IIsh – The Untold Story
Sage - or as the community know her best, ‘Iish’ - has had enormous success during her years online. She's been creating for over 7 years, founded a developer group, and is now a beacon of fashion for all male avatars. That’s a fact, and you know it! Not only is she successful in her professional hobbies, but she is also backed with the most loyal family one could ever ask for on IMVU. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, this semi-Hawaiian also does graphic-designing and web-designing away from this platform, and has always been heavily involved with fashion. Now, how did she get to where she is? VXM had the pleasure of interviewing Iish@IMVU to find out her story and more!
Did you know…
The name ‘Iish’ was inspired by someone Sage described as, “the most underrated business woman in the world that makes millions weekly.” Who? Paris Hilton! Paris had a show with Ish Entertainment on VH1, and Sage couldn’t help but think, “This sh*t is really catchy!”
Just like the majority of us, Sage joined the platform initially just to BS with friends - but it was a simple conversation that she had with Shades and Cole that escalated her involvement on IMVU. Her desire for wanting to do different had quickly gelled with her interest in men’s fashion, as both Shades and Cole taught her a few things about creating. It took her an entire year to get her “Pro” status, but she didn’t boost her way up - no way! She preferred to have customers decide if they wanted to shop her or not, but at the same time, quote, “My ass too cheap to cheat my way to the top,” she said. Despite the lack of support at this time, Sage was passionate about developing - this kept her going. “7 years later, I’m still here deving. I would have never thought that I would have lasted this long,” she said.
What has kept her creating for so long though? Sage truly enjoys the freedom of designing clothes. She doesn’t just copy and recreate; she puts in a lot of research when creating, then adds her own twists for the final piece. That’s how she achieves her desire to be different - being that trendsetter! She also enjoys being that rare female developer known for male clothing.
Success doesn’t come easy for anyone so, what was Sage’s biggest challenge as a creator? Here’s what she had to say:
“Maps. I hated maps - especially female maps. But apparently that was "easier" to understand. I just couldn't figure it out at all. There were lots of frustrating nights. Given that I actually do graphic designing, it was still different as hell switching it up to developing on here. I was used to making flyers, building websites, business cards, etc; to then making virtual clothing on a gaming site? I had to learn photoshop all over again. It was two different worlds. Perseverance pays off, I guess.”
Over the years, all creators have also experienced those many changes IMVU has thrown their way, often dampening moods. The ones Sage felt were the most significant was the introduction of pending credits and the VIP requirement. Despite this, Sage kept on going. “I personally just like to dev. You deal with what’s thrown at you or you just walk away. I think I’ve invested too much at this point so, I just learn to adapt and keep it pushing,” she said.
Side Note..
Father’s Day is just around the corner! It’s the time for all fathers to look the part as they are honored. With Iish’s shop, they can do exactly that. Pop over and check out the latest range now.
Sage has always been very passionate about developing, but she did not stop right there. She set up a dev group too, which is, now, one of the oldest active groups out there.
About LVBEL
LVBEL, originally known as NYC LVBEL, is a developer group started off by Sage and Shades@IMVU over six years ago. Sage brought together the aspects of edgy models and advertisements and Shades added more life with the digital fashion. Overtime, they gathered strong, slick and drama-free individuals who had exclusively been hand-picked based on their originality. As Sage says, “It’s more about quality than quantity,” and as overused as this statement can be on IMVU, Sage has evidently shown this as LVBEL transcended, models were added, and that was it - she sees her items around Instagram and Stream, and it made her “all warm and fuzzy on the inside.”
That’s not just it for LVBEL, Sage has much more she would like to do; despite being happy with it already. By summer time, she’s hoping to have a website up and running with a lot of digital fashion, art, advertisement work, and also featuring a number of organisations and groups - you can expect this to be relevant to both IMVU and SL users.
Apart from developing and managing LVBEL, Sage also does Mini Fun on Stream with Shiroi001 and runs Munchkin Models (LVBEL kids). Despite having her hands tied with all of this, she knows how to balance her life with her family and girlfriend too.
Family Life
Sage has a girlfriend, Squeak, and has three kids: Oop, Lushy, and Low, who have been with her for approx. 4 years. “I treat them as if they were really my own blood,” she said, “The loyalty and the respect is at such a high.” Being that, her family is incredibly important to her, she was overly ecstatic and highly pleased to see her child, Lushy, featured in our last issue for the Mother's’ day feature,
“That actually made my day tbh. I been dealing with a lot away from VU and that was literally the first thing I read when I logged on IG. You have no idea how that made me feel. It was great to read,” expressed Sage.
Finally...
Such an inspiration to many young and new creators, Sage shares some very heartwarming and thoughtful advice:
“Just keep doin' what you do. Stay away from the norm and keep thinking outside the box. Always have an edge against your competition. Be a trendsetter."
