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Looking around Rene Vorilas’ college room, you’d never know you’re standing in the headquarters and manufacturing center of a thriving fashion business. But look under the bed and you’ll find an impressive array of shipping materials and a bin of high-end denim jackets. Under her roommate and business partner’s bed are more bins, these filled with paint and textile media.

Vorilas, who graduated in May from the business administration program, co-founded a clothing business called Dio Alpha in June 2018. The company offers custom, hand-painted denim jackets in a few boutiques on Long Island, N.Y., at vendor fairs and on Etsy.

Demand for the unique, premium jackets has been steady, and interest spikes whenever Vorilas posts products on social media. Orders also increased after TV personality Gina Kirschenheiter wore a Dio Alpha jacket on Bravo’s Real Housewives of Orange County. But, with only herself and her partner doing all the work, Vorilas has intentionally limited Dio Alpha’s growth.

“We’ve always wanted to keep Dio Alpha small so we can focus on quality,” she says. “Each jacket takes a long time because they’re hand-painted and one-of-a-kind, and we’re full-time students!”

Dio Alpha is the fourth company the 21-year-old has started.

She founded the first at just 8 years old, creating flower pens from duct tape and raising $2,500 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Four years later, Vorilas began her first fashion enterprise: Swag Shorts, which offered dip-dyed, embellished cutoff denim shorts. At age 15, she founded Lahoni Co., a clothing and accessories line that promoted living life to the fullest and contributed a percentage of its profits to organizations that protect endangered turtles.

Vorilas chose to attend ������ϲ����� for college, basing her decision on the University’s reputation and the positive experience her brother had at ������ϲ�����’s Harpur College of Arts and Sciences. While she initially intended to pursue law and entered Harpur College, by her sophomore year she had transferred into SOM.

“I love figuring out how to make things better, how to move them forward,” she says. “I want to create things and watch them grow, so I decided I should be in business school.”

When it came time to look for a summer internship, Vorilas found that SOM didn’t have any fashion-related offerings. So she forged ahead on her own, securing an internship at Brooks Brothers in New York City. Upon returning to the University in the fall, Vorilas and another SOM student who also located his own internship in the fashion industry joined forces to create the ������ϲ����� Fashion Business Society, an organization for students with an interest in the business of fashion.

Within a few days of telling people about the club, which is open to any ������ϲ����� student, had 250 followers. The group assembled an administrative board and successfully held well-attended events. Then, the pandemic hit.

The ������ϲ����� Fashion Business Society quickly pivoted online, launching a virtual speaker series featuring professionals from across the fashion industry, capitalizing on contacts and information Vorilas gained during her summer at Brooks Brothers.

The society’s Instagram account continues to grow its number of followers, with members who are engaged and active. But, most important to Vorilas: Members tell her the club has positively impacted their college experience.

“It’s so amazing to see how many people are genuinely interested in this club and care about its future,” says Vorilas, who is also president of the University’s Hellenic Cultural Society. She adds that she has met with prospective students who want to learn more about the fashion society before deciding to attend ������ϲ�����.

Having been CEO of four companies and president of two student organizations, Vorilas says leadership is an inherent talent of hers.

That take-charge attitude propelled her to the next step after graduation: She accepted a position as a consultant with Protiviti, a Manhattan consulting firm where she completed her senior internship.

While she says she’ll have to step back from Dio Alpha, she knows she’ll be running her own business again in the future.

“I want to follow my passions the way they are and never have to hold back because of someone else’s rules or barriers,” she says.