Check out an excerpt of my new cover story on Salma for Glam Belleza Latina, the new magazine from the publishers of Glamour dedicated to Latinas and their passion for all things beauty. I first met her in LA when I interviewed her for the cover of Latina in 2011. I swear the woman just gets more beautiful with every passing year…

When we grow up, we want to be Salma Hayek Pinault. There, we’ve said it. At 46 she is stunning in a way that is both extra-ordinary and real. We could picture her kicking back at our family reunion as easily as she graces the red carpet.

But what really makes Hayek Pinault such a role model is her beautiful mind. She has the gravitas to take on an icon like Frida Kahlo, the edge to play a twisted (but ravishing) villain opposite Blake Lively in last year’s Savages, and the comedic chops to hang with the likes of Adam Sandler and Chris Rock in Grown Ups 2 (opening July 12). Then there are her businesses: the production company Ventanarosa and a cosmetics company, Nuance, inspired by her grandmother’s homemade beauty treatments.

When Glam Belleza Latina caught up with the star in Paris, she encouraged us to both push for our dreams and cut ourselves some slack. “We’ve got to fight for our confidence every day in modern life because we live in a society that is very harsh to women,” says Hayek Pinault. “You have to be smart and successful and a good mother and beautiful and young and skinny forever. It’s a lot of pressure. So I think we have to take a deep breath and just enjoy ourselves and say, ‘I’m going to be the best that I can be, and that’s more than enough.’ ”

But one doesn’t get to be as fabulous as Hayek Pinault by taking it easy, right? The actress reminds us that none of her biggest accomplishments, personally or professionally, came easy. It took almost 10 years for her to get Frida, the film that earned her her first Oscar nomination, produced—and another 10 years to launch her cosmetics line. “Patience is a wonderful skill,” says Hayek Pinault. “It teaches you to enjoy the process and not just the result of things.” Before she dashes off to pick up her daughter, Valentina, from school, she shares one more piece of advice: “Success is just happiness. If you’ve found the right companion for life, a good relationship with loved ones, if you are healthy—my God, you are immensely successful.” Read on for an illustrated history of Hayek Pinault’s extraordinary, inspiring, successful life.

To read the rest of this story, visit GlamLatina.com, where it was originally published.