Isaac Hernandez has worked as a counselor in the Academic Success Center for the last five years, with his last day being April 17. As the end of the year approaches, Hernandez has chosen to leave his position at Goshen College in order to curate his business, Platinum Wave, and pursue his passion for creation.
“I’ve always liked creative things. I’ve always liked storytelling, whatever the medium is,” Hernandez said. “For me, now, it’s storytelling through the brand and storytelling through apparel.”While it’s been his lifelong passion, Hernandez’s career didn’t largely revolve around creation until choosing to pursue the curation of Platinum Wave. He’s had to balance the opposing ideas of profit versus passion.
Hernandez said on his decision to leave his position at GC, “I’ve kind of been thinking about it for the last year or so, and finally came to the conclusion, I think I need to make a switch.”
“I want to … transition my professional career into more multimedia,” he said. “Everything seems to be culminating in a really good way, so, if not now, when?”
Platinum Wave is primarily a brand of athletic apparel, but its purpose goes deeper than clothing. Conceptually, its mission is to promote wellness in all aspects of life. The brand’s goals very much reflect what Hernandez has found in his own journey.
“I’ve been … on a health journey for a long time, and it’s not been easy. It’s been up and down.” Hernandez said.
During this, he found himself experiencing ultimate highs, and subsequently, ultimate lows. In these dips, he realized, “I wasn’t addressing all facets of health.”
The purpose of the brand is to showcase how people must live a harmonious lifestyle with mind and body in order to experience total wellness. “It’s more about holistic well-being. Trying to be mindful of mind, body, spirit — however you want to call it — all work in unison,” he said.
Along with the promotion of keeping a balanced lifestyle, Hernandez hopes for customers to feel as comfortable as possible in Platinum Wave apparel. “Our plan is to offer bigger sizes as well … we’re being mindful of creating custom size charts.”
Platinum Wave hopes to be a brand that promotes wellness through authenticity and connection to its supporters. It hopes to highlight the idea that health journeys are about the struggles as much as they are the successes. Hernandez hopes to encourage honesty and self-awareness in personal wellness journeys as factors that lead to growth.
In the past semester, Hernandez has already been in a state of transition, working part of the day at GC and another part on Platinum Wave. As a means to further develop the brand, he’s rented space in downtown Goshen through LightBox — an “award-winning, full-service design agency specializing in providing premium visual identity and branding services for nonprofits,” as per their mission statement.
With this organization, Hernandez can work with other designers and enhance his capabilities in multimedia design. “I’m trying to just get experience … I need as much experience as I can if you ever want to be in a particular field,” he said.
For a large part, this transition is being made in hopes of developing skills in the world of creative business. The next year is geared towards gaining experience in his chosen field and getting to the point of building a portfolio.
While his job in the ASC has provided him with countless lessons and experiences that he can use in his career going forward, the concept of growing a business poses new challenges for Hernandez.
The current goal and driving force for the next year is simply to expand the business and to gain popularity. In the next year, he hopes to develop creative skills that he hasn’t expanded since being in college himself. “I’m 34, and I haven’t really been doing design stuff or creative stuff on a professional level.”
To further these experiences, Hernandez hopes to do brand collaborations in the future. “It’ll be a good mix of developing the brand, developing myself and seeing those feed into each other.”
Going forward, Hernandez can see further collaborations with GC athletics, whether providing jerseys, connecting through student ambassadors or improving the weight room.
While his professional career will expand beyond the campus of GC, his connections to students and faculty will remain a core piece to his journey. “Goshen always has a way of helping you back … that’s a great thing.”
To help expand his brand, Hernandez suggests that students give Platinum Wave a follow on Instagram,
@platinumwaveathletics, and continue to support the brand throughout their journey.
