At LumaStream, Hermes Valentin uses computer numeric-controlled machinery to make parts
BY JULIET MORALES
NNB Student Reporter
ST. PETERSBURG – As a machinist for more than 20 years, Hermes Valentin has built countless parts for private industry, NASA and the military.
But no customer was more important than a Rottweiler named Sam.
Crippled by a bum hip, Sam could barely limp around. His days seemed numbered until his wealthy owner turned to Valentin, a college student in New Jersey who had been working with machinery since he was 16.
“He paid $15,000 to have a titanium hip made for his dog,” said Valentin. “It brought me joy to be a part of saving the life of this dog so he and his family could be together a while longer.”
Valentin, 40, is the lead machinist at LumaStream, a LED manufacturing company at 2201 First Ave. S in St. Petersburg’s Midtown area. He uses computer numeric-controlled machinery – called CNC – to make parts from metal and other material.
As he works, Valentin likes to listen to classical music. “Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky – there’s no interruption in it,” he said. “It’s a smooth flow, and it just keeps you concentrated.”
When he’s not working with the heavy machinery, Valentin is the father of a 7-month-old son, a hair stylist, a culinary school-trained cook, and a supporter of causes that range from animal welfare and civil rights to education and the environment.
On his left arm is a tattoo of hair clippers. It’s Valentin’s way of honoring his late grandfather, who learned to cut hair during the Great Depression so he could “feed his family,” he said. “Out of all his grandchildren, I was the only one to take something of his and was able to learn and follow in his footsteps.”
If Valentin is a bit unconventional, he seems like a good fit for LumaStream, a new company that also defies convention.
Eric Higgs, a sculptor and self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur,” founded the company in 2009. He had sculpted a project in Tampa and discovered that it would cost a fortune to illuminate it. Bulbs using light emitting diodes would be cheaper, he learned, but the quality of light was unsatisfactory. The industry had not moved much beyond the Edison light bulb to greener LED technology.
So Higgs joined forces with a Canadian engineer who was working on the problem, and together they found a way to make LED lighting more efficient, reliable and controllable. They also made it safer by reducing fire and shock hazards that came when high-voltage power was delivered to low-voltage technology.
Higgs established LumaStream to manufacture the invention and put its headquarters at 2887 22nd Ave. N, next to Mazzaro Italian Market. In late 2013, the company moved to its energy-efficient building on the northern edge of Midtown.
Higgs also struck a partnership with St. Petersburg College’s Midtown Center nine blocks to the south. In one part of the LumaStream building is a classroom where SPC students get training in machining and high-tech manufacturing. Three students who have completed that training now work for LumaStream.
Valentin was born in Newark, N.J., and grew up there and in Puerto Rico. He speaks Spanish as well as English since Spanish was spoken in his home, and he knows some Portuguese since he lived in the Brazilian section of Puerto Rico.
He got into machining as a teen, when he needed to earn money for car insurance, and studied computer programming and engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., in 1994-1997. But his training goes well beyond that.
“As a young boy, I was taught by my father that knowledge is power,” he said. “The more you know, the more opportunities will open up for you.”
It was while he was working as a machinist in aerospace and defense contracting that life became extremely stressful, he said. So he took a leave of absence to learn a new career as a hairstylist.
He said he was trained in the tradition of John Sahag and Paul Mitchell, legendary names in hairstyling, but along the way added his own touches.
“I met amazing people and had many opportunities,” said Valentin, who noted that his customers have included sports celebrities like Mike Alstott of the Buccaneers and former baseball pitcher Dwight Gooden.
“I still do hairstyling, but mainly house calls and some work at home,” he said.
He said he’s also at home in the kitchen, since he once attended cooking school in New York and specializes in Italian and Spanish cuisine. “I love cooking for people because the reaction I get from my cooking is like watching their palates explode from the flavor.”
LumaStream brought him to St. Petersburg.
“I was laid off for about 10 months, and during my job search and application process I was called by a recruiter to interview with LumaStream,” he said. After researching the company, “I saw the great potential that LumaStream has and I knew that with my knowledge I could be part of making the company the best it could be.”
What he loves most about his job? “The freedom to do what I do,” he said. “I am at a stage where I can see a blueprint (drawings of parts) and in my mind I can already start the programming process to be able to make the part.”
Juliet Morales is a reporter in the Neighborhood News Bureau of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Reach her at (954) 562-4814.