Renata D’Agrella on Balancing Social Media With Her Role at Coach

By: Lauryn Jiles

Renata D’Agrella is a 23-year-old social media influencer with over 107,000 followers on Tik Tok who also holds a Production Assistant role at Coach. D’Argella has collaborated with brands like Signe by M and posts daily vlogs and content that give insight into her career and life in New York City. D’Agrella landed her role at Coach through networking and previous internship experience at Oscar de La Renta, Tibi, and LaForce. In this interview, D’Agrella discusses her balancing role at Coach with her growing social presence.

While many fashion brands have shuttered due to COVID-19, Coach is one of the few luxury brands that has managed to stay afloat during the pandemic. Just last week at the Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Meena Harris (Kamala Harris’ niece) wore a long green coat from Coach. Last year, the brand launched their Coach x Jean-Michel Basquiat collection with a campaign featuring Michael B. Jordan and Jennifer Lopez.

Can you tell us about your role at Coach?

Most of my day consists of sample trafficking, making sure samples get to and from our photoshoots, and organizing shipping. Because many shoots are remote these days, there is a lot of coordination that goes on. I also take all images from the photoshoots, and after our art director makes selections, I compile the photos in spreadsheets with product details. My role has elements of project management; I map out which team needs to be where, at what time, and make sure everyone knows the run of the day. There’s a lot of planning for future shoots as well.

Can you describe the work culture at Coach and some of your career highlights?

It’s great! Everyone is so nice and helpful. All the teams work together to make our vision come true. Coach has great benefits, company initiatives, and it’s extremely diverse. Most companies that I’ve worked for have been completely dominated by white women, so to see several women of color in positions of power is very cool and I think that it’s very authentic to the brand. Going to fashion week has been a highlight. I was tasked with making sure celebrities were shot with the right bags backstage. I assisted the photographers and marketing team members backstage to ensure we had all of the shots needed. I got to meet some really cool people, including Meg Thee Stallion and Michael B Jordan—that was my favorite part of 2020!

How do you balance your career at Coach with your personal social presence?

It wasn’t easy at first and I overloaded myself in the beginning. It just all comes down to time management. I changed my sleep schedule to wake up earlier and have more time to create vlogs. I don’t view it as work; I love creating content and I do it for fun in my free time. When I come home from work, that’s what I enjoy doing.

In a TikTok video, you mentioned working on a Coach photoshoot with Jennifer Lopez. Can you tell us about that?

Last year, I was on set for Coach’s shoot with JLo to shadow my boss. Having a mentor that takes you under their wing is so important, and I watched and learned as much as I could. I’ve met many celebrities through work, and sometimes I have to remember that it’s work for them too. JLo’s shoot was one where it really felt like she was hard at work. She has an amazing work ethic—she gets things done! It was originally supposed to be a two-day shoot but she had everything done in four hours. I feel like people fail to realize that posing for a camera isn’t always easy, it’s a very professional environment.

@rendagrella

Thank you @amandauprichard for inviting me to the pink party! Also, so happy I got to see @kateebartlett and @itsbyalexis💙

♬ Gypsy Woman – Eurodance Forever

What advice do you have for students aspiring to enter the fashion industry?

In my opinion, networking is the only way that you will make it in fashion. I would not have had any of my roles without heavily networking. For my internship at Oscar de la Renta, I had a referral from someone I worked with who had the internship the summer before. At Tibi, I was shadowing an alum from school who I reached out to on LinkedIn. For my position at Coach, I reached out to an alum who happened to be leaving and referred me. You need to have a connection. A lot of positions aren’t even posted, it’s all through word of mouth. Get on Linkedin, reach out to everyone from your university who is working in the industry, and make an effort to create connections. Don’t ask them for a referral right away, take the time to talk to them about their experience or have a phone call first. Prioritize looking for internships at companies where you know people. If they changed positions, congratulate them and after they’ve been in that position for a few months, reach out to them again and ask how they are doing in their new role. It’s a constant effort to build relationships and it should be your top priority. Everyone has their fashion club or magazine in college but not everyone has the initiative to reach out to people in the industry.

Do you have any tips for growing a following on social media?

Be yourself, post consistently, and follow trends (especially on Tik Tok where trends are huge). Don’t be afraid to experiment and get creative with it. If you go into it intending to have a big following, then you’re going to get wrapped up in the numbers and discouraged when things don’t take off immediately. You have to love the content you are creating and trust the process. You also need to have thick skin because people aren’t always going to love you or the content you put out. Be confident in yourself and don’t feel the need to put too much personal information out there.