By Cindy O. Herman
The names Vera Wang and Abigale Hoke go together like NYC and “the Grove.” Or like “Everyone knows her” and “Who?” But Hoke, a 2005 Selinsgrove High graduate, is living her dream in Vera Wang’s New York City-based fashion house, rubbing her Susquehanna Valley elbows with Manhattan’s finest.
“Working in the fashion industry has been a dream of mine forever,” said Hoke, now a senior at Hofstra University. Since last May, she has been interning at Vera Wang, starting out with menial projects like “closet girl” and gradually taking on more responsibilities.
Hoke was lucky enough to get contact information for the internship from a college friend’s sister who works there. From the day of her interview, it’s been a learning experience.
“I was so nervous, and it was funny,” she recalled. “They were so nice, and I was so overdressed.”
She wore a business suit, as all college job seekers are told to do, but everyone there was wearing “trendy dresses,” and every interviewee she’s seen since then has worn a trendy outfit, too.
“That was a huge eye opener for me because I just assumed anytime you go for a job interview, you should wear a suit.”
Hoke had to “kind of talk them into” giving her the internship because they felt she was overqualified. The ambitious 22-year-old is a marketing major with a double minor in fine arts and economics. She hopes to eventually become a fashion magazine editor.
When she landed the internship, she stood on 39th Street in Manhattan and called Selinsgrove.
“I went downstairs, out onto the street, and called my mom and dad and my grandparents,” she laughed.
As a closet girl, Hoke pulled pieces of each type of clothing from a collection to fill requests from fashion magazines and public relations departments for photo shoots.
But “now I have way more tasks that I’m actually doing on my own. I’m working directly with one of the graphic designers,” she said.
She helps with editing and photo shopping the “look books” — each model at a fashion show wears a “look” on the runway, and designers compile the 200 to 300 pieces in each collection in look books, which can then be sent to fashion editors and department store buyers.
You can tell from the excitement in her voice that Hoke is having the time of her life.
“A lot of the people I work directly with are in their twenties. It’s kind of a young business, and we all have a great time together.”
She’s been right there in the thick of things at the fashion shows, with the pounding music, the models, photographers and “tons of energy.” Being involved with putting on the huge fashion shows “was just something I’ve wanted to do my entire life,” she said.
And has she worked directly with Vera Wang herself?
“I haven’t been, quote/unquote, introduced to Vera Wang,” Hoke said. “But I’ve been in the same room with her a number of times.”
It seems the small-town girl has really made it.
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned through all of this is that I really can kind of make my own way into any career that I want,” she said. “Even though I am from a small town because that intimidated me so much because I didn’t have any connections, and it is so much about networking.”
Hoke accepts challenges and builds upon her successes, she said. She recalled her high school music teacher, Kathy Bartol.
“She was just totally behind me. She boosted my confidence.” And her experiences at Vera Wang have been “a huge boost of confidence,” too.
Elated at the way her hard work is paying off already, Hoke expressed something Vera Wang herself might have felt when she was first starting out.
“Instead of sitting back saying, ‘Oh, someday this could happen,’” she marveled, “it actually is happening.”
-- Cindy O. Herman lives in Snyder County. Send e-mail comments to her at Cindyherman1@yahoo.com.
