My conversation with Luis C. Urteaga on Voices of San Angelo
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Luis C. Urteaga for an episode of Voices of San Angelo. I knew going into the conversation that Luis was involved in quite a few things around our community. I had done some reading about him, and we had spoken briefly beforehand. I knew about his work with local businesses, UP Positive Promotions, and the San Angelo Tamale Fest.
What I didn't know was just how far our conversation would go.
We started with a fairly simple question. How did Luis end up in San Angelo?
As it turns out, he grew up here.
He attended local schools, graduated from Central High School, and eventually left for Monterrey, Mexico, to attend medical school. He described that decision in a way that caught my attention. Going to medical school in another country was, in part, an elegant way to run away.
I liked that description.
He wasn't suggesting that his education wasn't important. He was explaining something about himself at 18 years old. He wanted to leave, experience another country, immerse himself in a culture that was already part of his family, and figure out who he was.
Medical school gave him a legitimate reason to do all of those things.
And he did it. He completed his medical education in Mexico.
But the story didn't unfold exactly as he had planned.
When the plan changes
Luis eventually returned to the United States with the intention of completing the requirements necessary to practice medicine here. That never happened.
Instead, he found himself working in pharmacy, eventually moving into pharmacy operations, consulting, and business leadership.
At one point in our conversation, he described the realization that practicing medicine in the United States was no longer going to be part of his future. He spoke about going through something of a grieving process, because a piece of the identity he had built for himself was tied to becoming a physician.
I thought that was particularly interesting.
We tend to describe people by what they do. Their job titles, their businesses, their education, or the positions they hold. Sometimes we build our own identities around those same things.
But what happens when the thing you spent years preparing for is no longer the thing you are going to do?
For Luis, it meant finding another path.
He went on to teach pharmacy technician courses, consult with independent pharmacies, and eventually serve as general manager of a local pharmacy for several years. His experience with business operations grew beyond the medical field, and in 2023 he established UP Positive Promotions.
Today, much of his work involves helping small and medium-sized businesses solve operational problems, improve processes, and accomplish things their owners may not have the time or resources to tackle themselves.
When I asked whether he considered himself an entrepreneur, he gave me an answer I appreciated.
He considers himself a problem solver.
That description probably tells us more about how he approaches his work than any formal title would.
Pressure is privilege
There was a point in our conversation when I challenged Luis a little.
Listening to him describe his journey, he spoke with enthusiasm and confidence. From medical school to pharmacy consulting, business ownership, and community projects, he made much of it sound almost effortless.
So I asked him whether it really had been that easy.
His response was something I hadn't heard expressed quite that way before.
Pressure is privilege.
He explained that the pressure associated with maintaining an expensive home, for example, also represents the privilege of having that home and providing it for your family.
It wasn't an argument that hardship doesn't exist. Quite the opposite.
He acknowledged that much of what he had experienced was difficult. His education was difficult. His return to the United States was difficult. Changing professional direction was difficult.
But he also described how those experiences prepared him for opportunities he couldn't have anticipated.
I found myself thinking about how easily we can evaluate our lives based on whether something worked out the way we originally intended.
Luis seemed to be looking at it differently.
Was it easy? No.
Was it worth it? Absolutely.
Later, when I asked him about a significant failure, he returned to his inability to complete the process of practicing medicine in the United States.
He didn't attempt to dress it up or explain it away.
He acknowledged it as a failure.
But he also explained that once he stopped allowing that failure to define his entire identity, it became easier to take chances on other things.
What if UP Positive Promotions doesn't work? What if a community event fails? What if something he tries doesn't produce the outcome he hoped for?
He is still going to try.
I think there is something valuable in that perspective, especially for those of us who spend time trying to build things.
More than a tamale festival
One of the projects Luis is probably most recognized for locally is the San Angelo Tamale Fest.
I wanted to understand how it started.
The idea came out of conversations with Leo Puga, a local barber and friend. Like many ideas, it began with two people talking about something they thought would be good for the community.
The difference is that they actually went and did it.
Their first event took place in January 2023 at the Pop Art Museum downtown. They recruited vendors, found sponsors, and put together a festival that brought hundreds of people together.
Luis was candid that the financial return wasn't particularly impressive considering the work involved.
But making money wasn't really the point.
He described it as a labor of love.
Over time, the event expanded, moved into the street outside the Pop Art Museum, and developed competitions, entertainment, and a growing following.
This year's event is scheduled for November 7.
What interested me most wasn't the festival itself, although I certainly enjoyed hearing about the competitions and the work involved in organizing it.
It was Luis's thinking about what happens beyond the festival.
