By Renee Miller
Tenacity, persistence, brevity and clarity. Those are the four skills I carried with me from my time at The Lantern. They’ve served me well, from my early days as a newspaper journalist to my role today as executive creative director and founder of The Miller Group, a woman-owned creative branding boutique based in Los Angeles.
I came to Ohio State as a transfer student from Bowling Green State University my sophomore year, determined to make my mark. One of the first actions I took was to make an appointment with Dr. John J. Clarke, professor of journalism at the time. I told him — without hesitation — that I intended to become a reporter and editor for The Lantern. I was fortunate enough to get published that same year, serve as an op-ed columnist my junior year and ultimately became arts editor senior year.
Working on The Lantern was like being thrown into the deep end of journalism. We were expected to do the work of professionals, and credibility wasn’t optional— it was everything. Listening mattered just as much as writing. And often, what wasn’t said by a source was more revealing than what was. That’s where interpretation came in — learning to read between the lines, to uncover the real story, and to tell it well.
Of course, being a student journalist meant pushing through a lot of closed doors and dead ends. It was tenacity and persistence — as much as solid story ideas — that helped me succeed. Early on my father instilled in me that persistence, even against long odds, could be the difference between a breakthrough and a missed opportunity.
At Ohio State, I learned the power of brevity and clarity — how to strip away the fluff and get to the heart of a story. Those principles stayed with me as I transitioned from journalism to advertising. In branding, as in reporting, every word matters.
To this day, I credit my time at The Lantern for shaping not just my writing, but my worldview. Journalism taught me to question, to dig, to clarify — and ultimately, to connect. Whether I’m helping a brand find its voice or guiding a team through a creative brief, those same skills remain at the core of my work.
Editor’s Note: Renee Miller, a 1979 graduate of the School of Journalism, was a reporter for The Arizona Republic before founding her own public relations agency and later, in 1990, The Miller Group.
