Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons

How Odoba Turned Heritage Into a Handbag Brand | Emily Blumenthal & Odoba Nnani

• Emily Blumenthal • Season 1

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For Odoba Nnani, building her brand became a masterclass in trusting instincts and weaving cultural heritage into every creation. Born in Nigeria and moving to the U.S. at eight through the visa lottery, she balanced family expectations with a growing creative drive. When the pandemic hit, she traded law school dreams for crafting accessories that blend beauty, function, and heritage.

Her design philosophy? A great bag works anywhere—sweatpants to store runs, dressed up for church, or taken to a club. Versatility, paired with leather linings, magnetic closures, and thoughtful craftsmanship, transforms each piece into functional art.

By working with The Accessory Think Tank, she skipped costly mistakes and launched Romanian-made handbags that fuse global influences with Nigerian roots—designed for real life, across all settings.

💡 Key Takeaways:

  • Career pivots can unlock your truest calling.


  • Versatility is a branding superpower.


  • Small details create lasting luxury.


  • Expert mentorship saves years of trial and error.


🎧 Listen for a story of risk-taking, reinvention, and cultural pride in design.

Our Guest:
Odoba Nnani is the founder of her namesake brand, crafting luxury handbags that merge Nigerian heritage with modern functionality.

#AdobaTheBrand #HandbagDesigner101 #LuxuryDesign #WomenInBusiness #CulturalHeritageInFashion #VersatileDesign #EntrepreneurJourney #FunctionalLuxury

Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.

Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com. 





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Speaker 1:

My thought at the very beginning was I want a bag that I can take anywhere. I want a bag that I can go to the store in sweatpants and I can dress it up for church. I can go to a club with it, Like. I want a store that I can wear anywhere, that my little nieces can wear, that my mom can wear, like a bag, literally for anyone.

Speaker 2:

Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast, with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week, we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love, from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Welcome Adoba, nani of Adoba, to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. Welcome. Welcome, adoba, thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2:

Well, I am super excited to have you. I actually learned about you through Nancy Foreman and Matthew Lafargue of the Accessory Think Tank, thoughtfully known as TATT, t-a-t-t, with whom you are working. It's interesting how people back into becoming handbag designers and now that you are formally part of this community, slash our community. I've spoken to a lot of people. You are one of our selected designers to be part of the it Bag X New York. Now for the trade show happening August 3rd through 5th.

Speaker 2:

I'm not sure if this is going to run before and or after. If it runs after, hopefully people will have had a chance to walk the show and find you. If it's before, walk the chance and find you. But to be a handbag designer and part of this special community, it's something as we've spoken about a lot. To be a designer is very lonely, it's very isolating. It's very different from corporate. Anybody who works corporate and then goes from corporate to becoming a designer. It's like a harder sucker punch to realize that it's kind of all on you and to you know be internal, external marketing, sales, pr, design, manufacturing, incoming, outgoing. How did this all come to be Like? What was the origin story of starting that one bag?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so it actually started in my senior year of college. It was during COVID. So I was at home and I was trying to figure out what to do. You're home in Ohio. What to do? You're home in Ohio yes, in Ohio, in Columbus Ohio and like I was getting ready to start applying to law school. But I was like I kind of want to do something else.

Speaker 1:

And that time I had been taking some human rights and just human rights classes and it taught me a lot about human rights and environmental rights and it made me start thinking about how, back home in Nigeria, like we don't have access to things that I have access to in the United States. And while thinking of that, I was like but do I want to practice law? And the answer was no, I do want to like have that knowledge, but I don't want to necessarily practice. So I was like what are things that I actually really enjoy, things that I think that I could be good or great at and just enjoy myself and be happy and fulfilled? And that was fashion, because, coming from a Nigerian family, like our communities are so fashionable, lots of color, so much color. I remember growing up and just like looking at my mom and my aunties dressing up and it's so beautiful and so vibrant. So I've always loved fashion and I thought for me specifically, I was so into handbags and jewelry.

Speaker 2:

So jewelry piqued your interest and, if I may, just out of curiosity, because you are 100% Nigerian, correct?

Speaker 1:

My family moved here when I was eight. We actually at that time they were doing visa lotteries and my family won the visa lottery and it was actually on the plane that I found out that we were staying my brothers and my dad. They got to the airport early and my mom and I were running super late. So in all that chaos my dad was like, oh, we'll stay in America.

Speaker 2:

No, yeah, you thought you were going on a vacation with your whole life.

