With a combined 20 years of experience in the fashion and entertainment industries, the Bag Snobs launched Bagsnob.com in 2005 after getting married and giving birth to their first children. The girls wanted to stay in the industries they loved but have the flexibility of spending time with their small children. Through Bag Snob they have found the perfect balance of work and family.
Vice President of Legend International- International licensing company. Procured licenses of Ronco, fashion brands Mark Eisen and Byron Lars for distribution in Asia.
MTV Asia VJ- Hosted MTV Classics, International Top 20 and The Zone
Television Host- Fashion/Lifestyle TV shows in Taiwan (TTV, CTV)
Jewelry Designer- t’ing by Tina Chen sold at Nordstrom, Yellow on La Brea and in select boutiques in Asia and Europe.
Project Manager at Mark Eisen
Owner/Designer of Brand Zero Bags
How we met
Kelly and I met while at USC. We instantly bonded over a 5 hour phone conversation one night when she called me to offer assistance on a committee I was chairing. Talking to her was like conversing with my mirror image! I had no idea there was another person on earth who was so much like me. We were both bag and food obsessed, some of my favorite memories with Kelly are our numerous shopping expeditions that would end with a lunch of “desserts only”. In college we’d purchased Prada bags for each other on our parents’ credit cards under the pretense that they were Christmas gifts so that our parents wouldn’t flip out 
We’ve been best friends for over 15 years now and have seen each other through boys, bags, and everything in between. We’re so in sync that we often finish each other’s sentences and read each other’s thoughts even while thousands of miles away! We were in each other’s weddings, threw bachelorette parties and baby showers for each other, and plan to retire one day and live together like the Golden Girls while harassing the cute young pool boys we will employ.
Why Bag Snob?
Kelly and I had given birth to our babies within months of each other and wanted to keep our minds creative while being at home with our little cuties. She suggested we start a website together using a weblog format (blog) in September 2005 (actually, her friend Jay of Single Serve Coffee was really the one who gave us the idea- thanks Jay, we wouldn’t be here without you!) . Her husband, Rich (our tech nerdie) is a software engineer and offered to help us with all the technical aspects of the website. I had never even heard of a blog prior to this but Kelly and I have obsessed about and collected bags for a lifetime so it was natural it’d be about bags. Plus the prospect of engaging in conversation with my best friend about bags everyday sounded too fun to pass up. We knew our girlfriends would also enjoy reading our website but we did not know that thousands of women would eventually log in daily to join in our conversation! What started as a hobby for two girlfriends who love to gossip and shop has turned into a full time business experiencing double digit growth monthly.
We look forward to many more adventures together and with you, our new found friends from around the world. Thanks for your continued support!
xoxo
Tina and Kelly
that was actually very cute – thanks for the behind-the-scenes!
What you girls are doing is a dream come true job. Imagine talking about bags all day! So sexy! I also have a crazy passion for shoes. When i enter stores like Bergdorf’s, i can hear the shoes talk to me and whisper, “take me home, i love you, your toes will thank you”. I know that this might sound crazy, but the bags talk to me too… Recently in New York, I was looking for a silver fun evening chic bag and found a gorgeous little Gucci. It told me (the bag is talking) that if I would buy it and bring it home, it would eventually be my daugther’s vintage…I knew this, but it reminded me.It is happily in my home and awaiting the perfect evening outing….Am I crazy or just crazy about bags??? You girls can relate! Do i need help? Please advise. Suzanne
This is so interesting to me – like visiting a different planet. I am not trying to be troll-like or insulting, but I just do not get it. I know I have no sense of fashion or style, so maybe that is it. I just cannot for the life of me figure out what is so wonderful about a thing to carry your stuff in.
It seems so nuts to me that people go into debt to buy these things. There is just no way on earth that I could ever justify spending over $75 on a purse unless it could also make my legs longer…
I guess in the end it is inexplicable. Either you need designer bags or you don’t.
thanks for the behind-the-scenes!