Launched by a woman with a successful business background, the Jalda brand extends beyond businesswoman sensibility, reaching all the way to the red carpet on celebrities such as Debra Messing and Paris Hilton.

Jalda Hoff had a cosmopolitan upbringing. She spent her childhood in England and her native Netherlands, and then attended business school in Brussels before moving to Los Angeles in 1995.

She was entrenched in the business world, working as a consultant for McKinsey & Co., a strategist at Mattel, and a manager at a multi-billion dollar manufacturing company, when she realized she craved creativity. After designing bags for her friends and family, she launched her own line in 2002, lucratively combining business and pleasure.

Jalda's business experience worked in her favor, not only in running her business, but in giving her ideas for her first line - "utility" bags for women. Having lugged around a laptop most of her career, she appreciated the need for practicality without sacrificing style.

She then used her keen fashion sense to expand into bags for evening and stylish daily living, but retained that functional ingenuity. In a chic interpretation of form follows function, her distinctive bean clutch actually converts to a larger handbag. When folded over, it's a sexy clutch, accented with her signature bean-shaped closure. Unfolded, the shiny metallic bean turns into a handle and the bag is extended.

Jalda handmade bags come in a wide range of colors and fabric combinations like stingray paired with lambskin. Some provide understated everyday functionality, others are more luxurious for night. Enhancing the appeal of her bags is their relative affordability.

From business to pleasure and everywhere in between, Jalda's inventive designs traverse all aspects of a busy woman's life.