When families come downtown for an event, they don't necessarily go straight home afterward. They may visit another restaurant, stop at another business, or find something else to do.
And when multiple organizations host events, Luis doesn't necessarily see them as competing with one another.
He sees the potential for more people to get out, participate, and spend time in their community.
That is an important distinction.
Community events can be cultural celebrations, entertainment, and economic activity at the same time.
They can also become traditions.
We talked about what it might mean for a child to attend the Tamale Fest today, leave San Angelo as a young adult, and eventually return to find that the same tradition is still here.
That is something worth building.
Culture, identity, and finding common ground
As our conversation continued, we moved beyond Luis's professional background and into subjects that were more personal.
We talked about Hispanic heritage, cultural traditions, mariachi music, language, and the differences between growing up in the United States and experiencing Mexican culture firsthand.
This was a particularly meaningful part of the conversation for me.
I shared some of my own experiences growing up Hispanic but never learning to speak Spanish.
There are assumptions people sometimes make based on appearance, family background, or a last name. Those assumptions don't always reflect someone's actual experience.
For Luis, Spanish was the language spoken in his home growing up. He later spent years living and studying in Mexico, further immersing himself in that culture.
My experience was different.
And yet we were able to have a thoughtful conversation about something that connects us culturally, even though our individual experiences weren't the same.
I think that matters.
Sometimes we approach cultural identity as though there is one correct way to experience it. But people grow up under different circumstances, with different opportunities, influences, and family experiences.
Those differences don't necessarily have to divide us.
They can give us something to learn from one another.
Bread and circuses
Another part of our discussion that stayed with me was Luis's reference to the old concept of bread and circuses.
The expression comes from ancient Rome and describes the use of food and entertainment to distract the public from more important civic matters.
We were discussing community, public engagement, and the kinds of things that can occupy people's attention.
It is an interesting concept to consider today, especially with social media playing such a significant role in how people consume information and participate in public discussions.
There is certainly nothing wrong with entertainment. Luis himself organizes an event intended to bring people together and have a good time.
But entertainment and civic awareness are not the same thing.
A healthy community needs people who are willing to look beyond the immediate distraction, ask questions, understand issues, and participate in meaningful ways.
I spend a fair amount of time following local government, economic development, technology, and other issues affecting San Angelo. I have seen how quickly public conversations can become dominated by reactions rather than understanding.
That is one reason I believe conversations like this are worthwhile.
We don't have to agree on everything. We don't even have to approach a subject from the same background or perspective.
But we should be willing to listen and learn.
Meeting people where they are
Something I have been thinking about increasingly is the importance of meeting people where they are.
Not everyone has the same background, knowledge, experience, or perspective.
That doesn't mean a conversation isn't worth having.
In fact, I would argue it makes the conversation more important.
Luis and I have different professional backgrounds. We have different experiences with language and culture. We have taken different paths to arrive at this point in our lives.
But we share an interest in our community and in seeing people succeed.
Throughout the interview, I was reminded that the people we encounter around San Angelo often have stories far more complicated and interesting than the roles we associate them with.
A business owner may have once pursued an entirely different profession.
Someone organizing a cultural festival may be doing so because of a much deeper connection to family and tradition.
And someone who appears confident and successful may have experienced failures that fundamentally changed how they see themselves.
We don't always know those things until we take the time to ask.
Why I wanted to have this conversation
When I started Voices of San Angelo, I wanted to create an opportunity to sit down with people in our community and have conversations that go beyond the usual introductions and talking points.
I have interviewed elected officials, candidates, business leaders, and people with interesting personal stories.
As the series continues, I find myself increasingly interested in the connections between those different worlds.
Business, culture, technology, local government, and community leadership aren't isolated subjects.
They overlap.
The people involved in one often have experiences and perspectives that influence the others.
My conversation with Luis was a good example of that.
We began with a young man leaving San Angelo to attend medical school in Mexico.
We followed a path through professional disappointment, pharmacy operations, entrepreneurship, and community events.
And somewhere along the way, we found ourselves talking about identity, language, faith, failure, civic engagement, and what it means to contribute to the place we call home.
That wasn't necessarily the conversation I had mapped out when we sat down.
But I'm glad it's the conversation we had.
I appreciate Luis taking the time to join me, sharing his experiences openly, and allowing the discussion to go in directions neither of us necessarily anticipated.
I hope you'll take the time to watch our conversation.
And perhaps, the next time you encounter someone involved in something around San Angelo, you'll consider that there may be a much larger story behind what you see.
Because sometimes the most interesting part of someone's story isn't what they are doing today. It's the path that brought them here.
Watch my full conversation with Luis C. Urteaga on Voices of San Angelo, part of the A/T Podcast from Angelo Technical.