Female Founder in Focus — Veronica June Race — Founder of Borboleta Bags
Welcome to the Female Founder In Focus series!
This series on my blog celebrates women blazing trails in different areas of business, tech, art, entrepreneurship, fashion, beauty, dining and more etc.
I hope by sharing the stories and journeys of other women, you are inspired to chase your dreams, work hard and never give up.
Today’s Female Founder In Focus is Veronica June Race, the founder of Borboleta, a cruelty-free, vegan leather handbag brand.
I discovered Borboleta on Instagram and I was immediately intrigued by the concept of vegan leather handbags. I visited the website and learned more about the brand, the products, and the fact that the products are designed and made in Thailand; I was really impressed by the designs, colour range and Borboleta’s ethos. I purchased two bags from Borboleta and they are my go-to handbags for daily use. It’s been almost a year and the bags look as good as new. What I love most about the handbags is how high-end they look and feel, but they are available at a very reasonable price point. The handbags are also incredibly versatile and can be worn day or night, casual or dressed up.
Jolet Bag 
Ella Bucket Bag 
Mini Treasure Bag
Borboleta is a true labour of love. Veronica built the business from the ground up and as we chatted about her journey I could feel her passion and joy for the work she does everyday.
[Veronica has very kindly offered a discount code for my readers and followers: Use discount Girlboss25 to save 25% on your next Borboleta purchase on www.borboletabag.comh. Worldwide shipping available.]
Born in the east, growing up in the west
Veronica grew up in Bangkok; her mom is Thai and her Dad is American. She remembers a childhood in the suburbs of Bangkok, growing up with nature, spending lots of time outdoors,m in the pool, and reading.
At 16, Veronica left Bangkok for the US to complete high school and go to university after. She completed her undergraduate degree in Linguistics and Communication from the University of Maryland at College Park.
In 2007 Veronica moved back to Bangkok to help her mom, who owns a private school, with the financial aspects of her business. Veronica spent 6 years organizing and streamlining processes and learned a lot about how to manage finances for a business; at this point she felt ready to leave the family business and start something of her own.
Veronica started her own brand — Borboleta — in 2012.
After 4 years of running Borboleta, Veronica decided to switch to remote management and moved to Florence, Italy, to pursue her Master’s degree in Fashion Brand Management at Polimoda International Institute of Fashion and Marketing. To Veronica, as a fashion brand owner, it made sense to move to Italy — the fashion capital of the world. She comments “I love traveling. Europe was out of my comfort zone. I learned and grew a lot during my time in Italy.”
Education, learning, and growing seem to be Veronica’s constants as she is also currently enrolled in a part-time program to complete her PhD in Management at the Grenoble School of Management in France.
The significance of the brand name “Borboleta”
By nature Veronica is a creator; she’s always loved creating and designing from a young age. So it made sense that owning a creative business was something innate to her.
Borboleta means “butterfly” in Portugese. Veronica read the word somewhere and it resonated with the core concept of her brand: to create beautiful, lightweight handbags for women with an on-the-go lifestyle.
Borboleta initially launched as a fashion brand with clothes and bags. However, six months in, Veronica realized that her clothing line had some cost-intensive challenges: sizing and frequency of use. She quickly pivoted and decided to focus only on leather handbags.
Before the brand officially launched in 2012, Veronica designed and manufactured a bag and wore it out to see if there would be any response and there was. Her friends and people in general asked about her bag — it was a sign that she was on the right path.
Moving away from genuine leather and trying something new
Initially, Borboleta’s products were made of genuine leather. As time passed, the idea of using genuine leather lost its appeal. Veronica didn’t like the idea of the harm done to animals and wanted to look for alternatives. Using materials such as PU and PVC were not an option because they don’t last long and eventually peeled.
Veronica referred back to her professors in Italy for advice and they mentioned vegan leather as an option — leather that is made from polyurethane or natural, sustainable materials such as cork, apple peels, other fruit waste, and recycled plastic — because it was gaining traction in the world of fashion.
After doing research and going on factory visits, Veronica found a material supplier in China for a high-end alternative microfiber leather — a Japanese innovation — which is 30% more lightweight than genuine leather; waterproof and can be disinfected with alcohol; and lasts longer than 10 years.
Mini Lunette Bag 
Jolet Bag 
Mini Demilune Bag
“While the innovation in alternative and vegan leather looked very promising from a business owner’s perspective, there was still a lot of education and convincing that had to be done on the consumer side. I had to convince people to give it a try at the beginning”, Veronica asserts.
