Doctor of the Spirit: The Power of Grassroots Edutainment

If you grew up in San Antonio, you know exactly what a Westside summer night feels like. It is the heavy warm air carrying the flavors of backyard barbecues, mixed with the unmistakable rhythmic pulse of Tejano echoing down the street. As the accordion plays, and gritos from yesterday still linger, the beats become more than just songs. They are the soundtrack of our collective… the soundtrack of our lineage… the soundtrack of our gente.

Music evokes emotion. It calls forth memory dormant in our DNA. And for generations, music has been our unspoken medicine. And because it is written in our DNA, in our cellular memory, traditional systems will never be able to strip away the healing power of our culture.

A true testament of this ancestral form of healing is shared through the lived experience of the legendary, international icon, Dr. Patsy Torres.

Long before Patsy Torres became a household name, her childhood dream had nothing to do with performing under stage lights; Instead, she wanted to be a medical doctor, to make a difference, and be a healer like her grandfather Dr. William Torres. And while attempting to balance rigorous pre-med courses with a rising music career, it was her grandfather that gave her the life-altering blessing. He witnessed her utilizing her local singer status to volunteer for stay-in-school programs and drug prevention, and saw she was making a difference.

Although he dreamed of her becoming a doctor, he told her she was already performing preventive medicine. He said, “You can be a Doctor of the Spirit. You should sing.”

And so, stepping fully into that calling, faith-centered organizational leader Dr. Patsy Torres became the blueprint for an Edutainer, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a Master’s in Education, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership. For her, music became a stethoscope for the fragmented soul. And the ancestral notes that flow through her vessel are the medicine.

Faith-anchored Patsy Torres, Ph.D, shares, “I combine my music with my life experiences and what I’ve learned in my education to help others. To be able to make their dreams come true. Sometimes, there are obstacles people have, and when I am talking with them, I can see it right away… [People] tell me their life stories and I share mine with them too. I guess that is why I call myself an Edutainer.” Dr. Torres taps into her innate wisdom of the healer's intuition while applying the knowledge she obtained from her academic journey along the way.

Her academic achievements were born from uncompromised autonomy. While traditional corporate music avenues may restrict or seek to control image, especially in the case of female artists, trailblazing Dr. Torres has successfully managed to maintain her genuine, authentic self and has released nine independent albums under her own label, World Class Records. Her latest milestone album, Soy Tuya, stands as a testament to this self-governance.

“Success to me is being happy and content by having a sense of purpose, being able to provide for my family, help others, leave the world a little better than I found it, and spread God’s word,” unshakeable independent executive Dr. Torres factually states. “I always say, it is not about God being on your side. It is about being on God’s side.” Anchoring herself in this spiritual guidance has helped her navigate the music industry, especially in those earlier years when one learns to turn down indecent proposals from predatory male executives and personnel.

She chose to put on her traditional performance traje she calls her “cultural armor,” awakening the blood, pride, and loyalty of her ancestors, which shielded her from a system that often views women as easy pickings.

This cultural armor is exactly how Dr. Torres actively heals the horizontal hostility engineered by patriarchal industries. When she first started, the competitive matrix forced other female singers to view her as an existential threat.

“When I first started, there were only a few female singers at the time. They didn’t want anything to do with me… I guess they felt threatened. I did not feel like I was a threat. They were already doing great,” the legendary Edutainer recalls. “When I later met young Selena and Shelly Lares, I only wanted to help them. I spoke with their parents and advised them. To this day, Shelly and I are the greatest of friends.”

Instead of gatekeeping, visionary Dr. Torres poured her love, her knowledge, and her lived experience into upcoming artists, teaching them how to publish, copyright, and protect their intellectual capital. Furthermore, when radio DJs actively tried to provoke “catfights” for ratings, she flatly rejected the script, choosing collective safety over generated, sensationalized narratives.

Dr. Torres carried her healing medicine directly into our neighborhoods, into our streets, into our most precious treasure… our youth. Through her nonprofit, Positive Force Tour Programs Inc. she toured campuses such as my own alma mater, John Jay High School. The renowned Edutainer not only offered a music-filled, exuberant performance, she also sat down with the 10 most “high-risk” students at each school to listen to them, encourage them, and show them that they control their own narratives.

Vital lessons that are not often taught in our current education system. She has reached over a million students countrywide.

Patsy Torres Ph.D performed a 10 year tenure at Fiesta Texas and has toured the US and 12 countries, touching lives and promoting Tejano music, Texas, and the US. She bridges the generational gap by taking her heart and advocacy straight to spaces like local senior care centers, the American Red Cross, the Latin Girl Scouts of America, and countless community organizations. Dressing in full 1950s fringe and boots to perform a meticulous, hour-long tribute to Patsy Cline, she exchanges raw, affectionate energy with elders who stand up to dance, clap, cry, and reclaim their joy and vibrancy through moments of nostalgia through music that lives in their bones.

Comadres, for anyone out there who is entering the business world in any competitive industry, let us learn from the sage advice of Dr. Patsy Torres, “The only way women can continue to achieve equality and have access to opportunity is to have mentors that guide them, advise them, and set an example. Without support, we could quickly lose our footholds and freedoms in the future.” Let us become experts in our fields, educate ourselves, inform ourselves, and pass that guidance along to those coming up next.

Let us listen to the music that exists in our bones. Let us wrap ourselves in cultural armor, rejecting illusions of scarcity, and adopting a pay-it-forward mentality through radical mentorship. Let us remember: in community, we thrive.