by Elizabeth Tzagournis, ’13
Renee Ogaki
Current Job: Showroom Coordinator, Giorgio Armani
College: New York University
Resides: New York City, NY
Arlingtonian Position: Editor-in-chief ’06-’07
Renee Ogaki is currently working as the Showroom Coordinator at Giorgio Armani in New York City, which is the staging area for the products and merchandise at one of the leading luxury fashion retailers in America.
“[My experience at Arlingtonian gave] me technical skills like how to use Photoshop. It taught me to pay attention to small details, developed my writing and communication skills, showed me the importance of hard work and long hours and helped me learn how to work as part of a team,” Ogaki said.
Another part of Ogaki’s job is her fashion blog, styluste.com, which she runs with colleague and friend Rebecca Lay.
Ogaki credits Arlingtonian for the creation of her website.
“My experience at Arlingtonian helped inspire me to write a fashion blog called STYLUSTE,” Ogaki said. “I’m making layouts and writing stories on a daily basis and I learned how to do both things at Arlingtonian.”
At Giorgi Armani, she helps arrange new products in an aesthetically pleasing way for the buyers, the press and stylists that attend the events. Ogaki finds great pleasure in her work and its outcome.
“I love seeing my work come to life…. It’s very satisfying to be able to see how your work made something successful,” she said.
Andie Diemer
Current Job: Photo Assistant at Self Magazine
College: Elon University, NC
Resides: New York City, NY
Arlingtonian Position: News editor ’05-’06
Andie Diemer began her career in journalism and media immediately following high school.
“I worked for The Pendulum, Elon’s student newspaper,” Diemer said. “The paper was in pretty rough shape then, but I was confident in the skill sets that I had developed during high school.”
Diemer attributes much of her success to her experience on Arlingtonian. She enjoys the rigor of the journalism and media world and is happy with her career choice.
“When I was contemplating what I wanted to do in college/career/life, I knew that I wanted to wake up and look forward to going to my job everyday,” Diemer said. “To me, having a job I really enjoy and am passionate about is way more important to me than how much my salary is worth… Though it’s a tough time, I love what I do [and] I have a job a million girls would kill for.”
Currently Diemer is involved in the details necessary for creating a successful photo shoot at the well-known magazine Self, but one day her hope is to lead in the photo shoot productions. She has helped to assemble photos such as on the magazines selection shown below.
During her two years of journalism coursework at UAHS, Diemer acquired knowledge she feels benefitted her greatly in the long run.
“Working for Arlingtonian made me want to be a journalist,” Diemer said. “It taught me how to get to know your audience, pitch story ideas, collaborate and work with other editors, clearly communicate and build an idea with the art team,” Diemer said. “[It helped me to] learn how to interview all different types of personalities and transcribe lengthy conversations, balance multiple stories and projects at once, in addition to learning AP [writing] style and InDesign [page design software].”
Diemer enjoys the writing process and the skills she gained from her time at Arlingtonian. One of her favorite things is when a project is finally complete
“I love the different aspects that are needed to pull a publication together and the final, concrete product you can hold in your hands that you know you created through determination and teamwork.”
