Life and Work with Melissa Oberkfell and Angela Holder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Oberkfell and Angela Holder.

Melissa and Angela, please share your story with us.
This shop had a very simple beginning. We have a lot of dogs (5 permanent pack members-hence the name 5DogDesigns) and we foster a lot of dogs yearly. In doing so, that we spend a lot of money on our dogs and we like to have them looking dapper in their attire (collars). We like the collars to be strong, made well and be cool, fun and different. So, we began making our own dog collars because we could guarantee those things. While making these collars people asked us to make their dogs a collar when they saw one they liked and finally, we decided let’s just make a shop!

We are family owned and operated a company. We do this part-time on top of being dog parents and loving our careers. We can proudly say our collars are 100% handmade. We focus on strength and durability as much as we do look. We love offering the styles we come up with but also rising to the challenge of custom designs for those looking for something unique and different.

We also are big into dog rescue. That means we give a lot of our time, energy and heart to dogs in need due to the over-population problem of our domestic pets. So, on top of fostering dogs, volunteering our time to a few awesome rescue organizations, we also give back monetarily. That means, 15% of our profits go right back into the community through local rescue organizations.

Our goal is to offer you unique functional well-made collars! Or, as we like to say: Swagger for your wagger!

Has it been a smooth road?
I think online stores in any category can be an over saturated market. You have to find your niche and understand your target market before you put too much money into it. We have actually had a smooth road because we knew who we were targeting before we jumped. We also already had a foot in the door because of the rescue community. I can’t say everyone we know who sells online in little boutiques on Etsy or other shop fronts can say the same. So we were very fortunate.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with 5 Dog Designs – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We make dog collars. It is a pretty simple service. We also cater to those who view their dogs as family and we offer matching keychains, bracelets, belts and lanyards. We allow people who like to accessorize their dogs and cats with quality useful designs a way to do that. We have always seen our target market as people who own large powerful breed dogs and would like a well made functional, trendy collar. We provide that. However, as we have grown we have found that many different pet owners including cat owners really like our collars. We believe our quality and customer service has set us apart.

The one thing we are most proud of is the money we are able to donate to the local rescues we support. From inception on March 1st, 2017 to March 1st, 2018 we were able to donate more than 1000.00 dollars to rescues.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
While there’s a ton of discussion and support for gender equality in business, there’s an equal amount of legacy thinking and behavior that still exists. Such thinking and behavior, if not necessarily a physical bar as much anymore, is an ever-present undercurrent that can intimidate even the most confident and competent of female business owners. Looking for a compromise to the gender dynamic, without going too far the other direction is always the challenge. Female leaders in any industry simply need to trust their competence and forge ahead, even if the barriers feel oppressive or reception isn’t quite as expected initially.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.swaggerforyourwagger.com
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credit:
Shine A light Atlanta (Colleen Cruz)

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.