You probably know Reba Hollingsworth as the always smiling co-anchor of CBS6 This Morning, but Reba is much more than just a media personality.
A mother and entrepreneur, Reba invented her first product in 2018 — the AHA Wrap, a comfortable and adjustable leg wrap that holds a wireless microphone allowing women to attach the microphone to the wrap while wearing a dress instead of attaching to the back of a bra.
“I looked at what is causing me my biggest pain,” says Reba of her experience with rushing to get a microphone attached to her bra before going on air. “This was my a-ha moment.”
Realizing that women in other markets and industries were having the same problem with wireless microphones, she began developing her product in 2017. Purchasers of the AHA Wrap, sold on Reba’s website and Amazon, include female ministers, public speakers, women in television, and many others.
“We sold one to a friend of former Miss America Camille Schrier who gifted the wrap to Camille. She was on the stage doing a science experiment, wearing a dress. During COVID-19, we also sold one to Ginger Zee from Good Morning America who wore it when she was doing the weather broadcast from her home,” says Reba.
Business is growing each year, she says. “At first it was more individuals but now we are seeing bosses in newsrooms buying them in bulk.”
TRI V3RSA Bag Can Carry You Through Life
Reba’s latest product, the TRI V3RSA bag, also came from hassles Reba experienced as a reporter. The three-in-one bag can carry everything from a notebook and laptop to a makeup bag and lunch.
“As a reporter if you go out of the newsroom, you may be on that assignment for hours. I wanted a bag that could carry my life. I found a manufacturer, and we put my own spin on it,” Reba says.
One hundred percent vegan leather, the bag can be used over the shoulder, as a crossbody, or a backpack. “Nowadays, television reporters have to go on one-person shoots where you do everything. It’s a one-man band. If you are trying to carry a tripod in one hand and a camera in the other hand, you want to have a backpack or crossbody,” she says.
The bags, which are lighter than a leather bag, come in two colors, but cognac is the most popular now, according to Reba. “I’m finding that women who travel like the bag, and the bag is gender neutral. We’ve had men purchase it.”
She would eventually like to expand both products, especially the bag. “I want to do more colors and sizes. I want to offer variety,” she says.
She has always wanted to be an entrepreneur and understands that being an entrepreneur can be scary at times. “Being a business owner during a pandemic is scary,” she says. “The exciting part is that you don’t know what it’s leading to. It’s a surprise, and that is what I love about life.”
She has met many different people who have helped her during the process. “One thing has led to another. I am good at the creative part, but I really have to learn the business part,” she says. Life as an entrepreneur and inventor is different. “It’s been fun because it’s yours. It’s your baby. I’m always trying to think of products that help women and make their lives easier.”
So what does her 13-year-old daughter Jillian think of mom? “I think she thinks it’s pretty cool that I have my own business,” Reba says. “She has said, ‘Maybe one day I can run the business.’”
Learn more about the products and order online: TriV3RSA bags and AHA wrap.
Enter to win one of Reba’s TriV3RSA bags during RFM’s year of the maker!