All of Borboleta’s products are designed and handmade in Thailand.
Vision and creative problem-solving cannot be outsourced
As the brand grew, Veronica added more team members in every department to accommodate and support the growing demand for her products.
In 2020, the company experienced significant growth and Veronica felt it was time to bring on a creative team to support the brand in the area of design, so she could focus more on the business side. She was hopeful the new team could launch new collections and more products. She hired two expert designers to help design a full collection for Borboleta but they failed to impress. After evaluating the product samples created using the freelancers’ designs, Veronica knew instantly they were not functional and the designs weren’t unique enough. She followed her gut and decided against outsourcing the creative part — the part that she is most passionate about — of the business.
Today, each Borboleta product launch is a result of Veronica’s vision and attention to detail; each bag goes through four to five rounds of design, sampling, and product testing before it is ready to launch.
Being a business owner means having to learn as you grow
Running a new business is not without its challenges. Veronica learned a lot on the job and being the only full-time employee of her company in the initial years meant she was basically handling every “department” from marketing to production to e-commerce to HR.
Veronica comments “I’m introverted so it was hard for me to self-promote and let people know that running Borboleta is what I’m doing. Finding a balance between being true to myself and promoting our brand was a challenge. But I knew that having a good product isn’t good enough. I had to tell our story.
Borboleta’s main distribution channel is e-commerce. Veronica remembers what the e-commerce and online shopping landscape looked like in 2012, “E-commerce was not what it looks like today; it was a very expensive and complex platform almost a decade ago. I had to learn how to manage a website and payment systems. I made mistakes along the way. I remember having difficulty managing and vetting payments. Once I sent out a large export order, which turned out to be a fraudulent order. It was a big mess. I remember reminding myself that I can’t get emotional and that this is business and I need to take the emotion out of it and fix the issue.
Self-built and self-funded
Veronica launched Borboleta using her own savings. She burned through a lot of cash at the beginning because she attended international trade shows and fairs to promote Borboleta and this turned out to be a very expensive strategy.
She comments, “I sold my first three bags and the costs associated with those sales were very high but I noticed as I sold more bags the costs started to drop significantly. I pivoted to doing business online and focused on keeping things very lean. I am a cautious spender and I chose a slow growth strategy instead of a fast one. At Borboleta we donate some of our earnings to charitable causes and re-invest back into the business, so it’s very important to me that our cash flow is positive.”
People can make or break the business
Finding the right people for Borboleta’s team and building the production process are areas of the business that have taken the longest to “get right”, as Veronica says. She didn’t have a full team until 2016 and it has been a challenge finding staff who have the same passion as Veronica has for the business. “Borboleta is my baby and the people who help me take care of my baby are my family. That is why I run Borboleta like a family business. I am dedicated to taking care of my employees but I also trust them and don’t like to micromanage. This can be challenging at times because the lines between professional and personal are blurred.”, she says.
Today, Borboleta has a team of 25 working on the brand and an additional 20 in a local factory, which the company has partnered with; Veronica is a firm believer in nurturing relationships and promoting female-owned businesses.
Looking to the future
Borboleta is currently in a phase of significant growth. Veronica recently secured land to build a larger factory to accommodate the growth in demand for her products. Her vision is not only to construct a manufacturing facility, but also to build housing accomodation, have a large garden and open common spaces, so that her team “have a nice place to hang out after work and have fresh organic vegetables from the garden to eat everyday” she says with a big smile.
Veronica is also diversifying Borboleta’s product lines to include tote bags for working women (the Naila Tote Bag just launched!). And she will be launching diaper bags, yoga bags and makeup bags later this year.
‘You can have the whole cookie’
Veronica admits that seeing her mom work and run a business during her childhood years is how she learned about the importance of having the energy and passion for work and, more importantly, life.
She shares something endearing and powerful her mom said to her, “Love is not like a cookie; you don’t have to split it to ensure everyone gets a piece. It’s always there. You can give the whole cookie whenever you want”.
Following in her mom’s footsteps, Veronica’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, especially moms is straightforward: be simple, stay focused, and don’t be afraid to follow your passion, even if it means time away from children and family. She believes that it’s important and healthy for children to see moms who have other passions and work hard to make their dreams a reality.
Connect with Borboleta
Website: www.borboletabag.com
Instagram: @borboletabag
Facebook: @borboletabag
Line ID: @borboletabag (with the @ sign)
Connect with Veronica
Instagram: @veronicarace
Use discount Girlboss25 to save 25% on your next Borboleta purchase on www.borboletabag.com. Worldwide shipping available.