I had been out of work and then 9/11 happened; I couldn’t get phone calls back and everything was kind of at a standstill. A friend suggested that I start selling my handbags. So I had my first home handbag party in December 2001 and sold $1000 worth! I started scheduling parties up and down the coast of California and wherever I went to visit friends and family. The reaction was amazing. The more I made, the better the quality got. I started with a simple bohemian style bag as gifts but realized what I really needed was something that could transition from the office to a night on the town without have to lug around something huge and cumbersome. Other sizes evolved from there to a smaller elegant evening clutch, the “Janey,” to a casual shoulder bag, the “Samantha,” and more.

Soon I couldn’t pick up a bag without checking out how it was made; always trying to figure how they did certain things. I took all the suggestions and advice from everyone and a year later finally got the confidence to start meeting with boutiques. Once I sold to my first boutique, I realized that I had something even more special than I thought. So I started a website and this year added a shopping cart. I also send out a monthly newsletter and do online promotions. Last year a local radio station personality called to do an online "highlight" on my bags and I soon hope to land something in a magazine with my new PR rep.

I taught myself everything, from production to sales and marketing. For years, I sewed every order myself, but realized in order to grow I had to let something go, besides my day job. So, last year I started working with a contractor in Chicago. It was very important to me to have something local so I could remain an important part of that process and support local business. But because I still want my clients to have a unique and special product, I continue to have them produced in small quantities.

I currently use fine decorator fabrics, wool blends, ultra-suede, polyester blends, imported silk brocades, some leather and almost anything that catches my eye. I love the look and feel and versatility of fabrics. I love how they look with bamboo and colorful leather handles; I search high and low for leather to match and love how it brings out a specific color in the fabric. I almost can’t go into a fabric store without coming out with something. I especially wanted to create something unique and different; I was so tired of seeing every woman with a black bag...I wanted to add life to their accessories!

My design nightmare occurred when I first started working with my contractor. The sample was made and decided upon and now came time for the project. For most of my bags, I had decided to use a new cream-colored lining in a slightly thicker denier (which I had been using). After he cut all the material I gave him, he told me I needed 15 more yards. I called the company to order more and they told me it was no longer being made in that color. I started researching and calling every other company that made anything close to that type of material. No one made it in that color. Since my lining is used mainly for backpacks, luggage and outdoor products, cream color, obviously, wasn’t a big seller. I then had to figure out a secondary color to use. Then, the contractor (after all that) came back and said he couldn’t actually use that particular fabric, the glue wasn’t working. So I had to scrap all of that material and had to start from scratch again. Then I had to re-order more zippers in a new matching color. What I didn’t realize was that was when the factory closed annually for two weeks. So that put the zippers on back order. As a result, the project was done after the season ended! So the season got pushed back a little. But I learned a valuable lesson about how far in advance you really need to start planning to prevent a nightmare like this from occurring! I’ll never let that happen again.

My greatest achievement has been seeing how far I’ve come from my very first handmade bag, to teaching myself how to make the bags from scratch, to learning HTML so I could update my website, to getting to the place I am today, basically, all by myself. (Of course, I appreciated the help and encouragement of family and friends along the way!) It is all worth it because I love seeing the joy in my customers’ faces when they fall in love with one of my bags. I remember getting an email from this woman and her daughter who bought bags at the store in Las Vegas. They were so in love with them that when she got home, she emailed me about it, wanting me to open up a store in Jersey. I guess to this day, I am still amazed at what I have been able to accomplish without any training. All the headaches, time and energy are totally worth it whenever I create a new design and it turns out exactly as I imagined it!