A Day In The Life: Marissa Kraxberger, Head Of Creative At Oscar de la Renta
Marissa Kraxberger starts her day just like any other mom: waking up to her son Hayden asking to play, making breakfast for her two kids, and watching Sesame Street with her daughter Alexa while putting on her makeup. But the second she steps off the F train, arriving at Bryant Park, Marissa Kraxberger takes on an entirely different role. Marissa Kraxberger is the Head of Creative at Oscar de la Renta.
The mom of two moved to New York City 8 years ago and has been the Head of Creative at Oscar de la Renta since April 2012. In this position, she works on projects for every product category of the company. Some of her daily tasks include planning email marketing campaigns and site assets for Oscar de la Renta’s website, laying out look books for the ready-to-wear collection, planning the runway set up for Oscar de la Renta’s bridal fashion show, reviewing images from the childrenswear ad campaign, planning the details for the ready-to-wear fall ad campaign, and meeting about holiday packaging for the fragrance collections.
Yes, she does all of this in one day! And yet, she still has time to write posts for the childrenswear blog called George & Ruby, a blog about Kraxberger’s adventures as a working mom in New York City and life in the fashion industry. This blog, which was created to gain awareness for Oscar de la Renta’s childrenswear collection, holds a special place in Kraxberger’s heart.
At Oscar de la Renta they believe “there is value in having ‘personalities’ within the social space so that people connect to the brand through people and not through a generic brand voice.” Marissa explains. This is why they first decided to start George & Ruby. Kraxberger often spends several hours a day writing for the blog. Luckily, she has a wonderful team to help her with her long list of projects. And although the office has a more formal atmosphere (Oscar himself often comes in looking perfect in an elegant suit), Kraxberger says the company “is more like a family… it is very open and everyone’s opinion is valued.”
Since her position focuses on creative marketing aspects, rather than designing collections, Kraxberger usually reports to the CEO, but she gets to work with Oscar when presenting advertising campaigns and planning fashion shows. Working at Oscar de la Renta is a huge achievement for Kraxberger, and she has nothing but nice things to say about the brand and the man himself; “Oscar is truly one of the greatest designers of our time. There is a level of craftsmanship, detail and sophistication that goes into every element of our product. It is very inspiring to be a part of such a legacy,” says Kraxberger.
But at the end of the day, Marissa Kraxberger is still a mom. She tries to leave the office around 7:00 PM, so that she can make it home to play with Alexa and Hayden, who she calls her “greatest achievements.”
