Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesse Torres Jr.
Hi Jesse , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in San Antonio, with deep roots on the West Side. My story has never been a straight line. Growing up, I was exposed to a lot at an early age, and during the 1990s I became heavily involved in gang life. At the time, that world was about loyalty, reputation, survival, and belonging. I became deeply involved and took on a leadership role, but I don’t share that part of my life to glorify it. I share it because it is part of understanding how far my life has traveled.
Eventually, I realized I had to choose what kind of man I wanted to become and what kind of future I wanted for my family. Construction became one of the things that helped change my direction. I learned the trades, worked in residential construction and remodeling, and eventually became self-employed and operated my own remodeling business. Construction taught me responsibility, problem-solving, patience, craftsmanship, and something that would later become very important to me: everything worth building needs a strong foundation.
Later in life, I decided to return to school. I already had years of hands-on experience, but education helped me connect that experience with building codes, estimating, construction management, business, and the technical side of the industry. Eventually, I went from being the student sitting in the classroom to becoming the instructor standing in front of it. Today, I teach construction technology at St. Philip’s College, where I have the opportunity to help students see that the trades can become much more than a job. They can become a profession, a business, financial independence, and sometimes a second chance.
My family has also been a huge part of my motivation. I am the father of three biological children and one adoptive daughter, and I am also a grandfather. As I have gotten older, I think more about legacy—what I am leaving behind for my children, grandchildren, students, and community. I want them to understand that your past can explain where you came from without having to determine where you finish.
Outside of construction and education, I am also a Chicano artist, musician, and storyteller. Much of my creative work comes from my family, San Antonio culture, the West Side, struggle, memories, and transformation. Art and music give me another way to preserve those stories and experiences.
When I look back now, I sometimes think about the contrast in my life. There was a time when I helped young men find their place in the streets. Today, I help young men and women find their place in the trades. I am not trying to erase where I came from. I am trying to show what can come from it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road.
A lot of my struggles started when I was young. I grew up around violence, drugs, gangs, instability, and situations that forced me to grow up faster than I should have. By the 1990s, I had become deeply involved in gang life myself. At that age, I thought strength meant never backing down, and respect was something you had to demand. It took me years to understand that real strength is being able to change direction.
Education was another struggle. I did not follow the traditional path through high school. I dropped out and eventually earned my GED. For a long time, I carried the feeling that school was not where I belonged. Years later, going back to college meant walking into a classroom as an adult, with responsibilities, a family, a career, and a completely different life behind me. I had to prove to myself that I could still learn, grow, and finish what I started.
Construction gave me a way forward, but that road was not easy either. Working in the trades means long days, physical work, mistakes, difficult customers, unpredictable jobs, and learning that your reputation follows every project you complete. When I became self-employed, I also had to learn the business side: estimating, scheduling, managing money, dealing with customers, and taking responsibility when things did not go according to plan.
One of my biggest struggles was learning how to separate who I had been from who I was trying to become. Changing your environment is one thing. Changing the way you think can take much longer. There were habits, attitudes, anger, pride, and survival instincts that had helped me in one part of my life but could hurt me in another.
Family changed my perspective tremendously. Being a father to my three biological children and my adoptive daughter, and later becoming a grandfather, made me think much more seriously about what I was leaving behind. I stopped looking only at the day in front of me and started thinking about legacy.
There were also times when I questioned whether I belonged in education or whether someone with my background could really become a college instructor. But that background eventually became one of the things that helped me connect with students. I know what it feels like to make mistakes, to feel behind, to wonder whether you missed your opportunity, and then discover that there is still another road available.
I have learned that life is a lot like construction. Sometimes you discover that something was built on a weak foundation. You can ignore it, or you can do the difficult work of tearing things back, correcting what needs correcting, and rebuilding.
That is what I have tried to do with my life.
I am still a work in progress, but I am proud of the distance between where I started and where I stand today. More importantly, I want my children, grandchildren, and students to see that a difficult beginning does not have to determine the ending.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I work as a Construction Technology instructor at St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, where I teach and mentor students preparing for careers in the construction trades. My background comes from years of hands-on experience in residential construction and remodeling, including operating my own remodeling business.
I teach subjects such as carpentry, construction methods and materials, blueprint reading, building codes, estimating, jobsite safety, project planning, and the business side of construction. I try to connect classroom learning with what students will actually face in the field.
I am also a Chicano artist, musician, and storyteller. My artwork is heavily influenced by San Antonio, the West Side, Mexican American culture, family, struggle, memory, and personal transformation. I enjoy taking those experiences and turning them into paintings, visual concepts, music, and stories that reflect where I come from and what I have lived through.
For me, construction and art are actually very similar. Both start with an idea, both require skill and patience, and both leave something behind when you are finished.
So when someone asks what I do, I usually say:
I am an educator, builder, and artist. I teach people how to build with their hands, and through my art I try to build connections to culture, memory, and the stories that shaped me.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is family, purpose, and leaving something meaningful behind.
For a long time, I lived more in the moment. When you grow up around instability, violence, and survival, you do not always think twenty years ahead. You think about getting through what is in front of you. As I got older, became a father, became a grandfather, returned to school, and eventually became an instructor, my perspective changed.
My family is at the center of everything I do. I have three biological children, one adoptive daughter, and grandchildren. They are a major reason I think so much about legacy now. I want them to know where I came from, but I also want them to see that a person is capable of changing direction, learning from mistakes, and building something better.
My students matter deeply to me as well. I know what it feels like to be young and not see all the possibilities in front of you. I know what it feels like to make decisions based on your environment and to believe that maybe your path has already been decided for you.
That is why teaching means more to me than simply delivering information.
If I can teach someone a trade, help them find confidence, introduce them to an employer, encourage them to finish school, or help them see that they have more options than they realized, then I feel like I am doing something worthwhile.
I also care about preserving where I come from. San Antonio, the West Side, my family, our culture, and the people who came before me are important parts of who I am. That comes through in my teaching, my artwork, my music, and the stories I tell.
I do not want success to mean forgetting where I came from.
I want success to mean taking everything I have lived through, the good, the bad, the mistakes, the lessons, and the opportunities, and turning it into something that can help the next person.
At this stage of my life, I am less concerned with being remembered for what I owned or what title I had.
I would rather be remembered as a father and grandfather who showed his family that change was possible, an instructor who cared about what happened to his students after they left the classroom, and a man who used his experiences instead of allowing those experiences to use him.
That is what matters most to me.
**Family. Purpose. Legacy. And making sure that what I learned does not stop with me.**
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chuyjrart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChuyJr74/
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/chuyjr74
