X fitness empire); Bastian Lehmann of “Uber of stuff” site Postmates; Jason Nazar, CEO of small-business documents company Docstoc; and Abhi Nemani, the city of Los Angeles Chief Data Officer.
Along with attending the VIP event, some of the honorees will serve as keynotes and panelists during the four-day Social Media Week LA conference in Santa Monica.
