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OUR STORY

Made by professional women, for professional women.
From Tiffany, Co-founder of OLEADA

Before starting OLEADA, my co-founder Tracy and I worked in Finance & Investment. I was on Wall Street in New York City, while she was working in Central, Hong Kong. As female minorities, we saw the gender imbalance in the business world and felt a strong need for change.


The weight of working long hours and tirelessly traveling brought me to my wit’s end. I was standing in the TSA checkpoint at JFK holding the broken strap of my designer handbag, looking at its contents sprawled out on the floor.

Why is it that female professionals struggle to find a work bag that excels in both functionality and aesthetics when we solve some of the world's most challenging problems for our respective companies and firms every day?

After consulting with our professional contacts around the world, we learned this question was a common pain point for them as well. So Tracy and I, combined with a team of women professionals, founded OLEADA: a brand for those finding the “perfect work bag” – shaped by and for professional women.

Smart Fashion, Engineered.

After interviewing 20+, and shadowing 5 women working in law, finance, accounting, marketing, and private equity, we found five components that makeup the “perfect handbag” for modern professional women: lightweight, fits thick corporate laptops (HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc.), durability - scratch & water resistant, neutral color & minimal design for 9-5 wear.

Using the prevailing product design methodology, Design Thinking, we didn’t just design our first collection–we engineered it. What that means is we knew our handbag designs had to be smart, sustainable, and staples of fashion for the modern professional woman. With that in mind, each of our bags is engineered hand-in-hand with our stakeholders, who are not just designers or technicians, but also marketers, e-commerce managers, and customer service representatives to the brand. We’ve adopted an engineering-driven approach that combines thoughtful, practical designs with exquisitely crafted modern aesthetics. You’ll never sacrifice form over function again.

For A Gender-Balanced World

The name “OLEADA” is Spanish for ocean waves, chosen partly because modern professional women have the potential to be wavemakers of change in their industry of choice. We see their power, akin to ocean waves, as being elastic– gentle yet fierce, poised yet mighty, all at once.

But, more than that, we believe the name imitates the wildness and freedom of the tides: because the real power in women is giving them the freedom to live as their heart desires. It’s not all about climbing the corporate ladder, it’s about our rights in the workplace. It's not about how strong and determined you are to succeed, it's about being treated equally and given equal opportunities in society.

And each woman deserves to be a unique force of her own– to make her own waves.

They say a woman keeps her life in her handbag. We believe it’s true: our bags do tell the story of how we strive in our careers. And one day, when you look back, you will find that your stories inspired the next generation of girls, and your achievements have also planted seeds toward a bigger change - a more gender-balanced world.

Find Your Real Voice

Read More About the Modern Warriors

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