Speaker 1:

We're going to visit family because we do have family here in North Carolina. So I have a couple of uncles and aunties and cousins who live in North Carolina, so we were just going to visit them. And so that year my dad and my eldest brother stayed, and then my mom, my other brother and I we went back to Nigeria the next year, my other brother and I. We came and I lived with one of my aunts for a year. It was wonderful, it was very foundational for me. I feel like I wouldn't be who I am without that year living with my aunts and my cousins. They just they taught me so much about respecting others and just how to be in North Carolina.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh my god how did you lose your accent?

Speaker 1:

so it goes in and out. Actually it depends on who I'm speaking with. So, like I remember in college when I facetimed with my mom for in front of my friends for the first time, they all stopped but they were doing these and they were so shocked because, like, my accent switches back and I can't really control it. So like when I'm speaking to my family or other immigrants or Nigerians specifically, like it will kind of switch back and then when I'm speaking to Americans, it switches to my American accent.

Speaker 2:

Oh my God. So your whole family was kind of separated all over the place.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for four years we were separated. My mom came the year after me and that year my dad moved up to Ohio for work. My aunt had given him a recommendation and he applied, so he moved up to Ohio and then the year after we all came back together in Ohio and we've been there since.

Speaker 2:

So there was five of you all together, or six of you. Five of you, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Wow, wow, that is. And it's so crazy that I'm actually like doing this like handbags and jewelry, because in my family, my eldest brother is the artist of the family and like he's the creative one, so it's very interesting that, like, all three of us are very artistic and creative well, you know.

Speaker 2:

And what number are you? Are you two with your us? Okay, you're the princess by everything. Wow, that's it.

Speaker 1:

Uh-huh, care of your name, which you told me means queen yes, my dad means queen, and his nickname for me is my princess. Oh god, okay, I'm sure your brothers loved that.

Speaker 2:

Oh my god. Yeah, there she is, the queen and the princess. There's so much more before. That kind of took you to the spot because you know, on the one hand, to start a handbag brand, a handbag business, anything creative, it's perceived risk because there's no guarantee. You know it's so much dictated by right place, right time and money, and you know research and making sure that it's at the you know right, the right price. You know your customer, all of that. But you know, listening to your family background that you shared in like five minutes, you know five years and five minutes kind of thing, it's clear that this you are not a risk averse family and you might say, okay, it's surprising that he's the creative, but we're all creative now, we're all doing creative things. But what you just said, it's like okay, so this one moved here and that one moved there and my dad it's.

Speaker 1:

You're very mobile in terms of being able to pivot, move around and not attach so much emotion to it because you know, no matter what, like we'll just end up somewhere else yeah, no, and at the end of the day, like for me and even my cousins, we talk about this all the time like the most important thing is having our family and like knowing each other and we may not talk all the time, but like we know we'll always have each other's back, and like there's always someone there, no matter where you are. So like that is what keeps us.

Speaker 1:

Like even though, like moving here, especially moving to ohio, where my cousins weren't anymore, it was a lot lonelier, but like, I'll bet having that knowledge in the back of your mind that, like your family, is always there, it's, it's great there must be a Nigerian community there somewhat.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I know it's difficult, yeah, to go from North Carolina. Yeah like.

Speaker 1:

I know so many people now, so it's it's really nice like having the community there and they're so supportive. I call them all my uncles and aunties, and they were actually the first people that I told outside of my media family, that I told about my brand, and they're so supportive. They were my first sales too, as they should be yes so okay.

Speaker 2:

So at this point you're trapped at home. Where did you go to university that allowed?

Speaker 1:

you to George Washington in DC so you moved home.

Speaker 2:

Then, because of the pandemic.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was actually spring break and my friends and I we wanted to go to Jamaica but we were hearing that like we may not be able to come back. It was so up in the air so we're like we'll just go to our respective homes. And then, literally the day of my flight, we got an email from the school saying, basically saying you can't come home, so March 4th.

Speaker 2:

That was it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, wow.

Speaker 2:

I'm excited to share my new book with you. Welcome to Savvy Susanna's Amazing Adventures in Handbags and the Start of Susanna's Triumphant Journey to Become a Young Handbag Designer. Filled with ingenuity, fun and a hint of steam, susanna will inspire children and you everywhere to follow their dreams and put in the hard work to get there. Savvy Susanna is available on Amazon, barnes, noble or wherever you get your books. Thanks for your support. Yeah, so what year were you? It was I was a junior. Yeah, ok, so you were at the halfway, halfway point. Yeah, wow, that's pivotal, because by the time you're a junior, you're, in your mind, adult enough. You're independent. You have been able to cook clean, although you've been doing that, probably by yourself, before.

