Photo by Luke Beck

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Bebe concocted unique fashions from her Brandon bedroom and carved out her niche in the industry. Now, the devoted mom’s seeing pink and raising funds for breast cancer research.

WHICH OF BEBE’S STATEMENTS BELOW ARE TRUE OR FALSE?

1. “I never participated in a fashion show before Fashion Week Tampa Bay last September.”
2. “I met my fiancé aboard a plane to Las Vegas on the way to a convention.”
3. “After becoming licensed to produce LA Ink’s tattoo designs, I decided to get a Pink Panther tattoo on my ankle.”

Scroll to the bottom of the article to see which of the three statements is a lie!

More on Bebe

Bebe never expected that when she added a bit of sparkle to her son’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers shirt in 2002 that she’d be building a potential empire. “With a Bucs patch and some crystals, we were able to design something a woman would want to wear,” she says. Working out of her Brandon house for four years, she began to design a line of fashion designs that she describes as “clean, classy but edgy.”

When Bebe made the decision to sell her salon and spa, refinance and invest everything into Ice It by Bebe Z, she knew it was a bit of a gamble but one she felt confident could pay off. “We were really blessed to get into places like Bloomingdales’s and local boutiques like Pink Palm and Kit’s who helped generate early interest in the product lines,” she says. In 2004, the company scored its biggest victory landing a licensing agreement with the National Hockey League after Bebe’s Swarovski crystal-embellished Tampa Bay Lightning shirt with ‘Ice Ice Baby’ caught the attention of the hockey team.

Recently, Bebe’s designs became available for online ordering at the company’s Web site  iceitbybebez.com, just one more step in the brand’s global mission. “We’re working to expand our reach globally and added two people to the team to help us with sales and licensing. One of them took another company from 300k to 300 million, so we’ve put together an excellent team,” she says.

Ice It by Bebe Z’s most recent achievement was landing an exclusive license with Discovery to reproduce Miami Ink and LA Ink tattoo design-inspired fashion lines. Bebe says she’d love to see this relationship with Discovery expand to other show-inspired lines later and has other dream clients in mind, as well. “We’d love to take our company to other places with loyal fans who’d welcome our designs, like Harley Davidson or NASCAR. But one step at a time,” she says with a laugh. “We feel very fortunate to be working closely with groups like the NHL and Discovery. The company currently has three production facilities in Los Angeles, one in Miami and two in Brandon where the main office is located.

Late last year, Bebe had the opportunity to participate in her first fashion show and found the experience exhilarating. “FashionWeek was amazing. Nancy Vaughn, the show’s coordinator, did such a wonderful job and it was all so new and took my breath way,” she says. “And it took our business to the next level – overnight!”

Recently, she became involved with MGM as a participating vendor in its Pinkitude line of products (pinkitude.com) to raise awareness and funds for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, a cause personally close to her heart. “I lost a very dear friend to breast cancer. Just two days before she died, I sat with her and held her hand and vowed I’d do something to make a difference.”

She and her fiance Patrick love getting outdoors for bike rides, baseball and just spending as much time as possible with her seven-year-old son. She says the greatest challenge of building a successful business has been balancing it all, including frequent travel and long work nights.“No matter how busy things get, family is always the most important thing to me,” she says.

She encourages other women to pursue their dreams whatever they may be. “I always knew my fashion tastes were different. I just needed the inspiration to move ahead with my dreams,” she says.  Even now after the company’s success, she admits it can be difficult to handle the ebb and flow of the nature of the business, but the pursuit of a passion she loves far outweighs the pressures. “So many times, we haven’t had the money but we’ve always had faith. It can be a struggle sometimes – like tidal waves, sometimes there’s an abundance and other times, we’re not sure where the funds are coming from, but it’s my dream, my passion and I love every minute of it.”