Eva Longoria, 51: ‘There Is No Key’ To Juggling It All—Except This 1 Daily Habit (Exclusive)
The 'Desperate Housewives' star reveals the $0 self-care trick that keeps her focused and fueled
Key Takeaways
AI-generated summary reviewed by our editorial team.- Daily movement wins: a 30-minute (or hour) workout clears your mind.
- Prioritize: focus on the moment—business or family—one at a time.
- Support small biz: Twinning pairs firms to share fixes for shipping and marketing.
Eva Longoria, 51, knows what it’s like to juggle. For years, she shined on the hit television series Desperate Housewives. While bringing Gabrielle Solis to life, the actress attended night classes at California State University, Northridge and earned her Master’s Degree in Chicano Studies. As her career continued to evolve, Longoria pursued new avenues. Restaurant ventures, clothing lines, a cookbook and philanthropic efforts filled her time when she wasn’t shining on screen and today, she continues to enjoy a career full of diversity.
The Only Murders in the Building actress is currently the owner of Club Nexaca, a Mexican soccer team. She’s been a longtime ambassador of L’Oréal Paris, she just wrapped filming on the upcoming Netflix film The Fifth Wheel (which she directed) and to top it all off, Eva recently teamed up with Lenovo for their Backing Every Business initiative. Through this program, the multi-talented entrepreneur will lend her skills to young entrepreneurs and small businesses. Here, Eva chats with Woman’s World about how she finds balance in the chaos of her busy life and why small businesses are so important to her.
Woman’s World: It’s no secret that you’re booked and busy. What’s your trick for juggling it all and not getting overwhelmed?
Eva Longoria: Oh my gosh, there is no key! No, meditate. Meditate. You know what? Women are natural multitaskers, and I feel like I grew up in a family of really strong, independent women, so I really had an example of the woman I wanted to be all around me. My mom was a special education teacher, had four daughters, had dinner on the table every day at six, was a human taxi, so every time I look at my life, I always think I’m not doing enough, because I think about my mom. I’m like, how did she do it without technology, without a cell phone? I remember we had to go to the bank to deposit her paycheck.
With all the technology that we have today, I almost feel guilty if I feel overwhelmed, because I think about what my mom went through. I’m like, “Nope, Eva, you could do it. You’re fine.” But what I will say is, prioritizing things—Everything is not a priority. Sometimes your business is going to be a priority in this moment, and there’s a fire you have to put out. And sometimes you have to be present because your kid’s having a recital, and that’s priority. So I think it’s about, you know, you can do everything, just not at the same time.
WW: A lot of our readers struggle to find time for themselves. What’s a small act of self-care you do that lifts you up when you don’t have a ton of time?
EL: For me, I work out every day. That’s my hour of meditation. That’s my me time. It’s not a vanity thing. It really fires up endorphins. It makes me focus if I start my day with moving my body. I just have a better day, even if it’s a 30-minute walk. It’s about moving my body and having that hour for myself where I can think through the day, think about what’s coming up and yeah, that’s how I do it. And especially for a woman over 50, I think it’s important that it’s not about aging, it’s about aging well. I just want to be able to move my body. I want to keep up with my son. I want to go to Peru and climb up Machu Picchu. I want to do a lot of things, and so, for me, all of that is kind of tied together. That’s how I escape, is into my hour to myself.
WW: What made you want to collaborate with Lenovo?
EL: I am an entrepreneur at heart, and I have experience in a lot of different businesses, from my tequila to clothing lines to my soccer team. And I enjoy it because it’s another form of creation. I love creating a brand. I like supporting a brand. I’ve had a lifelong history of my foundation of supporting small businesses. I love small businesses. They’re the heart of our communities. They fuel the global economy. People don’t realize small businesses really are what make the world go round. So when they came to me with this initiative, which is pretty amazing, called Backing Every Business, I was really interested. I was really leaning in because the world is going through challenging times. You’d think it’s easier and easier, but it’s getting harder and harder to run small businesses.
Whether it’s global distribution—How do I find my customer? What’s digital marketing? How do I keep up my back office but get orders out? So when Lenovo came to me with this global initiative, it was really designed to support that gap in between just being able to survive to having growth and to thrive. And at the heart of that is this thing called Twinning, where they match small businesses that are facing similar problems from different corners of the world. So you could have two small businesses that are both facing shipping problems. Like, “Oh my god, it’s getting more and more expensive to ship my product. What do you do?” “Well, this is what I did.”
And so, allowing these twin companies to collaborate and learn from each other and connect the dots, I think it’s really going to be key to unlocking some answers that they’re looking for, but also creating community. A lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses feel like they’re on a lonely island, like I’m the only one going through this challenge. Why is this happening to just me? And it’s not. I think at the heart of the Backing Every Business initiative, the Twinning program is going to be super effective.
WW: What can you tell me about the new Netflix film you’re directing, The Fifth Wheel?
EL: Oh, my God, I just wrapped last night. It was great. You know what I love most about it? It’s a female comedy, written by two women, produced by four women, directed by a woman, about women. So it’s pretty unique. We don’t have enough of these comedies in the world. We’re in a time where we need to laugh in our lives, and it’s going to be really fun. We have a lot of great cameos with Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig, 50 Cent, Jack Whitehall, Matt Walsh, Casey Wilson, aside from our main cast. We had a lot of fun shooting it. Now I’m going into post, and I can’t wait for you all to see it.
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