Today we’d like to introduce you to Elaine Torres.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Elaine. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
The adventure that I call life is filled with ups, downs, determined personal agendas and many failures. It has also been filled with different people along the way who have helped shape the person that I am today. I attribute each and every success that I have had to their influence. Surrounding yourself with positive, successful people helps you to learn their habits and can hand you the keys to living your best life. I’m lucky to have had the chance to meet some wonderful people along my path.
What began out of necessity for money to survive and feed a growing family has transformed into getting the opportunity to do what I love as a career first in Digital Marketing, and now as a UX Designer.
I know it’s rather long, but there is a method to my madness.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Has it been a smooth road? HA! Smooth roads are for chumps. Let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time, I had aspirations of becoming a police officer and my boyfriend an IT professional. As my graduation from high school drew closer (1993, I know… so old), I knew I wanted to go to college, so I began the arduous task of testing, applying, and filling out financial aid forms. There really was limited guidance from my school on how to go about all of this and I found myself having to seek out information anywhere I could. I asked questions and found answers from my senior year guidance counselor or the library. #preinternet I was accepted to several schools but opted to attend what was then called Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State) on a scholarship. No one in my family had ever attended college so my acceptance and attendance was a pretty big deal in my little family. My mother did not attend school past the 8th grade, and my father graduated from high school so it was important to me that I go on to do what they could not. I wanted to do better for them and be able to care for them when they got older. Failure was not an option. I promised them I would graduate from college. So, what did I do my first year of college?
I partied.
I passed all classes, with C’s and 1 D.
Not my idea of winning. I know, so ambitious. I felt like a failure not for me but for my parents who had such high hopes for my future.
Add to this the fact that my boyfriend and I discovered we were pregnant at the end of that first semester. This is the moment that changed everything for me. The thought of having another life to care for when I could barely even pass a class and manage my own was truly terrifying. Over the next nine months, my life would go from that of a wild college student to a student of life. I still had the desire to know things and to learn everything, I just applied that desire to learning everything I could about becoming a mother and new parent instead. Life was no longer about me. I read every book, visited hospital prenatal events and immersed myself in that.
The birth of my first child had put my schooling on hold for awhile but in the back of my mind, I still had that nagging ‘thing’ that was not complete. I had made a promise to my parents and I intended to keep it. It was just going to take a little longer for me to do this. So, I went to work.
One of my first jobs was working in a phone room for a company that manufactures class rings for high school and college graduates. Yes, it stung a little every time I prepared an order for someone who was graduating from college knowing that I needed to be there instead of where I was sitting chained to a desk literally with a phone cord and headset as my leash. I knew I could do better.
Enter the 2nd child. Raising one child was difficult. Raising 2 on our very tiny incomes was even more so. Yet we were determined to do better. In my mind, college was the only way to do that so I made the decision to try and go back to school.
Along the journey, children number 3 and 4 came along, we had to move for my spouse’s job across the country (several times) which put my education on hold multiple times. I was a stay at home mom during these times while my spouse worked. It was a lot cheaper than trying to pay daycare for 4 children.
While we were away in Idaho having followed my spouse for his work, the company he was with decided that they were going to lay off all of their workforces and move the entire company in a different direction. This meant our single income family just went to a NO income family. I found work at a radio station selling advertising and began to grow my client base while my spouse looked for work.
He found it.
In Texas. So, we moved to Texas again. We found a great home, met great people, and enrolled kids in great schools and extra activities in North Texas. We had been there for several years added another child to the mix bringing us to 5 and I had enrolled back into community college and completed it when he lost his job once more. This time the job market turn lasted for several months that turned into 2 years. During this time, we lost everything. Our savings depleted, 401k gone, college savings gone, vehicles gone and then our home. My entire life changed again.
During this time, we had to bunk with family until he or I found work and it nearly broke our family apart as our older children who were just about to graduate from high school at the time, did not want to leave the area and asked if they could stay with friends. It wounded me deeply, but I allowed them and assigned a very good friend of mine who’s kids were also best friends of my girl’s guardianship until we could get back on our feet. We had to finish out the school year and since we did not have a place to live we had to make the drive every morning from Athens, Texas where an Aunt of my spouse was living in a spacious home. During this time, I discovered I was pregnant with baby number 6. It was also during this time that I made the decision to finish my undergraduate degree. I felt that this was my only way to ensure that we would never have to struggle so badly again. So, I applied for financial aid once more and every morning we would wake up our kids at 4 am to leave by 5 to get them to school in Frisco by 7:30. It was a difficult and hard time for everyone. Since we lost our vehicle, we had to pile into one we borrowed from his Aunt. A small sedan. 2 children would sit in the floorboard, 3 in the seat, and one in my lap – I know… horrible to look back on when I think of what could have happened.
