{"id":11710,"date":"2019-04-02T18:36:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T18:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/?p=11710"},"modified":"2022-07-22T16:07:59","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T20:07:59","slug":"spotlight-on-emily-deroo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dia.com\/blog\/love\/spotlight-on-emily-deroo\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on Emily DeRoo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Meet Emily DeRoo, Dia&Co customer and the winner of last year\u2019s \u201c12 Days of Dia\u201d<\/a> grand prize. We invited Emily and a friend to spend time with us at Dia&Co HQ and star in our latest photo shoot. We sat down with Emily between takes to learn about her experience on set with her best friend and cousin, Elizabeth, and to find out why she loves being part of the Dia Community. <\/strong>*Answers have been condensed and edited for clarity and length.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did you grow up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up in a suburb of Buffalo, New York. Upstate New York, western New York\u2014virtually Canada. Now I\u2019m on the Upper East Side. I moved here in August 2017. I love being in a really cool melting pot, and there are so many things to do. I mean, Buffalo is wonderful as well, but I had never seen a Broadway show before I moved here, and I love theater so much. One of my goals, when I moved here, was to see a show a month. Since then, I have definitely overachieved on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went to Ithaca College. I was a film major, and for film majors, it\u2019s either LA or NY. I did a study program in LA and did not like it. So, I was like, New York it is! I came here and worked in casting for a bit. I did background casting and helped coordinate one of the floats for the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day parade. I got to walk in the parade, which was an amazing, dream-come-true moment. Then I realized that I didn\u2019t really want to be in entertainment anymore, so I\u2019ve since switched to recruiting, which is kind of similar to casting. You\u2019re sending them on interviews, not auditions, but it\u2019s a very similar kind of process. I recruit currently for advertising and marketing jobs, which is nice because then I still get to use the creative side of things that I learned. So, my film degree isn\u2019t an entire waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love being in a really cool melting pot, and there are so many things to do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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How did you first discover Dia&Co?
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<\/strong>When I came to New York, I was like, I gotta step my game up! There\u2019s, like, FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology) around the corner, and all this stuff going on. I just felt I needed to up my game, but I didn\u2019t know how\u2014and that\u2019s where I found Dia and that world. I was like, oh, cool, I can be fashionable. I kind of know how to do that now, which is really exciting, but on my initial style quiz<\/a>, where it asks if you have a style, I was like, I don\u2019t know. Help me\u2014I just wear T-shirts. I was completely lost in figuring out that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think there was a targeted Facebook ad, which I\u2019m usually iffy about, but in this case, it worked. I got my first box, I think, last summer in June. I\u2019m now on box seven\u2014and I think box eight is coming in a few weeks, which I\u2019m excited about. I had one stylist for my first box, and then for whatever reason, that switched for the second one, but I\u2019ve had that second one for the rest of my boxes. She\u2019s wonderful and I love her so much. From box one, even though I didn\u2019t have her, I just really appreciated how personalized it all was. Around box three was when I found the Dia&Co Facebook group<\/a>, and I was like, oh, this is a whole other layer to it. I love that group so much. It\u2019s so empowering and inspiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who embrace their style no matter what have just been so inspiring to see and learn from. When I won \u201c12 Days of Dia,\u201d everyone was so supportive and said to send pics of my New York experience. It was so sweet of everybody. I got so many messages after that, too. I feel like we\u2019re a mini family. We post about normal stuff, too, and it\u2019s just really nice. I appreciate the Wellness Wednesday posts that we do a lot because it\u2019s just another side of life, not just the fashion side of life. There are other sides of life that we can all talk about, and we kind of have the same experiences in some cases. On social media, you wanna post the good stuff. With this amazing group, we can share the bad stuff, too. And we\u2019re all there for each other. I\u2019m saving up to go on one of those trips with other women in the group one of these days. Not this year, but maybe a future year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just felt I needed to up my game, but I didn\u2019t know how\u2014and that\u2019s where I found Dia. I was like, oh, cool, I can be fashionable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How has your relationship with style changed since you started getting boxes and found the Dia Community? What transformations have you gone through with your style, life, or confidence level?