Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Torres.
Hi Jason, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I came to America with $1000 and a dream. I was an advertising graduate in Colombia in the 1990s, in a time when it looked like there was no future in my native country. I went to a local college in Miami, learn English while working at Mickey D’s flippin burgers and saving every single penny to purchase my first computer, a Compaq Presario, and built a portfolio that eventually got me a decent job in a real estate firm in Brickell photographing short term rentals and posting them on the internet when that was actually a novelty.
One time, I had to deliver one property to a client and I had the luckiest moment of my life, I met the CEO of a multi-million dollar company who was investing in a new form of e-payments and noticed that digital marketing was my thing. He asked me if I knew how to develop websites in Flash (I had been spending the last six months learning how to code…) When I replied yes, he offered me a job at his firm under the condition that I must be able to pass the tests from different seasoned experts at his company. Fortunately, I passed and actually grew in that company, I was able to become a senior designer after a few years. Every day with my ingenuity, I would come up with crazy innovative ideas like “a restaurant rating site” where you can be your own food critic or a website for best design awards. My boss was always mentioning that someday I was going to be a millionaire myself.
At 24, I opened a small boutique agency with a friend of mine —we were a startup like early Facebook, in the worst sense of the word. We shared a house in Aventura where we live and at the same time was our office and there was no line between business and hangout, we constantly had friends showing up to hang out, we didn’t have hours of operation so we usually work (and party) 24/7. Later we moved to an actual office and after a year by then, we ran out of operating capital and I had to move back to the workforce. Now I look back at those years with a smile on my face.
By then, I was able to build a decent portfolio, so this time I moved to work in Ad agencies. I wanted to feel the energy of the times, and I got myself a representative that got me a job at McAnn, I started working with global clients. I was becoming comfortable with the type of corporate clients I was creating work for. When I had the chance to work with the Starwood group for the first time, I realized that what I was really passionate about was Hospitality. I grew up in a family-owned restaurant helping do all kinds of chores from register to delivery boy and that remembrance came back.I deeply understood the idea of delivering a brand experience through each consumer interaction and that immediately hit me to swing from interactive to brand design almost completely.
In 2007, I launched the website for Jastor and started working on small pet projects that did not conflict with my job and stayed there until I was able to transition completely.
In 2008, I took the risk of moving completely to Jastor, trying not to repeat the same mistakes from my first venture. I wanted to create an agency that reached Millennials, I knew from data that we had in the big agencies that this was going to be the first completely digital generation and the importance of branding was going to be paramount. Consequent to this idea, I opened our main studio in Wynwood and, along with the local influencers and key players, established a solid base to indirectly help develop the neighborhood to what it is today.
Our first client was a dancing product that was later acquired by Zumba. Then we develop a Mexican fast-casual chain and scale it from one location to eight locations in four years and millions in sales, we ended up earning lots of attraction from the Miami Food and Beverage industry and we got to design work for a few Miami landmarks and household names, in not particular order; The Daily Creative Food Co, Wood Tavern, Burger and Beer Joint, Novecento, Versailles Bakery, Concrete Beach Brewery, Night Owl Cookies among other.
Has it been a smooth road? What are the obstacles that you faced along the way?
I confronted a lot of obstacles, in fact sometimes I feel like a salmon swimming against the currents, there is something nobody actually talks about, but being part of a first generation immigrant from a third world country is a hefty challenge, everyone wants to succeed but the chances of making it are very little. So not a smooth ride for me so far.
Please tell us about Jastor. What do you specialize in? What sets you apart from the competition?
Over the past few years, we have been specializing in creating brands for Real Estate properties for Millenials. We have been so lucky to work with Florida’s top companies, including Lennar, Related Group and in the leisure industry with Carnival Cruiselines. This year the agency won The Dieline Award, Gold “the Oscar od design” for luxury packaging.
We helped establish businesses and brands internationally in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, Cayman Islands and Italy. I have been invited to participate as a speaker in panels for The One Show and lecture in the Hospitality and Marketing faculties at Florida International University. In the process, I had the opportunity to travel, learn, meet great inspiring people and continuously educate myself. Currently, I am in the process of assisting the local government of El Salvador as a consultant for innovation, helping them imagine a futuristic city for Millenials.
Who else deserves credit – have you had mentors, supporters, cheerleaders, advocates, clients or teammates that have played a big role in your success or the success of the business? If so –who are they and what role did they plan / how did they help.
My mentors are Stuart Benavides, a serial entrepreneur and banker who believed in me when I was very young and showed me through his drive that everything you want in life was possible.
I have to give kudos to my friend and client; David Lagares, who was very influential in the qualities of my design. We discussed endless conversations about design and sophistication in brand experiences.
Having a great team at Jastor have been a great part of my success, Diego Cardenas who has been intermittently working with me for 20 years now has been a factastic teammate and supporter.
Pricing:
- Projects start at $25k
Contact Info:
- Email: info@jastordest.com
- Website: https://www.jastor.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jastorbranding/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jastorbranding
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JASONTORRES1
Image Credits
© 2007-2021 Jastor Brand Imageneers.
