SHERBURNE – When Wendy Gillette left her position at a local school two years ago, she thought she would be going into the health and wellness field, but what followed was a long journey she feels led her to her life’s destiny of designing high-end handbags.

After struggling to make ends meet by doing random jobs, including healthcare, baby-sitting and house cleaning, Wendy said she had a vision of a handbag. “It was out of the blue and irrelevant to anything to do with where I thought I was heading,” Wendy said. She had never sewn before, but in order to pursue her vision, she got materials and a pattern and called her mother, who immediately came and tried to teach Wendy the basics of sewing.

“We produced some, and people liked them,” Wendy said.

The bags that were produced were a far cry from the vision that Wendy had. “Finally, I told myself, there’s a reason this appeared to you – do something with it,” Wendy said. She decided to create a business, with the hopes of turning it into an empire. The business was called SKJ Lifestyles, a name with a dual meaning: first recognizing Wendy’s three children, whose names begin with S, K and J; and second, an homage to her mission statement, which says the business is “all about providing men and women with strength and knowledge for the journey.” The process soon began to evolve and Wendy began to play with different materials.