Today we’d like to introduce you to Tone Bekka.
Hi, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m excited to be here. Thanks for having me. I am a leather bag designer and creator. I’ve always had a love for bags since I was a little girl. I’ve been carrying handbags since I was 4 years old. While attending Columbus College of Art & Design pursuing my degree in Fashion Design, I made a leather bag for a class project and fell in love with the process of working with leather. Instead of being a Stylist I decided to take another route and explore my newfound love for leathercraft and combine it with my love for handbags. So in 2012 I started making leather bags and created my brand Tonē Bekka. Tonē Bekka is a combination of my husband’s middle name Anthony and my deceased sisters name Rebecca. The name is a twist on their names but holds such great meaning to me.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’ve learned to trust myself. It’s been challenging building my brand from the ground up without any start up capital, loans or a rich relative. I have also learned to stick to my brand aesthetic and the vision for my company. People will always have suggestions on how you should do this or that. But I’ve learned to be true to who I am and what I am trying to build. It’s good to listen and take advice but know what’s good and what’s not and the things that align with what my brand is and what it stands for. I feel like it’s taken a lot longer for me to get where I want to go by bootstrapping my business and being a solopreneur. The road definitely hasn’t been easy. There have been a lot of long nights and times when I have thought about giving up but then I realize that there is absolutely nothing else I can see myself doing that would bring me joy like Tonē Bekka.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
While I thoroughly enjoy handcrafting luxury leather bags and accessories and it is very therapeutic for me to make the bags and see my creations go from an idea in my mind to paper and then become an actual bag that I am able to carry and be proud of. I also realize that my business can only grow so much with it just being me. I would love to grow the company to house a staff to make the bags and give me the ability to focus more on running the business and designing the bags. This will also lend me more time to teach. I started teaching leather crafting classes and would like to help more people learn the art of leather work whether they want to create bags for a hobby or actually make a business from it as well.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Happiness for me is when my customers tell me how much they love their bags and the response they give when they see them. I love getting messages from customers. It’s my fuel to keep pushing and creating. Knowing that I am putting a smile on someone elses face. I enjoy making bags and seeing my art come to life and it’s like icing on the cake when others show their excitement for them as well. I have also been hearing stories from people lately of how they have seen others out at events, restaurants and even Target carrying my bags. To know that people are not only recognizing the Tonē Bekka bags and brand but also that they have been seen around town, more is an amazing feeling because I know one day soon Tonē Bekka will be a household name and people all over the world will have my bags!
Contact information:
- Email: talktous@tonebekka.com
- Facebook: @tonebekka
- Instagram: @tonebekka
- Tiktok: @tonebekka
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