The legitimacy of manifestation is a popular point of Internet debate. It’s the subject of many Reddit threads and podcast episodes. For Ruth de Cerff, the Brand & Digital Copy Manager at Diane Von Furstenberg (DVF), manifestation might actually be true.
De Cerff spends most of her days writing press releases and Instagram captions and reviewing marketing copy at the studio headquarters of DVF in the Meatpacking District. However, it wasn’t long ago that she lived on the other side of the globe in Cape Town, South Africa, working strings of jobs at PR agencies and food delivery companies.
“I always saw myself moving to New York and working in fashion,” says de Cerff. “I was a little too scared to take ownership of it. I don’t think I ever said that out loud to anybody when I was younger, because I just didn’t feel maybe good enough or creative enough or artistic enough to pursue that industry.”
Despite feeling deterred from pursuing fashion, de Cerff says her parents (a South African dad and an American mom) championed her passions and were open-minded about her career goals.
Growing up in Durban, a coastal city with a vibrant arts scene, de Cerff had a lust for a creative life. Inspired by her love of reading, early 2000s films like 13 Going On 30, and her mom (a former English teacher), de Cerff embarked toward a career that felt natural but within reach: a writer.
She studied English Literature and Film and Media Studies in college at the University of Cape Town. After graduating, De Cerff did social media freelance work at a live music venue in the area that was downsizing and had to let her go. But one day, the head of the company visited her apartment and marveled at what she saw.
“She was like, ‘Why do you have so many magazines?’” de Cerff says. “I was like, ‘I just thought that was normal. I love magazines.”
Turns out the sister in-law of de Cerff’s former boss was the food editor of House & Garden South Africa and was able to help de Cerff get an editorial internship for the magazine.
The position was only a month-long, but de Cerff relished every bit of it. She was a wide-eyed 22-year-old novice. She listened in on important meetings and interviews, watched her colleagues build pages on InDesign, assisted with photo shoots, and even wrote a few stories.
But the idea of attaining a permanent spot in the magazine publishing world in a country with a finite number of opportunities felt far-fetched.
De Cerff instead explored roles for PR companies, digital marketing agencies, and other businesses, but her frustration toward being denied access past the velvet ropes grew.
“I would see a very small group of people who ended up working in publishing and in magazines,” she says. “I was just so jealous, and I was dying. I just felt like I was destined to work in magazines, and it was not happening for me. It was truly a bruise to my ego, and it felt like I was being denied my dream over and over.”
After a few years of doing copywriting in South Africa, de Cerff went through a bad breakup, leaving her bereft and needing the company of her family who had moved to Long Island, New York a few years earlier.
As a bi-racial woman, it was challenging living in South Africa, a place she describes as “really scarred from such a systematically racist past.” Still, South Africa is her “favorite place on Earth.”
“You can love where you’re from so much and miss it so much, but still, when you get the opportunity to live somewhere where there’s more safety, more opportunities, a higher standard of living, you want to give that to yourself,” she says. “But it doesn’t mean that you don’t miss where you’re from or don’t see any beauty in where you’re from.”
De Cerff decided to move in with her family in Long Island and look for employment in the city, a process simplified by her dual citizenship. She eventually found a job at a tech startup, but shortly thereafter, the company lost funding, and de Cerff was let go.
The unexpected setback left her devastated, wondering how she could remain financially independent, especially after just signing a lease for an apartment in Brooklyn. De Cerff frantically began applying for jobs and cold-calling people, including DVF. About a month later, in the middle of the night, she received an email from DVF’s HR team asking her if she wanted to interview with them. Five days later, they offered her a job as the brand’s copywriter.
“The hardest point in my career ended up being the best,” de Cerff says. “I’m actually really grateful that I got laid off because everything else brought me to where I am now.”
De Cerff loves her job but admits that there are challenges that come with writing for a heritage brand. It was difficult at first to receive criticism from somebody as “iconic” as Diane Von Furstenberg: “There were a lot of growing pains where I was really intimidated because you want to do things justice with your words.”
Still, she perceives her role as more of an honor than anything else.
“I’ve really enjoyed being a part of evolving her voice for a younger generation, which is really important to [Von Furstenberg],” de Cerff says. “I feel like we differ from a lot of fashion houses in the way that we aren’t this cold, unapproachable brand. Once you’re on the inside, you realize how there’s this huge human element to it. She’s so down to earth.”
One of the things de Cerff appreciates most about her role is the organic nature of DVF’s commitment to female empowerment. The company is an unapologetically feminine trailblazer that broke through a male-dominated space in the 1970s with Von Furstenberg at the helm. Aside from shattering that mold, Von Furstenberg lets women “run the show” at her company, says de Cerff.
“We are predominantly women, which is amazing,” she says. “I’ve never worked at a company with so many women before, and I just feel so comfortable in my own skin there every day. Since I joined, I’ve had incredible women who have mentored me and held space for me as a human, not only for work, but just my needs outside of work: avoiding burnout, making time for true balance in your life, but still doing your job.”
Still, de Cerff does consider someday returning to South Africa despite how much of a complex place it can be. “It’s so beautiful, and it’s where I feel the most myself,” she says.
De Cerff says the feeling of foreignness living in America never disappears. However, the globalness of her team,which has members from countries like Turkey, Belgium, and Ireland, makes her feel less alone.
De Cerff embodies the South African spirit in many ways. She has a charming and infectious energy when she speaks, like her own gravitational force field.
She has been working at DVF for about two and a half years and still speaks with unbridled excitement about her role. It is the utter thrill of her getting entrance through the velvet ropes at last.
“Fashion found me so much later [in life], and I ended up in a role that I think is so much more suited to my skill set and who I am and how I like to work,” de Cerff says.
De Cerff’s story is not awash with technicolor but a hard fought climb to the top of the mountain. She committed to playing the long game, and she won. Was it fate? Was it destiny? The power of her sheer will and zeal? Did she click her heels three times? Maybe all of it.
“Trust the process,” she says. “You have to find the balance between allowing what’s meant for you to come to you but also fighting for what you feel you’re destined for.”