“Sofia Vergara and a bunch of dermatologists walk into a bar” might sound like the start of a bad dad joke…. but that’s exactly what happened this spring in San Diego when the star hosted a party for her beauty brand, Toty. The event coincided with the annual American Academy of Dermatology conference, which drew nearly 20,000 dermatologists and medical professionals from around the world to southern California.

After spending the day in educational sessions on topics ranging from ichthyosis to atopic dermatitis, a lucky two hundred or so of them were invited to meet the actor best known for her role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in Modern Family and more recently, Griselda in, well, Griselda. For her part, according to Instagram, Vergara had spent the previous night with friends at Cipriani Beverly Hills; days later, she’d make an appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. Why make a detour to San Diego—in Friday-night traffic, no less—to sip cocktails with a room full of doctors?

Well, Vergara knows her audience. Dermatologists are on the frontlines of the ongoing battle to get people to wear sun protection each and every day. And sun protection is what Toty, the line she founded just about a year ago, is all about. (It’s pronounced toe-tee as a nod to how Vergara’s older brother pronounced her name, Sofi, when they were growing up.)

Vergara has always lived in sunny climates. She was born and raised in Colombia and spent time in Miami at the beginning of her career, she tells me as we sit down together before the party. (Just a few moments prior, she was being sewn into a bright orange dress—the same shade as Toty’s branding—that she had had custom-made for the occasion.)

In the ‘90s, Vergara read an article in a magazine (remember those?) about the importance of sun protection both for the prevention of melanoma and to curb signs of aging—and has been “religious” about applying it ever since, she says. These days, Vergara is using her own formulas developed with Cantabria Labs, a Madrid-based manufacturer whose products she discovered during trips to Spain over the years. Her favorite, Toty Ilumina CC Creamy Compact SPF 50+, looks and feels more like a medium-coverage, semi-matte foundation and is meant to be applied with a brush. “To be honest with you, I even forget that it is sunblock,” says Vergara. “To me, it’s my makeup.”