Jennifer Lopez, who has an estimated net worth of $400 million, explained how she became a powerhouse in the industry.

Lopez covers Entrepreneur Magazine and spoke about how she took ownership of her career. It happened when she launched her first fragrance in 2002, Glow by JLo, which went on to become one of the best-selling fragrances in the country.

When the perfume was predicted to earn $2 billion, the singer had an epiphany that she “didn’t make but 0.01% of that,” even though she was “building this brand on my back.” Lopez continued, “I realized, at a certain point, I’m still working my a** off, and everybody’s collecting checks.”

“When you start off as an artist, you’re just happy to get whatever you can,” she admitted. “You can’t believe your good fortune. I remember myself back then: I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll do the perfume! Oh yes, I love fashion, I’ll do a clothing line!’ I’ll do this, I’ll do that. I was just so happy to be here.”

Lopez said she learned to demand a spot at the table and understand her worth — and now she hopes to inspire others to do the same. She launched Limitless Labs in 2021 to highlight Latina-owned businesses and has now partnered with Grameen America to support low-income female entrepreneurs.

The goal is to provide $14 billion in loans and six million hours of financial education to Latina-owned businesses by 2030.

Lopez said Latino-owned businesses are “the fastest-growing segment of all small businesses,” but Latina women face significant obstacles in securing loans. “We get, like, $1 out of every $23,” she said.

With this, Lopez hopes to even the playing field and inspire more Latinas to reach for their dreams.