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t ever think I had a style before my boxes. I would buy whatever I thought was cute, but those pieces didn\u2019t necessarily all, you know, tell any sort of story about me. I would just be like, \u201cThis is cute. I guess it fits. I\u2019ll buy it.\u201d With my Dia Boxes, I\u2019ve kind of crafted my own sort of style. I understand what I like now and what I\u2019m interested in. I really like boho<\/a>, flowy stuff, I\u2019ve learned, but I also like edgy<\/a> stuff. I like being able to mix those styles. It\u2019s definitely grown my confidence level and just kind of opened up a lot of options in that sense. Like, I didn\u2019t think I could wear a moto jacket, but here it is in my life and it\u2019s cool. I didn\u2019t think about off-the-shoulder stuff much before, but now I love it. That\u2019s my favorite trend. It\u2019s really grown my perception of what I can wear and what I like, and how that crafts who I am and how I can outwardly present that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was talking to my boyfriend about it. He said, \u201cI really like all of your Dia clothes, especially.\u201d I think it\u2019s partially that the clothes are great, but I think it\u2019s also that I feel comfortable and confident wearing them. They\u2019re things that I wouldn\u2019t necessarily think to wear\u2014and the fit has always been so good on the things that I\u2019ve kept. It helps to have those styles you know will fit you. The pieces you feel confident in. I think that the boxes and the community have really been helpful, too\u2014seeing a lot of the community members just being really confident in themselves. It made me think, oh, I should be more confident in myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I even had my \u201caha\u201d jeans moment. I got my Molly & Isadora Leroy ankle jeans<\/a> and I tried them on, and I was like, I feel like the girl in the promo video! I remember the ad of the girl trying on the jeans, dancing around, and being, like, these jeans fit so well. I\u2019m like, this is exactly how I feel right now! It\u2019s just empowered me so much and given me so much more confidence in an area that I didn\u2019t really have much in. And it\u2019s just been so great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With my Dia Boxes, I’ve kind of crafted my own sort of style. I understand what I like now and what I’m interested in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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From left to right: Emily\u2019s cousin, Elizabeth; Emily; and our Social Content Specialist, Sean<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it\u2019s like being on set, getting your hair and makeup done, and modeling all these great outfits?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had two hair dryers on me at one point, and I thought, wow, this is really cool. I\u2019ve never really done many spa things, or self-pampering, so this is all a very new world and I\u2019m loving every minute of it. Winning \u201c12 Days of Dia\u201d has just been a great experience and I\u2019m really excited I get to share it with my cousin, Elizabeth. She isn\u2019t part of the Dia Community yet, but I\u2019m trying. I\u2019m like, I have a promo code if you ever need one! We grew up together. We\u2019re only a few months apart. We actually did child modeling together when we were little. We were Fisher Price models and were on toy boxes across the country. She\u2019s about to start a nursing school program, so this is kind of like her last trip before she goes and learns how to save lives. I\u2019m just really happy that she gets this moment, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I truly thought that I wasn\u2019t going to win \u201c12 Days of Dia\u201d because I\u2019m in New York. So when my name was called, I blacked out\u2014like, completely. I was on my couch watching the Dia&Co holiday party and commenting, talking to other people, saying, \u201cI hope you win!\u201d I had also actually won one of the other prizes, so I thought that by default, that\u2019s probably it. And that was totally fine. I completely just blacked out. I called Elizabeth as soon as it happened, then I called my boyfriend who was asleep because he\u2019s in England. I was like, \u201cHey! I won this thing and you\u2019re getting part of it.\u201d I told Elizabeth she was coming to New York for one last hurrah and my boyfriend that he was getting a Winston Box. I woke up the next morning and never saw the end of the video because I was just completely blacked out from shock and excitement. I rewatched the end and thought, okay, it\u2019s real. They said my name. I\u2019m just so excited to be here and to be able to experience it and share such an amazing thing with the people I love the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to be the first to find out about future prizes and opportunities to be featured on the blog? Request to join the Dia&Co National Community Facebook group<\/a> today!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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