Associates of Alexes Hernandez display products from Wild Pup & Co., a business she started while studying at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS). Hernandez moved to Colorado Springs in 2020 for college and, with help from UCCS entrepreneurship resources, expanded her product’s reach on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
Hernandez was motivated by dissatisfaction with the quality and price of dog bandanas. “They’d get wrinkly, muddy and basically fall apart,” she said. As a high school student, she began making her own bandanas. After volunteering at the National Mill Dog Rescue, she decided to turn her hobby into a business. “I wanted to help, but I didn’t have the money to donate,” Hernandez said. “So I thought, why not start a business and give part of the proceeds to dog rescues?”
Wild Pup & Co. launched in October 2024, pledging 10% of sales each month to different dog rescue organizations.
Hernandez credits The Garage at UCCS—a campus entrepreneurial hub within the Center for Entrepreneurship—for providing valuable support. At The Garage, students set goals and receive mentorship to develop their ideas further. “It’s easy to get stuck in your own head,” Hernandez said. “The Garage gave me outside perspectives that helped me think about my business in ways I wouldn’t have on my own.”
While completing her accounting degree at UCCS, Hernandez managed academic responsibilities alongside running her business and working part-time. She has recently been accepted as a vendor for the Goldens in Golden event scheduled for February 2026.
“I’ve never felt like an innovator. I’m just a girl making bandanas and having fun,” she said. “But every once in a while, I step back and realize, wait, this is actually something.”
Hernandez’s story is featured in the CU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Impact Report for 2024-25 along with profiles of other student entrepreneurs across four campuses.
Students across all four University of Colorado campuses participate in innovation-focused education that emphasizes project-based learning—an approach linked with improved graduation rates and better early career outcomes for underrepresented or economically disadvantaged students.
Programs highlighted include CU Boulder’s Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and its unique Entrepreneurship Center for Music (https://www.colorado.edu/innovate/), UCCS’ Bachelor of Innovation degree program and C3 Innovation hub fostering multidisciplinary collaboration; CU Denver’s exclusive statewide Master’s in Entrepreneurship degree (https://business.ucdenver.edu/ms/entrepreneurship); as well as translational programs at CU Anschutz through initiatives like CCTSI, CU Innovations, and its Healthcare Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative.
Further details are available in the full 2024-25 Impact Report (https://www.cu.edu/doc/ie-impact-report-2024-25pdf).
