Meet Kelley Daring

I invented Bagnet in 2014 and handmade thousands of them to sell to women at street faires and holiday shows in the Bay Area (with my amazingly supportive husband in tow). I worked my day job selling commercial furniture and spent my nights and weekends making and selling Bagnets until my fingers bled (literally).

Even though I was exhausted and completely stressed out trying to juggle it all, I loved that I was building a product, a brand, and a company. It excited and terrified me all at the same time (seriously, I needed therapy). I struggled with choosing work over family at times, the immense amount of pressure I put on myself, leaving a company I’d been with for 8 years, the insecurity of not earning an income, and the very real possibility of failure.

Fast forward to 2019 and the challenges are very different today (marketing campaigns! Raw material projections! Launch dates! Payroll!). There’s still sweat and tears (thankfully my fingers don’t bleed anymore) but the memory of those early days really makes me appreciate how far my company has come and makes me proud to be an entrepreneur who built her company from the ground up. I am extremely fortunate to be growing my business in the current atmosphere of female empowerment, equality, and opportunity. I don’t have to look far for female inspiration. I have friends who are starting, running, and growing their own companies. My Instagram feed is full of business women killing it in all sectors. I meet women who have taken on the uncertainty of entrepreneurship because they believe that the potential for success far outweighs the possibility of failure. I am proud to be included in this global community of strong, driven, and determined women and so thankful for the opportunity and ability to grow a company I call my own.