‘Got Milk?’ Celebrates Thirty Years With Keyla Monterroso Mejia From ‘The Studio’ and ‘Abbott Elementary’ Bringing Latinidad to the Spotlight

Thirty years after the Got Milk mustache became part of U.S. pop culture, the campaign marked its anniversary in Los Angeles with a bold change. Instead of celebrities alone, the portraits unveiled came from everyday Californians whose stories now carry the legacy. The statewide Got Milk Photo Studio Tour honored teachers, barbers, athletes, and small business owners, transforming them into the new icons of California. The Los Angeles celebration drew notable guests, including Noah Schnapp of Stranger Things, his co-star Priah Ferguson, Jesse Williams of Hotel Costiera and Grey’s Anatomy, Nick Barrotta of Tyler Perry’s The Oval, and Keyla Monterroso Mejia, the Latina actress known for The Studio, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Abbott Elementary. Their presence showed how the campaign continues to connect culture and everyday life, and for Keyla, the message of celebrating real people aligned perfectly with the identity she proudly carries into her work.

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Keyla Monterroso Mejia Explains How Heritage Shapes Her Identity

When BELatina connected with Keyla, she was as sweet and approachable as she seems online and on television. She entered the call with bubbly energy, laughing about “Miami time,” and the tone immediately shifted into something personal and easy. The exchange quickly felt like a conversation with a sister or prima, filled with giggles, candid confessions, and warmth. Through it all, Keyla showed that she understands the weight of representation, the significance of her presence in Hollywood, and the responsibility she carries into spaces that once excluded voices like hers.

Keyla explained that her Guatemalan and Mexican heritage is inseparable from her career. “My identity, whether subconsciously or consciously, I carry it through everything,” she said. She credited her mother as the source of that strength. “She is a very proud woman. She’s like proud to be Mexican and proud. She’s like this ray of light,” Keyla explained. That pride and persistence gave her the courage to pursue acting even when others doubted her choice. “Girl, there were so many haters,” she recalled, “but I had this resilience that I think my mom gave me that was like, you know what, it doesn’t matter. I know who I am.”

Gratitude Above Everything

Her outlook is grounded in gratitude. “Resilience rooted in gratitude, I feel like was so powerful for me,” she said, contrasting her artistic struggles with the survival-driven resilience her immigrant parents needed when they began new lives in the United States. Gratitude became both an anchor and a discipline, carrying her through the early years of unpaid work, missed auditions, and the long process of finding her place in the industry.

She is clear that her success does not stand alone. “I am a living, breathing representation of the work that they did,” she said of performers like America Ferrera, John Leguizamo, and Jessica Marie Garcia. She considers her visibility a direct result of their persistence. “People are making space for me, and that is truly because of the hard work that they did.” She also stressed that she is aware the work is not finished. The industry still has barriers, and she feels a responsibility to keep pushing so that those who come after her find more opportunities than she did.

On Stereotypes and Allyship

Comedy became her stage, but she has made deliberate choices to avoid the stereotypes that once defined Latina roles. “I will never do an accent. We’re so past that,” she said firmly. Instead, she brings complexity to her characters, showing them as confident, clumsy, fiery, or uncertain. “I’m also angry, and I’m also clumsy, and I’m also sometimes not good at the job that I’m doing. And I’m also very confident,” she said, showcasing that Latinas deserve to be portrayed as whole people rather than reduced to a single trait.

Keyla also credits her collaborators with making that possible. She first met Quinta Brunson while working on Abbott Elementary, where she found an environment that encouraged creativity without judgment. She described Brunson as someone who built a space where actors could take risks, improvise, and feel that their contributions mattered. That safe environment gave her confidence to bring authenticity to her performances instead of shaping herself into a stereotype.

The relationship with Brunson later changed the course of her career. When Brunson recommended her to Seth Rogen for The Studio, Keyla was surprised to be called directly into a producer session without a prior audition. She later learned it was Brunson who had put her name forward. “Do you know if it was not for her, I can’t say that I would be there,” she said. That experience showed her how powerful allyship can be.

She explained that allyship must extend across communities, with established voices using their influence to open doors for those coming after them. She views her own career as proof of how much difference it makes when someone is willing to vouch for new talent. Without that support, breaking into Hollywood would have been far more difficult.

Her story with Brunson and Rogen demonstrates that visibility is never the work of one person but the result of solidarity and the generosity to share opportunity.

Got Milk and Everyday Icons

The Got Milk 30 campaign resonated with Keyla because it placed familiar faces at the center of a cultural legacy. “I feel like I’ve seen all of these people. This is my community,” she said of the portraits displayed in Los Angeles. The gallery felt personal, almost like looking through a family album. Many of the faces reminded her of people she grew up around, especially during the years she worked at her parents’ barbershop, where customers from every walk of life came through the door.

She laughed as she explained how often people tell her she looks like someone they know. “I could remind you of your mom. I can remind you of your sister. I can remind you of a cousin or a friend that you have,” she said. That quality of familiarity and beauty made her feel perfectly matched with a campaign built on approachability and authenticity. “These are my people. This is what we look like,” she added.

Being part of Got Milk also felt like stepping into a dream she carried since childhood. She described the “milk mustache fantasy,” remembering how she once viewed those ads as untouchable symbols of celebrity. At one point, the idea of wearing that mustache felt out of reach, but the anniversary campaign flipped the script by putting the spotlight on everyday people. She called the partnership “perfect,” noting that her own face has always carried a sense of recognition, as if she could be part of anyone’s family or circle of friends. Her inclusion, she said, proved that everyday beauty can be iconic too.

Speaking Directly to Latinas

Keyla’s message to young Latinas watching her is unambiguous. “If you are having any doubts, just look at me,” she said. “Look at where I come from. Look at who my family is. We’re here, we’re real people, and it’s happening, and there’s space for you too.”

She concluded with pride. “It is truly a privilege to be Latina, and it is such a big part of who I am,” she said. Her words carried the same warmth she brought into start of the call with BELatina. Keyla Monterroso Mejia embodies what the Got Milk campaign sought to celebrate in its thirtieth year, the everyday people who remind us that cultural icons can look like the families and communities we know best.

And now, as she poses with the same mustache she once dreamed of, her journey closes a circle. The “milk mustache fantasy” that once felt distant is hers to claim, and in claiming it she opens the door for the next generation of Latinas who will grow up seeing themselves reflected where they never had before.