For years, women have been conditioned to play it safe with their professions — go to school, choose a career, work for a company or two, retire at 65, receive a pension, and enjoy retirement for the remainder of their years. Today, however, millennials are rewriting the script in an era when pursuing one’s passion is top of mind and entrepreneurship is a lofty ambition.

Portfolio manager Mishka Prendergast will tell you that taking the plunge to pursue one’s passion and turn it into a successful business is no easy feat. The fashion enthusiast conceptualised Berly’s Bags — a play on her middle name Kimberly — in 2020 when she started buying and selling handbags. “By 2021, I knew I wanted to create original designs, even though I had no idea how to begin,” Prendergast tells Tuesday Style Fashion (TSF).

A year later, after months of research, she found a manufacturer through an online bag-making course based in West Africa. Though she dealt with some curveballs along the way, she forged ahead with samples, tested them thoroughly, and then moved into full production. By November 2024 the Berly’s Bags Maven Laptop Handbag — a style inspired by Prendergast’s need for a chic corporate carryall — was ready to launch. The Sav and Marshel followed, and now Berly’s Bags has a complement of over five styles in as many colourways.

Armed with a passion for design that started at nine years old, and inspiration from brands like Coach, Aldo, Gucci, and her all-time favourite Brandon Blackwood, Prendergast is creating quite the stir, not only for her vegan, Jamaican-designed, handmade-in-Africa styles, but for her fun approach to social media marketing.

With a design for everyone from the woman who means business to the cocktail-loving chicster, Prendergast says it’s almost impossible to pick just one for the perfect Mother’s Day gift.

“If I had to… I’d gift the Maven Laptop Handbag. The bag is huge, it holds a 15-inch laptop and then some! But the Sav is also a wonderful gift, it’s small and chic and the chain strap adds a touch of elegance and gives it the versatility to rock as a cross-body or shoulder bag,” she says.

Mother’s Day picks aside, TSF also has eyes on the OE (Oversized Envelope) Clutch, the beige statement piece first spotted on stylista and entrepreneur Sushana Cole in April!

Berly’s Bags styles are available exclusively online at berlysbags.com

Enjoy 10% discount effective Tuesday, May 6- Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11 with code “LOVEMOM”.