Just so thrilled to find out that the Senior Product Designer at Vera Bradley is Elit Hoover who’s Filipina. There’s a brief interview featuring her in the latest (Spring 2010) Vera Bradley catalog.

Because I tended to lose things, I wasn’t a bag person until Vera. I put off buying a pretty bag for so long, even though the designs were lovely, because I was afraid I’d just lose it. Once I left a shoulder bag at a wedding reception and we were already on the way home and had to turn back to retrieve it! Guess I wasn’t wise enough to figure out that a bag could actually be the solution instead of the problem. So when I got my Vera it had to be a Vera — the biggest one, not easily forgotten. Since then I’ve used it as diaper bag, as book bag, as hide-things-before-a-party bag, etc. I *love* its many many pockets. What would make it perfect would be LABELS on the pockets!!! So I don’t have to check each one to find out what’s in it. What would be even more perfect is a zippable-on-the-sides Vera. So that if I do apply labels they wouldn’t be hard to see in the dark interior. Or maybe I can just bring a flashlight since it would fit 😀 .

Dd-18 wishes there was a sturdy Vera Bradley backpack she can use for all her books. The backpacks are all pretty, but there doesn’t seem to be one that would fit the bill, unless I got her a pullman (!). Her books are HEAVY. Maybe she should write Elit Hoover.