Richard Montañez used to be shy about his Latino heritage when he was a child, but he has since learned to accept his Hispanic roots and turned it into something great.

Montañez grew up in Guasti, a small town close to Ontario, California. At a young age, he didn't know how to speak English and wished to be like his American classmates. It was his mother who encouraged him to be proud of being Latino and to be determined to attain success despite hardships.

Prior to inventing Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Montañez worked as a janitor at a Frito-Lay Rancho Cucamonga plant in California in the late 1970s. He never finished high school and entered the corporate world without a college degree. Montañez, however, insisted that education is highly important despite not having one himself.

He stressed that his "Ph.D.", which stands for poor, hungry and determined, pushed him to strive for success even though he doesn't possess a complete education.

"When I was a kid, I didn't know how to dream -- my generation weren't dreamers," Montañez shared. "Our fathers and grandfathers weren't dreamers, because they didn't have time to dream -- they were too busy working. The generations that came before me kicked down the door for me, but you don't need to kick down that door, because you have the key: your education."

Montañez is now PepsiCo North America's executive vice president of multicultural sales and community activation. PepsiCo is the parent company of Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Tropicana and Gatorade.

It was at the Frito-Lay plant where Montañez thought to create snacks with Latinos as its target market, which was not catered to by the American firm at the time. With this idea in mind, Montañez concocted his own recipe and shared it with his family and friends. They all loved it and urged him to pitch the recipe to the plant's CEO, who gave him a chance to do a demonstration. Montañez's recipe later became the Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

"There's one thing you need to start a revolution: a revelation," Montañez said. "There are so many ideas in front of us that nobody else can see. You have to be a leader and a visionary in seeing what no one else can see."

Montañez has two charitable foundations: Kits for Kids and Feed the Children. He also provides college scholarships to young Latinos as well as teaches leadership to MBA students.

Aside from these, Montañez also helped KFC and Taco Bell's effective promotion to the Hispanic community.

"I never once went looking for money," Montañez said. "It just so happened that money found me. The first thing that I wanted was happiness, and I wanted to be respected, but you have to respect yourself first."