He's the Colombian who worked at SpaceX and recounted his experience as an employee of Elon Musk: 'He threatens you.'

Sebastián Torres was born in Cali and from a very young age he dreamed of conquering the world, managing to work for seven years at SpaceX, Elon Musk's aerospace company, where he participated in historic missions:

In the midst of the dream he was living, the technological vertigo and the achievements that seemed impossible, Sebastián, in an interview with the program Los Informantes, He said he started running out of air when he started his job at SpaceX.

The man recalled that his decision to end his time at SpaceX came after he changed priorities: creating sanctuaries for nature and for the Being.

"I grew up in Cali until I was 17, then I went to the United States on a tennis scholarship," Sebastián recalled, adding that he had to decide whether to continue practicing his favorite sport or studying, so he chose both.

"Using tennis as a tool to earn a scholarship in the United States, I went to study and earned a scholarship for playing tennis and developed my career as an industrial engineer ," he recounted from a farm surrounded by trees and coffee plantations in Pereira, where he now lives completely disconnected from what his life once was.

Sebastián Torres had no training in astrophysics or aerospace engineering, but his corporate career at multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Baxter opened the doors to an unexpected world.

One day, Sebastián received a call that he initially rejected, believing it was another offer in the pharmaceutical sector. But when asked about his experience in regulated production lines and technology, he agreed to an interview. Unbeknownst to him, he was about to join SpaceX.

That's how he arrived at a company that was just a promising startup at the time, with fewer than a thousand employees. By the time he left, there were more than 10,000.

His first encounter with Musk was as disconcerting as it was revealing. Torres was giving a presentation, in which the magnate was present; however, he soon got to the second slide and Elon Musk stood up and left.

"So I was like, oh, this guy didn't like what I came to show at all, which made me really nervous," the man told the Los Informantes program.

Despite what he considered a "snub," he later understood that SpaceX had a way of being more efficient: "When you go into a meeting and find what you need from that meeting, you can leave and everyone understands," he explained.

Sebastián became an "orchestra conductor" among engineers, technicians, and suppliers. His role was to ensure everything ran efficiently and quickly. He led the Raptor project , a revolutionary engine that recycles its own energy and runs on methane, a fuel that could be produced on Mars.

In the middle of the interview, Torres clarified that "what captivated me most" about his then-boss was his obsession with absolutely everything. However, it was later revealed that Elon Musk suffered from Asperger's , a disorder that affects how people behave, see, and understand the world.

"So he's super obsessed with what he's doing, and that obsession is felt and felt by everyone (...) He threatens you and tells you if you don't do this right, he'll kick you out. That creates a lot of pressure," the man added.

Although Sebastián avoided going into further detail due to confidentiality clauses, he admitted that the environment was exhausting . "There were days when we worked through Christmas, there was no break. If you went on a Sunday at five in the morning, you could find him there," he said.

Torres decided to end his time at SpaceX. While sheltering in place by teaching tennis to children, one day he said enough. "I quit. They told me, 'Thanks for the 30-day notice, but since your contract is at-will , today is your last day.' I didn't say goodbye to anyone. I didn't see him again. I just left, " he continued.

Three years have passed since his resignation. Today, Sebastián lives on a farm next to a river and meditates every morning. His new focus is not Mars, but planet Earth. He has created projects related to well-being, community, health, and sustainability in the coffee region. His new interpretation of the word "tech" sums it all up: Transformation, Environment, Community , and Health.

"Many people ask me if I'm going to return to a tech company or start a startup . And I tell them yes, but not in the way they think. My focus now is on transforming lives, caring for nature, building community, and promoting emotional and mental health. That fulfills me more than any rocket," he concluded.

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