Speaker 2:

But self-sufficiency and then to throw yourself back home. I mean, covid wasn't? Some people lived their best life during COVID. But after you've had this taste of independence, especially since you lived this mobile life from moving from one place to another, it was probably like, oh my God, I'm free, I can finally spread my own wings instead of depending on somebody else's wings. And now I'm back in the nest, which I did not sign up for at all.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that was exactly it. Yeah, and my mom has an independent pharmacy in Columbus, so like anytime I'm back home I'm working at the pharmacy. So it was like juggling work at the pharmacy and schoolwork. And my family also got COVID, so COVID and then like it was just a lot figuring out what I want to do because there isn't enough time.

Speaker 2:

So so at this point you're like screw this, I need an outlet I might crack if I don't find something for me. Or else like or else what's my life for? Like, I've been through all this. Now I'm back at the pharmacy, I'm back home, I'm doing online classes. The sparkle just kind of flattens. You know so and we talk about this a lot that when becoming a handbag designer, like all the logic, all the organization, all of these things that one prides themselves on kind of goes out the window. And you're like I have this idea, I'm just going to go for it. I know it doesn't make any sense, I know I might not have the money, I know I might not have the resources, but this is what I want to do. Ha ha, kind of thing.

Speaker 1:

Exactly and my original idea. It definitely evolved because I didn't even think about being a handbag designer, like that wasn't on my radar at all. Like I saw it, Let me buy a bunch of handbags, just like generic handbags, and I'll have my eldest brother, the artist, paint on them on things that have to do with Igbo culture. And I scoured the internet for manufacturers. All their MOQs were like 300. I didn't like the bag, I didn't know the quality, I didn't know, like where the bags were from and I wanted to have that traceability, like where I actually know things about the bag. And they also none of them responded to me because I was always like can you guys do an moq of like five?

Speaker 1:

I can't oh my god, oh my god so then I stumbled upon tat, which has been like the most amazing journey in my, and it's so amazing and I'm glad to be on this journey right now, like how long into this were you into?

Speaker 2:

how many years were you like, had you? It was actually pretty quick.

Speaker 1:

So it was a Saturday morning and I was scrolling I believe it was like maker's row. I was scrolling and I was reaching out to manufacturers and then I saw TOT and I was like, oh, I don't know what this is. So I like I went to their website and just read more about TOT and it was very interesting. I was like, oh, like we can make like an actual brand where I can actually feel authentic. It's not like I'm selling out or just that was another thing. I wanted to feel authentic and like this is actually mine. I wanted to have ownership of it and I felt like my original plan, I wouldn't actually have ownership because I'm just buying ready-made bags and painting on them.

Speaker 1:

And Nancy reached out to me almost immediately after I reached out to her and it was so amazing. We clicked immediately and she's helped me build this brand to what it is Like now. I'm like I'm a handbag designer, not a jewelry designer, and it's all thanks to her guidance and her team's guidance and Matthew has been so helpful and instrumental in learning, like all the back-end things, especially with pricing and everything, like they are so amazing and even this opportunity with you, like it's through them, like it's been amazing I've been able to meet so many wonderful people from all over the world.

Speaker 2:

Like I could speak the gospel of the accessory think tank, t-a-t-t-a-k-a, nancy and Matthew. But I want to ask you, before you connected with them, had you made a sample, had you sketched? Because usually by the time, nancy and I always joke about this by the time people have found us they've already dumped at least five, ten thousand into doing it with no structure. No, you know like I found a factory in, you know. You know you hadn't done anything like had you had a sketch. Had you had an idea?

Speaker 1:

no, nothing at all like it was tabula rasa.

Speaker 1:

It was a complete blank slate, like we started from the very beginning the only thing I had done is I prepared a sales pitch for my mom so she could be my investor. Like it was super formal, like I had it printed out and everything. I was like these are my projections, even though they made no sense. And like I called a family meeting, so like I was like I need you guys to be my investors because I have no money. I'm still in college. So my parents, they've been so supportive, which is so crazy, because if you know anything about a Nigerian family.

Speaker 1:

Like parents always want their children to be a lawyer, doctor, engineer, yeah, and even my cousins one of my closest cousins, she's a lawyer in the Netherlands and she was like I'm so scared for you. This is so scary. I could never think of like not having the basket of law under me. You can get a job anywhere.

Speaker 2:

But you know what Birth order plays a lot into that.

Speaker 2:

And it's funny because most designers are either the youngest, because by the time they've gotten, it's gotten to them, because the firstborn always typically needs to stay within the lines and be the responsible one.

