# The Homeboy Stories that Touched Our Hearts with Shirley Torres and Hector Verdugo

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-homeboy-way-7492549/the-homeboy-stories-that-touched-our-hearts-with-shirley-torres-and-hector-verdugo
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-homeboy-way-7492549/the-homeboy-stories-that-touched-our-hearts-with-shirley-torres-and-hector-verdugo.md
Podcast: [The Homeboy Way](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-homeboy-way-7492549)
Published: 2025-12-24T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-homeboy-way/episodes/The-Homeboy-Stories-that-Touched-Our-Hearts-with-Shirley-Torres-and-Hector-Verdugo-e3cmp80
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/1098ad66c/podcast/play/112992960/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-11-22%2F7464ff2a-e3da-e863-8a30-8fde1344b0d0.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-homeboy-way-7492549/episodes/the-homeboy-stories-that-touched-our-hearts-with-shirley-torres-and-hector-verdugo
Duration seconds: 1563

## Resource

For decades, the team at Homeboy Industries has stood witness to a quiet revolution. Lives are rewritten not through force, judgment, or programs alone, but through the slow, steady practice of kinship. In this episode, Tom Vozzo is joined by Hector Verdugo and Shirley Torres to reflect on the stories that have shaped them as much as the people living them. Day after day, people walk into Homeboy carrying the invisible: trauma that shaped them, systems that failed them, and identities formed in survival mode. Over time, through consistency, humor, honesty, frustration, and grace, those same individuals discover the possibility of becoming someone they were never allowed to be. The three reflect on the privilege of walking alongside that transformation, not as saviors or fixers, but as fellow travelers who are changed in the process. At Homeboy, stories are not trophies or statistics. They are teachers. They stretch us, soften us, call us forward, and remind us that everyone is still becoming. Key Takeaways "Exquisite Mutuality" is the Secret Sauce Transformation at Homeboy is never a one-way street. It is a reciprocal relationship. Kinship, Not Curriculum, Creates Transformation Love, not lectures, is what shifts shame, fear, or survival instincts into openness and trust. Judgment Doesn’t Grow People; Gentleness Does A butchered tree still grows back; sometimes the most important thing is simply letting go. Love That Shows Up Unasked When someone calls from federal prison to comfort you in grief, that’s God in work boots. Mutual Healing Is the Secret Sauce No one here is “saving” anyone; everyone is being changed, challenged, raised, and restored. In This Episode: 00:00 – Introduction 00:29 – The power of stories 01:37 – Joanna: anger, armor, and the road to…

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