Growing up as a little brown girl, rarely (if ever) did I see a person that looked like me on TV. Sometimes, on Spanish-language programming, I’d see Latinas who had darker skin tones — but more often than not they were parodied versions of what white people assumed indigenous people to be. Unfortunately, those stereotypes are still with us today. However, thanks to Sesame Street, I did have a brown Latina role model that I could look up to, and that was Maria, played by the fantastic Sonia Manzano.

Now, another beautiful Latina — who was once unknown, but has captivated the world with her talent will do what Sonia once did for me.

Yalitza Aparicio made a special apperarence on Plaza Sésamo to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Instagram/@cinematropical

Aparicio joined 3-year-old Muppet, Abby Cadabby, and the two had a lovely chat about believing in oneself, how imagination can help you achieve your dreams, and how to be persistent about your goals in life.

The brief segment began with Aparicio showing Abby on a globe all the places she’s been able to travel since the release of her Oscar-winning film “Roma.” Abby said in Spanish “when I grow up, I want to travel the world just like you!”

Aparicio said that she too dreamed of traveling the world when she was a little girl. Abby asked the Oscar-nominated actress what advice she had for her to make her dreams a reality, and Aparicio gave her the best response ever.

Aparicio advised Abby: “if you believe in yourself and work really hard, you’ll be able to accomplish all of your dreams.”

Then Aparicio told Abby to repeat the phrase over and over “if I can imagine it, I can accomplish it” so she never forgets how to reach all of her goals.

Now those are words to live by!

Click here to watch the segment.

READ: Netflix Posted Beautiful Throwbacks Of Yalitza Aparicio, Now #YalitzaChallenge Is A Thing

Recommend this story by clicking the share button below!

Notice any needed corrections? Please email us at corrections@wearemitu.com

Fans of magical realism rejoice. On Wednesday, Netflix announced it acquired the rights to Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and will be turning the literary masterpiece into a Spanish-language series.

This is the first time the 1967 novel, considered “one of the most significant works of the 20th Century,” will be adapted for screen. For years, the author, who died in 2014, refused to sell the film rights, believing the story could not be done justice through a two-hour project, according to Deadline.

Rodrigo Garcia and Gonzalo García Barcha, García Márquez’s sons, who are serving as executive producers on the show, believe a series is an appropriate approach to the book.

“For decades, our father was reluctant to sell the film rights to Cien Años de Soledad. He believed that it could not be made under the time constraints of a feature film, or that producing it in a language other than Spanish would not do it justice,” Rodrigo Garcia told BuzzFeed News, adding that the “current golden age of series,” with “the level of talented writing and directing, the cinematic quality of content,” changed the family’s mind.

“The time could not be better to bring an adaptation to the extraordinary global viewership that Netflix provides,” he continued.

The series will be filmed in Colombia.

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” tells the story of the multi-generational Buendia family, whose patriarch Jose Arcadio Buendia founded Macondo, a fictional town in the South American country.

The book has sold more than 50 million copies and has been translated into 46 languages.

In a statement, Francisco Ramos, Netflix’s vice president of Spanish-language content, said, “We know our members around the world love watching Spanish-language films and series and we feel this will be a perfect match of project and our platform.”

He’s right. Since announcing the adaptation, fans of the magical realism novel have been celebrating the news.

There’s no word yet on when the series will debut and who will star in it.

Read: This Film About Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is At The Center Of The Most Expensive Sundance Documentary Deal Of All Time

Recommend this story by clicking the share button below!

Notice any needed corrections? Please email us at corrections@wearemitu.com