Arriving at Kent as a new freshman from New York City, Will became interested in Entrepreneurship and had big dreams to start his own business at Kent. Starting with small steps, during his freshman year he manufactured pop sockets. After that he started to manufacture T- shirts with a logo of his own centered in the middle. However, the results were not what he had expected. The photo did not have good resolution, so it was blurry. Sometimes the ink would blow out at certain times. This is when Will realized it would be better to rely on himself more than others. 

Although in the beginning he did get discouraged, he focused his time and effort into fashion designing. When he launched his brand, Arkyve, he tried his best to make it a successful part of his high school career. During his free blocks or the weekends, he would spend a considerable amount of time at the art studio. Other times when he was not at the art studio, he would be marketing his brand and talking to different people around campus, and beyond – people outside of Kent stumble across his Instagram page and ask him for certain promotions. 

Arkyve has shown how talented and capable Will is. This brand is a collection of pieces that Will loved to design, even though it was an arduous process. He is very proud of his brand, and at the same time, he views his brand as a test run. Will says, “I hate having my creativity limited. This brand is for me testing out lots of different ways to make clothing. It’s like a test run, to see what I’m good at and what I need to improve on.” Will doesn’t worry too much about making money; instead he is happy that he is able to make multiple designs a day and learn through trial and error.

Recently, Will has been making a jacket out of upholstery fabric. He loves to repurpose different materials, and he is fascinated by how different fabrics work. He truly believes that in order to be a talented designer, one needs to understand how every garment of fabric is made and works. 

After launching his brand and trying out many different things, he has learned how to appreciate every piece of clothing. “When you’re making clothes yourself, and you understand the time, effort and money it takes to make an outfit, you appreciate it way more. Barely anyone knows the true process that goes into it.”