Speaker 2:

That's why the firstborns are usually the lawyers and the doctors. The further you go, middle children are either I call them hustlers or hyphens. They're the ones who will leave and never come back and do big things, or they'll kind of fall into the couch cushions because they just are so used to being passed over and just being the girl with the flow. By the time you get to the final child, you know who's already been called queen, who's affectionately referred to as princess, you know the support and respect is already there. So it's kind of like I'm sure you knew in the back of your mind that you get their support because, purely because of your family dynamic that you're like oh hey, I just need to show them the respect that I put in the time, effort and energy to prove that I'm doing this the right way to get their support it was actually the opposite in my family.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, my family is, we're different. Like it is usually like that, like in my family, because from when my brother was three he had been drawing lifelike sketches. Like everyone always knew he was going to be an artist. My family, we started commissioning him very early on, like my uncles would be like I'll pay you to draw my family, I'll pay you to paint my family, I'll pay you to paint my family. So like it's for him, it's always been he's going to be an amazing artist. And then my second brother. He's always been into like tech and games. So from the start he's like I'm going to be a game designer, it doesn't matter what anyone says. And then for me it was sixth grade. In sixth grade I said I'm going to be a lawyer or a spy. And somehow lawyers stick. I don't know how spy fell to the wayside. I think I would have been an amazing spy.

Speaker 2:

I think you moved so much that I think spying became complicated.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and my mom was like how could you be a spy when you're telling everyone you're going to be a spy? And I was like it's all part of the plan, me too.

Speaker 2:

I told people that too. Can I tell you something? I said I will be the most in plain sight spy, because I'm so chatty that no one would ever assume that I would be the spy. Because it's like boppity bop, and people just talk to me and I get the life story. I'd be like mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. But then again you need to be really organized and you need to be able to keep your mouth shut long enough to then repurpose that and then it's like, yeah, that's not happening. That's the part two of the spy factor. That ain't happening, oh my goodness.

Speaker 2:

So if you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and didn't know where to start, this is for you. If you had dreams of becoming a handbag designer but aren't trained in design, this is for you. If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you. I'm have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction. This is for you.

Speaker 2:

I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass. Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand, broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes. For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the Handbag Designer Bible, founded the Handbag Awards and created the only Handbag Designer Podcast. I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in-depth course, from sketch to sample to sale. Whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start or begin, or if you had a brand and need some strategic direction, the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass is just for you. So let's get started and you'll be the creator of the next it Bag. Join me, emily Blumenthal, in the Handbag Designer 101 Masterclass.

Speaker 1:

So be sure to sign up at emilyblumenthalcom slash masterclass and type in the code PINECAST to get 10% off your masterclass today oh, since grade, then that was the plan lawyer and then all of a sudden I was like um, I kind of want to do something different. So like their support at that point was so, like it was so heartwarming for me and it gave me like definitely the confidence boost that I needed to actually start looking into how to bring this to life. And then, like TAT has helped me flesh it out in a way that I don't think I would have been able to do by myself. That's a fact.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a fact and I'm no disrespect to you, but I think, maybe because you grew up with such a supportive puzzle piece family, that asking for help or assuming that it's okay to bring people on is kind of like second nature, because so many people, when they start, just assume that they either should do it themselves or are ashamed to share it, don't want to tell or they're like okay, this is my thing, if I screw up, it's on me. If I'm successful, it's on me. But knowing that it was worthy of bringing people on to guide you and help you with this journey is, I mean, that takes just as much courage, if not more, to ask for help. You know and also realize you have to pay for the help, because you know to get people on and again, nancy and I have spoken about this that most people, by the time they get to us, they've lost so much money doing it in a way that they thought was kind of from the hip, thought was kind of from the hip. So to get people to realize that services cost money, getting help from people who had the experience costs money. So would you rather below and with the masterclass I teach, because Nancy and I do very, very different things, because I'm before you get to this part and like make sure you're ready, know how to talk to a factory, like understanding how to sell, who to sell and the product comes after, because you need to understand all that before. But by the time you get to people like me and then people like Nancy and Matthew you know I hate saying it takes money to make money but to get experts involved a lot of people just assume like well, I've just blown all this, can you help me? And it's like no, we are all in this together and that's what experience gets you.

Speaker 2:

You know, like the story of and whether or not it's true of lore but Salvador Dali. Someone walked by and asked him to draw on a napkin, like draw me something, and he said OK. And the guy was like oh, wow, thanks. And he said that'll be $10,000 or $100,000, blah, blah, blah. And the guy's like this took you 15 seconds.

