We recently connected with Suzette Munson and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Suzette thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the decision of whether to donate a percentage of sales to an organization or cause – we’d love to hear the backstory of how you thought through this.

I started Love 41 with the mission of giving away what profit we earned to help the less fortunate. It has been a model from day one although it took a few years to see profit in the beginning we can now proudly say we give it all away.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Suzette Munson, I am owner and designer for our high quality (41 year warranty) leather goods. I used to design over at our sister company Saddleback Leather but the designs were too heavy for me. Once I was invited to Africa in response to our giving, I was hooked. I knew I needed to do more and design to give back. My sister at the time was working at Saddleback so I asked asked her to pray about starting up this crazy idea with me called “Love 41”. It has been a long journey of plenty of mistakes, challenges and triumphs but more than anything, we have been amazed at the lives we have been able to impact due to our leather designs. One time on a visit to Rwanda, Africa a young man showed me a tattoo that had out logo on his arm. I was taken back and amazed. I don’t even have a Love 41 tattoo. He proceeded to tell me how Love 41 had forever impacted his life and wanted the reminder daily. Let me also just say that our Heavenly Father has been the real reason for our success being he is our foundation and the reason we do what we do.

One of the ways I feel we set apart from others is our focus on people first and then quality designs second. It’s important to us to love our people (customers) well. Too many are hurting and just need to know that they ARE cared about and loved. This is a reflection of Christ as well. So we take our time talking to our leather family.

I get messages almost daily from our customers. I am happy to give me cell or email to be sure they are fully cared for. In a fast paced culture where the focus is often money and reaching the top, we often lost track of what will REALLY matter on our death beds. So, Love 41 indeed produces super beautiful, high quality bags, wallets, purses, backpack and accessories but our main goal is to make sure our leather family is loved and we use our profits to impact the less fortunate around the world.

How do we do this? We focus in three areas. USA, Mexico and Rwanda, Africa. We do this in multiple ways but often focusing on sharing the love of Jesus Christ as well as education (we have our own school in Mexico called Lions Heart Academy), child sponsorship, educational scholarships for university and job training. We also meet immediate needs such as food, clothing and other needs. Watching lives being transformed exhilarates us and allows us to work tirelessly knowing how our designs can also change lives for now and eternity.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

My elder sister of 6 years is also my Co-Founder and right hand. Tina Lytch and I grew up in a large family of 10 children. We often fought growing up but now we work daily with each other and are as close as two sisters could be. We grew up watching our parents give to the underprivileged and those who others would consider outcasts. These so called “outcasts” would be welcomed into our home, fed, loved and become family. I think their example made a huge impact on us and is a big result of our desire to continue that legacy.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

My husband and I own our own manufacturing in Central Mexico called Old Mexico Manufacturing. We tried to make them in USA but failed after the quality didn’t come close the generational skill in Mexico. After 15 years (coming this October) we still continue to make our own (as well as others) leather goods. When we started we had NO clue how to do it but we were tired of getting product from others that we didn’t ask for or substituted materials. We started out of frustration with 6 employees. Now we have around 175 employees who we call family. We offer marriage counseling, financial training, job training to grow as well as an excellent American education thru our school located just minutes away for their children called Lions Heart Academy (www.lionsheartacademy.org).

Contact Info:

• Website: www.love41.com
• Instagram: loveforty1
• Facebook: Love 41
• Youtube: @loveforty1
• Other: Pinterest @loveforty1

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