National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 through October 15. UCLA Anderson, in conjunction with the Anderson Latino Management Association and the UCLA campus, recognizes the significant contributions to society among our Latino and Hispanic students, alumni, staff and faculty. Visit Latino@Anderson to enjoy their stories.
By Jill Hisey (B.A.’87, ’95) and Carolyn Gray Anderson
Esther Torrez (’82) looks at the shifting financial landscape in much the same way a farmer might regard the agricultural landscape. “Sometimes, you plant a crop,” she says, “and weather destroys the entire crop. Your entire financial livelihood is gone.” Make-or-break solutions to securing a livelihood — whether they come in the form of an advanced education or answers to the problem of homelessness among teens exiting the foster system — form the leitmotif of Torrez’ career.
Torrez grew up in California’s San Joaquin Valley, the granddaughter of a man who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico to work the land around Tulare, raising cotton, rice and cattle. He taught himself math and reading and advanced to management in agriculture. His granddaughter, in her turn, helped her migrant classmates in elementary school learn English. Her dream since the first grade was to become a teacher.
Earning a bachelor’s degree from Fresno State, and a Master of Psychology from California State University, Bakersfield, Torrez became the teacher she dreamed of being and, later, dean of girls at Pioneer Junior High in Porterville. She was recruited away to become an associate professor of psychology and sociology at Bakersfield College, where she also served as a counselor. Eventually, though, Torrez wanted to expand her knowledge of the business world, and she applied to what was then UCLA’s Graduate School of Management.
Sphere of Influence
“I wanted to broaden my base of knowledge and expand my circle of influence,” she says. “I wanted to learn which factors made programs and projects sustainable over the long term — including my projects at the college. Is there a need or market of sufficient size? Is there financing to launch and support the project or program? The ability to assess a project or a product was a skill I successfully obtained through the UCLA MBA.”
Torrez was a first-year MBA student when she met UCLA alumnus and Goldman Sachs executive Richard Atlas (B.S. ’66), who retired in 1994 as general partner. She was captivated by his account of the world of investment banking and sought his advice on how to make an entrée into that world. Today a trustee of the Atlas Family Foundation, Atlas took a chance on Torrez, connecting her with five of his Wall Street colleagues for internship interviews. But Atlas also asked Torrez frankly whether she, a former academic, would be able to weather the ups and downs of financial markets. Her ready analogies to (actual) weather and farming — which Atlas advised her to quote in internship interviews on Wall Street — and guarantees that her upbringing had taught her diligence, persuaded Atlas that she would survive them.
She interned on Wall Street with Solomon Brothers. “I met some of the most interesting, intelligent internationally famous — and very, very wealthy — people,” she recalls. “I met John Gutfreund and I had dinner with Michael Bloomberg, and once in the elevator I had a conversation with Alan Greenspan.” In a characteristically proactive move, Torrez simultaneously pursued an internship at American Express, and parlayed that into a full-time position after graduation. Her bilingual capabilities and her concentration in finance served her well in a position that required she spend 80 percent of her time in Latin America.
Open to exploring every business opportunity, Torrez adapted to business culture and challenges. But, she says, “I have always, always preferred community-based work.”
Serving Communities
In graduate school Torrez was also active with MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanix de Aztlán), embracing her heritage and enjoying the diversity of the student body and the greater metropolitan area. When she settled in Los Angeles after a decade working in finance, she pursued real estate development, securing $3 million in loans for her first project, the construction of a City of Commerce strip mall — one component in her passion for revitalizing underserved communities. It took a year to secure the funding, she says but in the end her team “planned, financed, constructed, developed and completed the project on time and under budget.” In 1992 she founded the Community Enhancement Corporation, which would work in conjunction with redevelopment agencies to renovate libraries and shopping centers and create entry-level jobs for youth emancipated from the foster care system.
One of her most important projects was the Margarita Mendez Apartments, an East Los Angeles transitional housing community opened in 1997 for homeless emancipated youth, ages 18 to 23. “Among the 1,000 emancipated youth leaving foster care each year, approximately 50 percent become homeless,” says Torrez. Close to half end up in jail within two years of aging out of the system. “The Margarita Mendez Apartments created an opportunity to anchor the youth, train and develop marketable job skills, obtain their GED, enroll them in college or trade school or get a job,” says Torrez. The complex included a library and computer lab, as well as a resident social worker. Thousands of emancipated youth have transitioned through the Margarita Mendez Apartments, according to Torrez.
A UCLA Anderson Inspirational 100 alumna, Torrez has built approximately 200 affordable housing units during her career. “CEC’s mission has always been to create a community of care environment, revitalize neighborhoods and bring services needed by families in each of the communities,” says Torrez. “We incorporated for-profit and nonprofit companies — pretty much all at the same time — to serve the needs of the community. In addition to raising the necessary financing, assembling a professional and very skilled team and engaging politicians, our real area of expertise is connecting, engaging and energizing the key players in a community to make something happen.”
Looking Forward
What’s next for Esther Torrez?
Her latest project is working with Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services to create a college curriculum that teaches visitation coaches how to encourage reconnection between foster children and their biological parents. Nonprofit Community Partners is a fiscal sponsor of the three-year pilot, known as the Building Forever Families Initiative. “BFFI is creating a system that integrates many siloed components working as one unit — just as we had to do on the farm to survive,” says Torrez. If it is successful, Los Angeles County may implement the innovative framework for the greater county child welfare system.
Which is the tip of the iceberg, Torrez says. “If cities want to address homelessness, crime and sexual exploitation of children, our strategic focus as a community has to be on programs and projects that address the barriers that derail the full engagement of birth parents in child welfare services.”
Bernie Hamilton, the former chairman of CEC’s board of directors, observed of Torrez: “Esther shows the compassion of a social worker, the drive of an entrepreneur, the networking and consensus building skills of a diplomat, the dedication and the endurance of a marathon runner, all coupled with impeccable integrity, principled leadership and personal sacrifice.”
Torrez humbly comments that while her UCLA MBA “was not directly responsible for these attributes, it created the foundation to bring them all together for the benefit of improving the life and opportunities of our families and communities.”
It’s a tribute her business school alma mater accepts with pride.
I knew much of Esther's accomplishments, since we have been friends for a number of years. However, seeing it all down on paper(internet), made we realize how much more she has accomplished. Above all her successes is a women of great compassion, integrity, warmth, and a dedication to helping others in need. I am proud to call her my friend. Claire L Rothman
Posted by: Claire L Rothman | 10/05/2017 at 12:20 PM
What an amazing woman! Bernie Hamilton’s description of her is impecable. I have the privilege of knowing Esther. Soon after meeting her, I saw immediately how evolved and accomplished she is. Esther is a role model to me as a Hispanic woman.
Posted by: Connie Sholomson | 10/04/2017 at 06:32 PM