We caught up with the brilliant and insightful JV Torres a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

JV, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I believe time is the most precious commodity in life. It should never be wasted on activities or projects that don’t bring joy or enhance your life in any way. I find people spend (or rather waste) so much of their lives pursuing things that are irrelevant or superficial and when you wake up one day in your 50’s you realize you have done so much more.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Since I was a little boy, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. It is the first and most important attribute in my tool box. From this, all of my creative endeavors have blossomed. In my early 20’s I wrote for magazines and even newspapers and in time, with the explosion of the Internet, I moved into the cyber realm of blogs and social media. However, the Internet can be an ocean of superficial gluttony, so I found my greatest contributions to the world at large was in the field of language learning and as a teacher, I was very critical of the textbooks used for immigrant families. So, I began a research project that eventually lead to the publication of my first textbook titled “I Want To Learn English.” It has been well received and very effective for adults and young adults new to America to learn English at the most basic level (that isn’t designed for small children), With the success of my textbook, I was able to finance my creative endeavors, including my award-winning fiction podcast, The Rise of King Asilas. I am currently in production of my first feature film based on my podcast.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I am a good example of society supporting arts. I think it isn’t branded that way because I wrote a textbook that schools use for educational purposes and the money I earn from this I use to fund my creative projects. If I had to rely solely on revenue generated from my art, my projects would be very limited. Artists tend to have creative ways to address even the most homogenized aspects of our world. It just takes some dedication and a little creativity to capitalize on the needs in society to help finance the artistry.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Everything I do has a positive message somewhere, even when the story seems gloom and doom. In the end, I always try to present something the audience can contemplate on; something to think about at a much deeper level than what it seems. I am a student of Shakespeare and his work is littered with puns, slight of hand satire, and brilliant commentary on the human experience. I try to emulate him in that regard.    

Contact Info:

• Website: theriseofkingasilas.com
• Instagram: @kingasilas and @jvmyka
• Facebook: jv.myka
• Linkedin: jvtorres9
• Twitter: @jvmyka and @kingasilas
• Youtube: youtube.com/jvmyka