Shelly Lares: A Tejana Voice for Faith, Legacy, and Women Rising

Interview by Celinda De La Fuente

Shelly Lares has spent most of her life using music to move people. Her voice has carried through dance halls, family celebrations, radio stations, concert stages, classrooms, studios, and now hospice rooms where songs become comfort, memory, and prayer. But when Lares speaks about her legacy, she does not begin with fame. She begins with faith. She begins with family. She begins with integrity. Born and raised in San Antonio near Culebra and 36th Street, behind St.

Mary’s University, Lares carries the West Side with her everywhere she goes. That neighborhood shaped her understanding of culture, community, and service. She grew up in a musical household, surrounded by family members who could sing or play instruments, and by parents who taught her to work hard, stay grounded, and do everything with purpose. “I became a recording artist at 10 years old,” Lares shared. “I’ve been doing everything I love my entire life.”

That love became a calling. For decades, Lares helped shape Tejano music as one of the genre’s most recognized female voices. She entered an industry where women were often compared to one another, criticized more harshly than men, and placed in competition for limited recognition. Rather than accept that culture, Lares stood in her own authenticity. She knew every woman brought something different to the table. She knew Tejano music had room for all of them.

That spirit is exactly why Lares aligns so naturally with La Prensa Texas’ We the Women movement. We the Women is not about competition. It is about alignment. It is about women supporting one another loudly, honoring one another publicly, and refusing to carry forward the old wounds of gatekeeping, jealousy, and division. It is about recognizing that when one woman rises with integrity, she creates room for another woman to rise too.

Shelly Lares has lived that message. As a Tejana, artist, producer, mentor, teacher, and woman of faith, Lares represents the kind of leadership We the Women was created to celebrate. She does not simply open doors for herself. She opens doors for others. She does not hoard knowledge. She teaches it. She does not build her legacy by standing above others. She builds it by pouring into the next generation. At ShellShock Records 3, her studio and label, Lares has created a space rooted in “God, family, integrity.”

Artists who walk through her doors are not treated like products. They are treated like people with purpose. Before the music begins, she often asks them one of the most important questions an artist can answer: Why do you want to do this? For Lares, the answer matters. Music is not something to chase only for attention, money, or viral moments. It is a gift. It is a responsibility. It is something that can become part of someone’s life forever.

That is why she challenges artists to know who they are, understand their purpose, and approach their craft with honesty. In many ways, her studio has become more than a studio. It has become a place of mentorship, prayer, reflection, laughter, and sometimes tears. Artists of all ages come to her not only for production, but for guidance. Lares understands that many people did not grow up with the kind of support and foundation she received from her parents.

So when she can be that support for someone else, she does. “Mentorship is very important to me,” she said. “I mentor all ages, from children to adults.” That is We the Women in action.

It is mentorship over gatekeeping. It is wisdom passed down instead of withheld. It is the belief that a woman’s lived experience is not something to hide, but something that can become a bridge for someone else. Lares also carries that same mission into education. Today, she is helping answer an important question for a new generation: What is Tejano music? As the first Artist in Residence at UTSA, she has worked to bring more awareness to Tejano music on campus.

After years of speaking in music, audio technology, Selena, and music industry classes, she helped build a true Tejano ensemble where students learn not only how to perform the music, but how to understand where it comes from. In her classroom, students study the different styles of Tejano music, from conjunto to orquesta to progressive sounds. They learn history. They learn instrumentation. They hear from veteran artists who helped shape the genre.

Most importantly, they learn that the music did not begin as a product. It began as culture. It began as an expression. It began as love. “We’re not just Mexican music, and we’re not just American music,” Lares explained. “We’re Mexican American music.” That statement carries the heart of her work. Lares understands that preserving Tejano music is also preserving the story of a people. It is preserving the sound of families who lived between cultures, languages, borders, and generations.

It is preserving the beauty of a community that has always created something powerful out of its own experience. Lares wants students to understand that being an artist is more than singing notes or playing the right chords. It is about knowing why you are doing it. It is about respecting the gift. It is about honoring the people who came before you while making room for those who are still finding their voice. Her service does not stop with students and artists.

After stepping away from the road, Lares felt called toward hospice care. At one point, she planned to pursue nursing, believing that was where God was leading her. But then Harmony Hospice Care, owned by her cousin Sylvia, invited her to provide music support for patients. That invitation changed everything. Lares realized that the gift she had carried on stages for decades still had sacred work to do, only now at the bedside of people nearing the end of life.

Through music, she has seen patients with dementia remember lyrics when they could not remember names. She has watched bedbound patients move their feet, clap their hands, and reach for her hand to dance from where they lay. She has witnessed anxiety soften, sadness lift, and families receive comfort in some of their most difficult moments. One story still stays with her. Lares visited a woman who loved mariachi music, but the patient’s daughter warned that her mother was not having a good day.

Lares gently introduced herself and mentioned mariachi music. The woman’s eyes opened. When Lares began singing a bolero, the patient sat up and sang with her. The room changed. Her daughter cried. A moment that began in heaviness became a moment of connection. On another visit, Lares met a man with severe dementia who had once played saxophone in a big band. At first, he did not remember the instrument was his. But when Lares placed it in his hands, something awakened.

His body remembered. His hands found their place. He began to play. His daughter ran into the room, stunned, saying he had not played in more than 20 years. For Lares, moments like that prove what she has always known: music heals. It reaches places words cannot. It moves through memory, spirit, grief, joy, and love. It comforts not only the patient, but the family gathered nearby. It reminds people that even in transition, there is beauty.

There is presence. There is dignity. Through every chapter of her life, Lares returns to faith. She speaks openly about prayer, alignment, self-growth, and learning to trust God’s direction even when the path does not look the way she imagined. She once thought retirement from the road meant stepping away from music. Instead, it opened a new season where music became classroom, ministry, mentorship, healing, and legacy.

The connection between Shelly’s identity, representation, and We the Women. Lares also understands the power of representation. As a San Antonio woman, a Tejana, a faith-filled leader, a mentor, and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she knows someone is always watching. A child. An artist. A woman wondering if it is too late. A person wondering if they can still be fully themselves and fully loved by God. Her message is simple: be real, be kind, be rooted, and be yourself.

“God is love,” Lares said. “That’s my definition of love.” This is why La Prensa Texas is proud to honor Shelly Lares at the 2026 La Prensa Texas Gala during Hispanic Heritage Month as part of the celebration of culture, legacy, and the We the Women movement. Her recognition is not only for what she has accomplished on stage, but for what she continues to give back off stage. She represents the Cultura y Música spirit of San Antonio: rooted, faithful, creative, generous, and unapologetically authentic.

Shelly Lares reminds us that women do not have to become hardened by the industries that tried to limit them. They can become wiser. They can become mentors. They can become builders. They can become healers. They can become the example someone else needed to see. Her story speaks directly to the heart of We the Women: we are not here to compete for crumbs. We are here to build together. We are here to honor the women who came before us, support the women beside us, and prepare the way for the women coming after us.

Lares has done that through music. Through faith. Through mentorship. Through service. Through love. And as La Prensa Texas prepares to honor her in 2026, we are also honoring what she represents: a woman who has never forgotten where she came from, never stopped growing, and never stopped using her gift to serve others. Shelly Lares is more than a Tejano icon. She is a cultural keeper, a mentor, a healer, and a living example of what it means to be aligned with purpose.

She is We the Women.