MY LIGHT BULB MOMENT

Devina Dicarlo Handbag designer

Devina Dicarlo, 41, is the co-founder of handbag line aurora london. She lives in london with husband, Tony, a housing developer, their son, enzo, four, and daughter, chiara, two. I FIND pretty shoes uncomfortable, but I love handbags. My mum had an enviable collection and I gravitated towards them as I grew up. It became an addiction.

When I started to earn my own money, the first handbag I bought was a Gucci.

I starved afterwards but I remember my elation as I looked at the quality of the craftsmanship, even the packaging.

I worked in PR for eight years and every time I hit a milestone I would buy a handbag. It wasn’t about the label, I was driven by what looked beautiful.

My last job was as head of PR for Givenchy Beauty and I loved it, but I’d always fancied setting up something on my own. So when my friend Sarah Auerbach, who I’d worked with at Givenchy, suggested we start up an events management company, I jumped at the chance, running big-budget events for clients such as Shiseido, Elizabeth Arden and LVMH.

We had a good time, but I was constantly stressed, with demand- ing clients. I’m sure that was why, after I married, it took me a while to get pregnant. Eventually, after two years of trying, I had my son.

Far from relaxing into motherhood, I went straight back to work: I had three months to organise a massive event in France. I remember thinking, ‘This is insane. It’s taken me years to have a child, and I’m still doing what made it more difficult in the first place. There’s got to be another way’.

As a handbag collector who had worked in luxury PR, I knew that big brands tended to have a huge mark- up to facilitate the marketing. I’d always thought there had to be a way to make them more affordable.

That knowledge, and the realisation that I wanted more family time, was the trigger for me and Sarah to set up Aurora London, our handbag business, at the beginning of 2014.

We design the bags from scratch and only sell them online — if we were to sell them through a department store, the overheads mean we would have to double the price.

We’re now into six figures in turnover and I can work around my family. To anyone else thinking about going out on their own, I say: just do it. We set up our first business with £500. Have faith that your journey will sweep you up.