The sky would be dark when we would leave every morning and I would look up at the stars and then at my tired, sleepy children, and think to myself that there is so much more I can do. I have a brain, a mindset for business, and a desire to do better. What can I do to prevent this from ever happening again? My spouse found a job eventually, but we would still need 2 weeks before he received his first check. The defining moment for me came when we told his Aunt that we were expecting another child and she shared her thoughts with my spouse’s father in Austin. She said I had no business having another child or going back to school in the situation we were in only she didn’t use such kind language. I was crushed because I had done nothing to this woman except sleep in her house, clean her kitchen and help with her lawn care while we were there. I took her words on the cheek and this was another defining moment for me.
That string of characters on the tiny screen in front of me set off a chain reaction that would make a nuclear bomb cry. She lit a fire. Hellfire.
After that day, I swore that I would never have to depend on anyone again. When my spouse received his first paycheck we moved into a 1 bedroom hotel. 8 people living with 2 beds. We took turns sleeping on the floor. I tried to make it a less horrible experience by telling the kids we would have picnics when we had only sandwiches to eat. It was crowded, cramped, and horrible not being able to go outside. This is where my son was brought home from the hospital to. I made it my mission to attend school, raise my children to be excellent and kind human beings, and work so hard to achieve any goal that I set out to meet. The question was how. How could I do this with no money?
During this time, I was accepted to UT Dallas and had made it through one difficult semester very pregnant (I made all A’s by the way), but I had no idea how I was going to manage everything we were going through along with a new baby and trying to save enough to find a new house to live in. Again, I began to think I can do better. I began to define a plan of action. In the late hours of the night while others slept around me I sat up with a notebook listening to two men arguing outside of our hotel window about beer and drugs and using the light from the television I began to sketch out a plan for success.
I created a detailed plan that included all of the things I would need to make money so that I could finish my education at UT Dallas. I ended up determining that I would need a business or strategy that would enable me to make thousands of dollars quickly at certain times of the year but one that would still allow me to work from home to be with my little ones. Robbing banks and jewelry stores were out of the question, so I began to think about what I had learned in my first semester at UTD and how I could apply business strategy, digital marketing strategy, and graphic design in a way that made sense for my current situation and how that could be utilized to make a successful living. I began to see a clear picture of what I needed to do. So, I got to work.
That night Social Mind Media was born. Along with my desire to never give up I was able to create a digital presence online with a website, personal social media channels, and my creative writing ability. This was yet another defining moment in the course of my journey.
All you need is a plan.
All you need is determination to make your life better.
All you need is time to think about the situation you’re in and the various ways you can get out of it.
All you need is action.
All you need is dedication to follow through on your plan.
Working in the media field, I knew I needed clients and was able to secure a few in those early days. I found work writing social media posts for companies and clients in the area who did not have the time to manage it themselves. My plan was working. In 6 months, I had enough money to attend another and then another semester at UT Dallas, and I was able to spend the precious time at home with my kids. My next plan was to alter my digital marketing focus toward User Experience Design.
In 2017, some 24 years after I graduated from high school, I stood in front of my classmates at the University of Texas at Dallas and addressed them from the stage. I spoke about keys to success, and how the positive interactions with others are what matter most. Then, I was the first to walk across the stage and accept my college diploma. Then, 1 year later, I was able to pick up my UX Design Certification from Southern Methodist University.
One of the greatest pieces of advice that I could give you would be to surround yourself with great people and never give up the desire to do better.
You have within you all the fire you need. Do Better.
what should we know about Social Mind Media? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Since 2014, my work has involved the management of digital marketing services for B2C companies and individuals in the Dallas and Austin areas through my company Social Mind Media. This involves everything from Social Media Management, Digital marketing, Digital design to include graphic design, UX Design, Video editing, PR and anything else they might need. One of the things I am most proud of is my ability and desire to immerse myself in my client’s business. When I worked in the media industry, one thing that always bothered me was when I would encounter small businesses who were not making much in revenue yet would want to buy advertising and rather than sit and come up with a comprehensive and reachable plan for them managers would force account executives to get them to spend thousands and thousands of dollars every month with us. Then, I would learn that the following year they had to close their doors. I told myself that if I ever had the chance to open my own agency that I would be fair, willing to work with clients limited budgets, and help whenever I could. That is a promise that I still keep with every one of my clients to this day.
Help where you can, when you can. The money will follow.
I am now pleased to report that I have accepted a full-time role with 7-eleven corporate offices in Dallas and will be a Sr. UX Designer.
Hard work, long roads, and a desire to DO BETTER.
It is a life mantra that works.
It would be great to hear about any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve used and would recommend to others.
Every single one of these is brilliant, but this one is my favorite.
Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations: Paulo Coelho
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4gEHB1H7TrRjSWPcdVQRZX
Strong women, great advice, and powerful lessons.
How I built this with Guy Raz…specifically Barbara Corcoran, Kendra Scott, and Eileen Fisher
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SocialMindMedia.com
- Email: elainetorres@socialmindmedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/texasnomad/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elaine.maldonadotorres
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LUCKYMUNKEE
- Other: www.Elaine-Torres.com
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
