Betty Suarez, the lead character in the ABC dramedy Ugly Betty, was the unlikeliest of heroines and everyone from those who taunted her on the job at an upscale fashion magazine to her close-knit family to the audience watching the show at home thought so.

All the stuff you want to do, owning a magazine it doesnt happen for people like us, unless youre J.Lo or something, her nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato) told Betty (America Ferrera) on the stoop of their home in Jackson Heights, Queens, where they lived with her undocumented father, Ignacio (Tony Plana), and her spirited sister, Hilda (Ana Ortiz).

Justin was only in middle school and yet he already understood that success was limited to a select few from his familys working-class background. For him and so many others, the American Dream was exemplified by the beautiful Jennifer Lopez, one of the few examples of U.S. Latino representation in Hollywood in the 2000s. But Silvio Horta , the creator and showrunner of Ugly Betty who died earlier this month, offered an alternative version of prosperity for new generations of Latinos through a character who was less aspirational and more relatable, a young woman who wasnt conventionally attractive but was still the daring protagonist of her own life.