Speaker 2:

And Dali again, who knows if this is true? Said actually it's 30 years and 10 seconds. So again, who knows if this is true, said actually it's 30 years in 10 seconds. So no, that's what this is. So that's what you're getting when you work with people like Nancy and Matthew, it's combined, you know, 30, 40 years combined of retail, of expertise, of design, of trend. And you know, I think it's really, really wise of you and very fortunate and fortuitous that you were able to find them, because you know your journey is supported and it's guided and it's put in a way that at least okay, here's my idea, here's my vision, but I will help you then make it sellable. I will help you find the people to make it for you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I agree completely.

Speaker 2:

So I just because I want to make sure how were you able to come up with what your hero bag would look like?

Speaker 1:

So it took many heads. So the actual shape came from an earring design that we kind of put on the back end, and we worked with Alex I don't know how to pronounce her last name, but we worked with this amazing designer, alex, to like come up with the initial sketch and the handles actually had a jump ring and my thought at the very beginning was I want a bag that I can take anywhere. I want a bag that I can go to the store and sweat pants and I can dress it up for church, I can go to a club with it. Like I want a store that I can wear anywhere, that my little nieces can wear, that my mom can wear, like a bag, literally for anyone, that is elegant and classy and timeless, something that will actually last.

Speaker 1:

So that's how we went into this design and initially it had one handle, but that posed a problem because you couldn't actually open the bag and put things in. I was like, what's the point? And this was the time where those like micro bags were so in and I was like but you can't even put your lip gloss in it. Like you need a bag that is beautiful but you can still put things in it and you can still like live your life without struggling. So we went through. We've gone through, like so many variations of this bag, and I actually have all of them.

Speaker 2:

I still wear all of them I know, I know, I get that too.

Speaker 1:

I do yeah and like this bag has two neodymium magnets, for example, and with that I was like I love the snap, like the sound and like how you don't have to find the little hole with the other magnet closure. I hate that it's so difficult for me. Like it it makes like it was always the hardest thing for me and I don't know why I can't stand that. So I was like I want a bag that will be secure, but it's just a simple snap like you don't know why I can't stand that. So I was like I want a bag that will be secure, but it's just a simple snap, like you don't have to think about how to like actually close it, you just let go and it's closed.

Speaker 1:

So it's been a wonderful journey making this bag and like choosing the leathers, finding the leathers, finding the tanneries, like it's been so cool. And I also I looked at like the brands that are out here already, like the brands that have been here for years, and I saw like the materials that they use and linings and things like that, and I knew that I didn't want a cloth lining or anything. I wanted something that could last and that could be easier to clean, just like the outside of the bag, so we chose a leather lining oh my god.

Speaker 1:

yes, it was a bit of a challenge to convince everyone that it's a leather lining, but I was like I, I have to have a leather lining, nothing else. I don't want microfiber, I don't want anything else leather and like it's just. I think I get this from my. Fortunately, I do know what I want, like it's so clear in my mind the things that I want and like how it can work. So like having the support of everyone, because so far it's just been support and love, and like every step of making these bags like it's just been feedback that makes the bag better. Nobody is negative, everyone is constructive and it's just been such a blessing to have that community with my family and with Ty and like it's just so wonderful.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, my goodness, adoba, I'm so grateful that you were able to join us and her brand with her eponymous name, adoba, at New York Now X it Bag, which is our unique section specifically for independent designers. As you know, everybody knows I hate the term emerging because once you've emerged, then what you know like arrived, the arrived bags. But it's a very specific group of extraordinarily beautiful and talented product. Some it's the most it's their first trade shows, but all with good people, good name, good product, good deliveries behind. And if you're getting this after, please make sure you check out Adoba's bags, who that are actually made in Romania, which is another interesting story which we'll have to talk about another time. But, adoba, how can we find you? Follow you, learn more about your beautiful bags?

Speaker 1:

So you can find me on my website or Instagram. My website is adobaco, so that's O-D-O-B-A, underscore T-H-E, underscore B-R-A-N-D. Oh my God.

Speaker 2:

Are there other Nigerians running around with your name that you had to do? That?

Speaker 1:

It's actually it's because, yeah, there are a couple of people with my name it's actually not a common name and a lot of people don't realize that I'm Nigerian or Igbo because of my name. Like just last week, someone who is also Igbo was like I was so confused because I saw your face and I was like, oh, that's a beautiful Igbo girl. But then I heard your name and I was like, but is she? So it's a name from my village and that's it makes. It makes me even more happy to be sure to check. Oh, my goodness. Well, you are an absolute delight and actually what a beautiful, beautiful face you've got too.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much and looking forward to seeing you. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer. Thanks so much. See you next time.

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