Elaine Turner

Elaine Turner (born August 11, maiden name White) is a Houston-based accessories designer, specializing in handbags and shoes.^[1]

Turner is expanding her company to include jewelry, sunglasses, swimwear and tabletop.

Personal life

Elaine Turner grew up in Sugar Land, Texas^[2] and attended Dulles High School. After graduation, she attended and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin. After graduation, Turner worked in New York for an apparel firm, but returned to Houston. She is married to Jim Turner, co-owner of Elaine Turner Designs and is the mother of a son and daughter. Turner lives in Houston.

Business

Turner started Elaine Turner Designs in April 2000 with her husband Jim Turner. Her first designs were handbags, selling to luxury department store Neiman Marcus. She was quoted saying, “I created the collection to communicate my dreams and how I wanted to make women feel.” The Jackie Bag was her first bag, created from raffia, which she was using at the time to re-paper the walls of her Houston home. Turner opened her first boutique in Houston’s Rice Village and a second store in Houston’s CityCentre (February 2011). In July 2012, Turner opened a third boutique in the Alamo Heights area of San Antonio.^[3] In November 2012 Turner opened her first boutique outside of Texas, in The Mall of Green Hills in Nashville, Tennessee. Her fifth boutique opened in an upscale suburb of Houston called The Woodlands in November 2012. The company’s sixth store on Madison Ave. in New York is scheduled to open November 2013. In 2011, Turner was a finalist for the 2011 Texas Business Woman of the Year Award. Turner was also named as one of Forbes' Top 40 Tastemakers and recognized as Style Blueprint's Face of the South in 2013.

Philanthropy

Turner is an active supporter of multiple charities, but her main focus lies in cancer-related causes. Turner donates the proceeds of the pink patent Marlaine bracelet to the Nellie B. Connally Breast Center at MD Anderson every year. The bracelet is named after her mother Marlaine White, a breast cancer survivor. She also donates and supports to Heroes for Children, an organization that aids families who have a child struggling with cancer. Turner also raises funds for the CHRISTUS Stehlin Foundation for Cancer Research. In addition to cancer charities, Turner also supports SNAP, an animal charity that provides free and low-cost sterilization services to the community, preventing the birth of unwanted animals and giving shelter and rescues animals a better chance at adoption. Turner and her husband Jim were also Honorary Chairs of the 2011 'Celebrating Triumph' inaugural luncheon benefitting the Center for Success and Independence.

References