Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Heidi Kelly with me. Heidi, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Heidi Kelly: My name is Heidi Kelly, and I am a handbag designer. I design fun and funky handbags to help you get noticed in a crowd.
Toni: I like that – and I did notice your handbag when you came in. We do these interviews at the Crowne Plaza – she walked in and I thought, “Whoa! That’s very cool!” Where can we find these bags?
Heidi: You can find them online at www.hkellydesigns.com.
Toni: Okay. Heidi, thank you for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project. Let’s go into the first question. What does inspiration mean to you?
Heidi: Inspiration means to me experiencing something that just creates a spark in my mind. It could be a color or a pattern in a carpet or a fabric – especially fabrics, obviously, inspire me, because I design handbags with fabric all the time. One fabric I had had X’s and O’s, and my grandmother used to sign all her notes “XOXO” so it immediately set me off. I said, “That’s it! I know exactly what bag I’m going to make with this.” It’s just as easy as that sometimes. It’s just a little trigger that goes off in my head.
Toni: So you see something – a pattern, a color, and there’s your design.
Heidi: Sometimes, yes. It’s just that easy – and sometimes it’s just not that easy.
Toni: Does it ever occur in another area of your life other than your business as well where you say, “I like that. I’m going to do this with that.”?
Heidi: Yes. At home – I love to decorate my home, so anytime I see something it’s like, “I can do that!” Like old soda crates. My favorite are old wooden soda crates. I have them in the corner of my dining room. I have a new table, but then I have these old wooden soda crates.
Toni: What do you put in them?
Heidi: I actually put in some fake leaves so it looks like greenery growing out of it, and one little Coca Cola bottle.
Toni: So how do you take all of this creativity and these sparks that happen with you, and how do you put them into practice here in Berks County?
Heidi: A lot of it is I go out into the world and find stuff. My husband and I love to go to auctions and that kind of stuff. That’s where I found the soda crates. There’s little sparks. Berks County has a ton of old houses and lots of fun places to go. Even nature. At my house, our backyard neighbor is a farm, so we have a lot of greenery and lots of birds. I always see Cardinals and Blue Jays, so there’s always little sparks of color somewhere. Everything I see almost makes me feel creative and want to do something. It’s not necessarily designing a handbag. I’ve always been artsy-crafty. I just love it.
Toni: What was the first spark that got you motivated to create your own handbags?
Heidi: I got my sewing machine. I was afraid of it for a long time. Then one day I said, “That’s it – we’re going to do it. What can I make with it?” I made some stuffed animals for nieces and nephews, and one day I thought, “I don’t like what’s out there for handbags. It’s the same old black handbags. Everybody has the same bag. Why don’t I learn how to make them?” I learned a couple lessons online, and then started sewing different handbags, and then started making my own designs. I actually got breast cancer, and sewing was my therapy. I just sewed and sewed. Whenever I felt good, I sewed handbags.
Toni: So it was always handbags.
Heidi: Pretty much, once I started doing handbags. I’ll do little things here and there for other people, but once I started sewing handbags, it’s been handbags.
Toni: So when you were feeling well and inspired, you started to create.
Heidi: Yes.
Toni: And that was your therapy.
Heidi: Exactly. I didn’t have to pay $70, $80, $100 an hour to some psychiatrist. I just talked to my sewing machine.
Toni: And created handbags.
Heidi: Yes.
Toni: What a story! I love that. Who in Berks County inspires you?
Heidi: That’s an easy one. Around December I started going to networking events. I’m not normally a very outgoing person, so it was a push from one of my coaches to say, “You need to get out there and get involved.” I started going to some local networking events for women. The women that I met there were so inspiring, so nice, so helpful, and just lifting you up further. These are all women who either own their own businesses already or have been there for a while or are higher up in their companies. It’s inspiring to me to see all these other women that are all from Berks County doing exactly what I want to do, and them helping me and me helping them.
Toni: Was it a particular networking group?
Heidi: My first one is the PWBN in Reading. That’s the Professional Women’s Business Network. They have a Reading chapter, and that was my first ever networking event. That’s where I met a lot of amazing people, and even found my manufacturer there at my first event.
Toni: How cool. There’s a testimony for networking! So Heidi, is there a particular person that you’d like to give a shout out to that inspires you here in Berks County?
Heidi: They’re all so great. There was so many women at my first event. Lara Burkey is the person who actually found me my manufacturer. It was her nephew who is also local, just outside Berks County. Then Betsy Brooks was really sweet to me. Linda Lori is really sweet. There’s a lot of ladies.
Toni: When you think about the people that have inspired you in Berks County, what do you think the common characteristic of those people are that would inspire you?
Heidi: Positive thinkers.
Toni: Okay.
Heidi: They’re all so positive. With me going through all my health issues, they were super amazing. Sending me jokes on the Internet and Facebook, and just anything to cheer me up. Everybody is always so positive.
Toni: That’s pretty important to you, isn't it?
Heidi: Yes.
Toni: What I think is pretty cool is that as we said earlier, when you feel good you create these amazing bags – very fun and colorful bags – and it’s the positive fun people who also inspire you.
Heidi: Yes.
Toni: So what do you want your legacy to be, Heidi?
Heidi: I guess I just want it to be something like you just do what you love, and everything will come to you. Be positive through everything. If you get negative, it just brings you down and everything else down. I just want to be a positive role model and show that you can get through so many things, like two rounds of breast cancer for me. Going through chemo. Going through six different surgeries, and soon to go through radiation. You just keep going and pushing so you can be a positive role model to somebody else.
Toni: People get tripped up on this legacy question, and it’s really your living legacy, and you are living your legacy, aren’t you?
Heidi: Yes.
Toni: You surround yourself with those positive people, and you are a positive role model. I can see it. You should see your eyes just absolutely light up. Thank you so very much for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Heidi: Sure. Thank you, Toni.
Toni: Take care, Heidi.
