By all accounts, Luis Velez is the American dream. A primary-generation Dominican and Puerto Rican American, Velez is the vp and affiliate US common counsel for Lightsource BP, a developer and operator of large-scale photo voltaic energy tasks like photo voltaic farms and power storage. The corporate’s success caught the attention of BP, which acquired Lightsource in October 2024.
Rising up in Williamsburg, Velez remembers how his immigrant mother and father did every little thing they may to offer for his or her household and additional his education. “My mother labored two jobs and went to highschool at evening,” Velez says. “She labored so laborious and cared a lot about which colleges she wished me to attend, colleges I might get into, though we didn’t have any cash.”
The primary individual in his household to attend school, Velez earned his BA from Amherst and his JD from Columbia. He says one of many best privileges of his life was mentoring a cousin who wound up attending NYU and training law. Velez is aware of what it means to set the precise instance for siblings and now for his son.
However there may be an undercurrent to Velez’s story which will ring true for a lot of first-generation People. Velez pushed himself to get into the precise colleges, to land jobs on the proper company legislation corporations, and to be a father his son could be pleased with. The load of expectations by no means lifted; it solely shifted.
By late 2024, Velez wanted to take a break. “I had been working myself laborious, with out wanting round, for over twenty years,” Velez says. “I discovered myself beginning to take enterprise personally, and never in a great way. I wanted to reset, and so I selected to take a couple of months away from work.”
He is aware of it’s not a possibility afforded to everybody, and his gratitude to his employer is quickly evident. However the legal professional, who had simply entered his fifth decade, wanted time to recalibrate and take inventory.
Velez spent a variety of time together with his son, developed a meditation follow, and eventually centered on taking good care of himself. He knew he wanted to cease pushing so laborious and begin understanding why he was pushing so laborious.
“I look again on so a few years of making an attempt to earn, first to indicate my household that I had made the precise selections after which to offer for my circle of relatives,” the VP says. “I wanted to be taught to be extra current, to be right here whilst I look towards the longer term. It’s a paradox. You attempt to set up a wider perspective, however you additionally attempt to dwell within the second.”
For thus many People, particularly youngsters of immigrants, one set of pressures simply replaces one other. Velez says his son is rising up in a essentially completely different state of affairs than he did. What does stay the identical for Velez is a profound sense of responsibility to his household and to his calling.
As Velez returns to Lightsource, the corporate is present process its personal profound evolution. The renewable power firm has now been absolutely acquired by BP, one of many largest fossil gasoline corporations on earth.
“It’s an fascinating proposition, as a result of the tradition at Lightsource is what has made it such an unbelievable place,” Velez explains. “However BP has been round for 158 years. That’s a tradition that’s clearly doing one thing proper. We’ll discover a method to steadiness these cultures and preserve what has labored greatest right here.”
This balancing act between company cultures mirrors Velez’s personal profession—one which has constantly been rooted in a deep dedication to conservation and renewable power. Velez believes strongly within the renewable power sector and its potential to create constructive change on this planet. After a bit break day, the VP has discovered a renewed ardour for all of the issues that matter most to him.
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