John-Michael Torres uses strategic communications, narrative strategy, popular education and play to organize for and win policies and processes that allow border communities to decide how we live and thrive. He has organized in the borderlands for 20 years, starting in high school, where he organized his musician friends to collectivize equipment and share resources so everyone got a chance to learn and perform publicly. For the last 12 years, he has worked as communications coordinator for the nonprofit La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) where he helps colonia residents and immigrant community members use media in combination with organizing to win improvements in their neighborhoods and fight for a free and thriving border region. When not organizing, he likes to play jarana, cook, and dance. Originally from Patwin territory, he has resided in Esto’k Gna territory, what is now known as the Rio Grande Valley, for the last 25 years.