Chesapeake resident turns love for bags into business

Instead of buying purses to match her clothes like most women, Narketta Sparkman-Key, Ph.D., has long built her wardrobe around handbags.

Shoes? Makeup? Jewelry? Not nearly as interesting to her as purses — especially extra-large bags that can travel from home to work to formal functions.

At age 42, Sparkman-Key has turned her passion into a business. An associate professor of human services and director of faculty diversity and retention at Old Dominion University, she has launched a line of luxe vegan leather handbags called Belinda Bea.

The company is named for her aunt Belinda, a fellow lover of enormous purses who didn’t mind her niece digging through her bags, and her grandmother Bea, who taught her how to be a well-mannered, confident lady.