María de Jesús “Chuyita” Lizárraga

Chuyita manages the 133-employee organization that oversees Mexican supergroup Banda El Recodo and its younger sister group, Banda Los Recoditos. She has been their driving force since 1970, when, at 25 years old, she married El Recodo founder and then-bandleader Cruz Lizárraga, who was more than twice her age: “I told him, ‘I don’t know about music,” she says, “but if you trust me, I’ll help with the business.’ ”

The young bride began her career booking shows. Today, she is recognized as the grand dame of Mexican music, and El Recodo, which will turn 84 in October, is known as “the mother of bands,” with nine Latin Grammy Award wins and 52 entries on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart. While brothers Alfonso and Joel Lizárraga have led the group since Cruz’s death in 1995, Chuyita still oversees “bookings, clients, distribution, logistics, everything,” she says. “At 77, I haven’t lost my desire to work.”