Ishmael Craig Fernandez led me to try something new, something that has never entered my mind. Whatever it is or whomever it is, it was time to add AI (Artificial Intelligence) to my list of interviews.
So, here is my very first question to AI … and AI’s reply
Q: Can working as a bartender help you make the big decisions in life?
A: “Yes, bartending helps improve big decision-making by fostering high-level multi-tasking, rapid crisis management, and enhanced emotional intelligence. It teaches you to analyze complex situations under pressure, manage finances, and read people, all of which are critical for making sound, informed personal and professional decisions.”
Now, let’s meet Ishmael Hernandez. He’s 25, from Seymour, Tennessee, a University of Tennessee class of 2022 graduate (first in his family), with a degree in sport management and a minor in business administration. On March 9, 2025, he graduated from the KPD Police Academy, a year ago this past Monday. Yesterday, he and his wife, Abby, celebrated their first wedding anniversary. And he was patrolling his KPD beat. Welcome to life as a cop’s wife, Abby! She is a fourth-grade teacher at Chilhowee Intermediate School.
Wife Abby pins his new KPD badge on husband Ishmael at graduation as Chief Paul Noel watches
You may wonder – what is this bartending tie-in? He tended bar for approximately 5½ years, first on the Volunteer Princess cruises on the Tennessee River and 3½ years at the Saloon 16 Bar inside The Graduate Hotel on The Strip.
He met his wife tending bar and also discovered his career calling there as well … and this young man, with a strong faith, understands callings.
“God used bartending not only to push me towards a career he was calling me to, but he also used it to bring me my wife, whom I could not do life without! And he also used it to provide the money for me to pay off all my tuition as I went through each semester of college. God truly used it in so many ways to bless me.”
And his law enforcement career? Yep – bartending. “We had lots of guys in law enforcement come to the bar, and I spent time talking with them,” he says. “I learned a lot from them about their jobs.”
That bartending job and what he learned from it ended his plans to be a teacher or coach, or to work for a university or a professional team. “The Lord nudged me in a different direction.” And out of the blue one day during his thinking time, came a text from an old high school buddy, Ryan Stinnett, then a KPD officer. “He invited me to do a ride-along with him, out of the blue, and I went, the full 12 hours. It was so much fun, and I learned a great deal that it helped confirm what the Lord was saying to me.”
During his Seymour High days, he lived for sports – and played many of them during the school year – baseball, track, tennis, wrestling, bowling, and cross country. He also excelled in the classroom, making a 31 on the ACT examination for college, and graduated with honors.
Before joining KPD, he had a number of jobs besides bartending – assistant general manager at a Gold’s Gym, a personal trainer, a lifeguard, a server at Cracker Barrel, an intern at Sevier Heights Baptist Church, and with the city of Knoxville Parks & Recreation Dept. For the past eight years, he has taught the Middle School Sunday Class at Sevier Heights Baptist Church, but has since changed churches.
Ishmael Fernandez
Family is major for Fernandez. His father, Roger, works for Knoxville’s Parks & Rec. His mother, Jennifer, is a substitute teacher at both Seymour Intermediate and Primary schools. He has two younger brothers – one in the U.S. Navy and the youngest works in Parks & Rec for Sevier County.
Away from work, he manages stress by staying in shape — running five days a week, playing in a softball league, and playing a lot of golf. And watching sports on TV.
Fernandez has found one downside to his job. “The dead bodies. I had 15 in my first year. Wrecks from DUIs, drug overdoses, domestic violence, and suicides. A college student was a back-seat passenger, and his buddy was driving under the influence. The passenger was the only one killed, and it was gruesome. Kinda got to me some.”
This young officer – remember, he’s only 25 and just past his rookie year on the job – shares a few of his interesting thoughts about work.
- “We need to remember that a number of those we arrest may have never been in trouble before. They made one bad decision, their first, and we’re holding them accountable. It’s hard on some of them. When they are in my backseat I try to be compassionate and treat them as kind as I can.”
- “Being an officer is way more than I thought it would be – in a good way. Policing has changed. Everything you see on TV and in the media is about catching the bad guys, and there’s so much more to it than just catching the bad guys.”
- “How you handle the interactions with people is really important, and I’m a people person. I try to ease the tension about being stopped and arrested, to hopefully give them a positive impression of law enforcement.”
It appears that AI and Ish are on the same wavelength!
Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California, and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email Tom at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.
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