Lupita Soto Torres was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States when she was nine-years-old without knowing a word of English. Despite these early challenges, she went through school and eventually graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts in Family and Child Studies. 

Lupita is passionate about her 10-plus years of advocacy and educational work with the Hispanic community. Specifically, she intentionally focuses her efforts on helping Hispanic women, who, traditionally, do not access or are not even afforded educational opportunities. Additionally, she devotes her time to helping the younger generations of Hispanic students access scholarships and other resources in pursuit of their educational and career goals. 

In 2013, Mrs. Soto Torres joined Louisiana Delta Community College as an instructor for their adult education program. While working with Spanish-speaking adult education students, she completed her LCTCS WorkReady U Adult Education Certification in 2015. Shortly thereafter, she joined the staff of Bossier Parish Community College’s (BPCC) College Transition Programs department as the lead (and only) Spanish-language high school equivalency coordinator. In her role as lead educator and coordinator for the Hispanic students who live in the eleven-parish region that is served by BPCC, Lupita creates courses and serves as lead instructor of a curriculum of her own design that is tailored to the particular educational and soft-skills needs of her local Hispanic community. Furthermore, as part of her responsibilities within College Transition Programs, she is the lead math instructor within College Transition Programs’ Allied Health Career Pathway. In this role, she facilitates instruction in both English and Spanish based on the needs of the specific student.

Lupita also serves as a Title IX confidential adviser. In conjunction with her campus-wide availability for students, she uses her role as a Title IX confidential adviser in order to ensure that BPCC’s Hispanic student population has a proactive and potent resource for their mental health and overall well-being.

Lupita is engrained in the regional Latino population and promotes education and access to resources among this population. She regularly volunteers at the campus food bank to assist in translation services. Her efforts in supporting the food bank and food distribution resulted in an 80% retention rate for BPCC Hispanic students.

When she is not engaged in on BPCC’s campus, Lupita volunteers her time to serve as an interpreter and overall advocate for members of her local Hispanic community. In furtherance of her commitment to steadfast advocacy, she has developed close working ties with the Mexican Consulate based in New Orleans. Biannually, Mrs. Soto Torres and the Mexican Consulate host a multi-day opportunity for the local Hispanic community to meet with representatives of the Mexican government in an effort to provide the members of this community with local and secure access to important documentation and other government-based resources without the need for anyone to travel to New Orleans.