Although Oakton doesn't have an official mayor, that didn't stop Pete Conzamany of Oakton Family Restaurant from naming Renny Martin as their village's unofficial head. He dubbed Martin as Oakton's mayor at a Fourth of July party Martin hosted ten years ago. She had invited 250 business people to her home so they could network with each other.
Though the party ended years ago, the moniker stuck.
"She's very friendly, very informative. And she likes to promote, which is really good," said Maria Neofitou of the Oakton Family Restaurant, remarking on Martin's knack of bringing people together.
A former public relations expert who now owns a landscaping business, Martin enjoys being Oakton's unofficial mayor. The California native, who grew up next door to Bob Hope and moved to northern Virginia in 1990, said a perk of being the unofficial mayor is when people call her to tell about their babies being born.
"It's really turned out to be a fun thing," Martin said.
Although Martin now works outdoors, for much of her life, her career was in entertainment. Martin grew up surrounded by Hollywood. Her grandfather was in the movie business, and Martin first attended to the University of Southern California wanting to be a screenwriter. But because it was tough to break into screenwriting as a female, she concentrated on public relations instead. After graduating, she worked for a Beverly Hills public relations firm for 25 years.
But when her cousin wanted to move to the East Coast, Martin, who considers herself "a Valley girl," decided to come along too. She had fallen in love with the Virginian countryside after visiting the area with her cousin.
With the move to northern Virginia came a career change for Martin. Buoyed by a lifelong love of the outdoors, she started a landscape design business, called Everbloom, Inc. Becoming a landscape architect was a dream, since Martin was a child. Her mother would dress her up in white dresses so Martin would stop playing in the dirt with her toy trucks and tractors.
"I love it. It's my whole life," Martin said. "I like the idea that I can create new gardens for people."
Martin said that as a landscape architect, she sees her job as educating the homeowner on complementing designs. Her influences on her landscaping philosophy include Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmstead, Italian Renaissance architect Andre Palladio, American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and English garden designer Penelope Hobhouse.
"The landscape should reflect the architectural style of the house, inside and out, as well as the immediate neighborhood and community," Martin said.
As her business grew, Martin also became more involved in the community when she moved to Oakton. She befriended Conzamany of the Oakton Family Restaurant, after hearing his laments about his newly-bought restaurant smelling like cigarette smoke. To help his business, Martin and a few of her friends cleaned the dining hall and the walls and redecorated the interior. Then they went to area churches to let residents know about the restaurant.
With the success of the restaurant, she wanted to bring the Oakton business community together, so she invited them to her house for a July Fourth party where Conzamany named her the unofficial mayor of Oakton.
"She's very passionate about all her activities," said her friend and fellow Oakton resident Linda Byrne. Byrne and Martin connected two years ago after discovering that both of their families had been involved in the movie business. They also took a screenwriting class together. "She just throws herself in a hundred percent."
Martin's more recent community activities have been working with the Friends of the Oakton Library and Fairfax for Horses. She also enjoys painting in her spare time.
"I like Oakton," Martin said. "It's a nice blend for me. It's all new, with people moving in from all over the world."