In a room full of CEOs, one question stood out:
"Do you make women's bags? I'd love to get something for my wife."
In October 2025, Liz Pham attended a CEO med tech event in Scottsdale as a guest.
It was the kind of setting where introductions move quickly—names, companies, what you do. Around the table, most conversations stayed within the industry. A few of the attendees exchanged LinkedIn connections as the day moved along.
When it came to Liz, she shared that she had started a leather goods company, designing limited edition bags made in Italy.
Among those at the table was Omari Bouknight.
He turned and asked about a bag for his wife.
Liz told him they hadn't, at least not yet. They were building unisex pieces rooted in a California aesthetic, designed for how people move through their day, not traditional women's bags.
It was a brief exchange. But it stayed with her.
Because in that moment, in a loud room full of operators and executives, his attention went somewhere else, to someone who clearly matters most to him.
A few months later, during the 2026 Make-A-Wish Evening of Wishes Gala online silent auction, Liz reached out to a small group of people whom she thought might appreciate the piece.
A brown leather messenger, one of only 35 ever made, and the only one hand-painted with the Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area emblem.
Omari was one of them.
He bid for it, supporting a cause that matters deeply—timing it well.
He won it for his lovely wife, Kavita.
Omari invited Liz into their home for dinner, so Kavita and she could meet. It was a gesture Liz deeply appreciated.
Kavita didn't know what Omari had planned.
When Liz handed Kavita the box with the messenger bag inside, she looked at it, then at Omair, then smiled back at Liz—trying to piece the moment together.
There was a kind of joy in the room that didn't need to be announced.
Omari stood off to the side, watching.
During dinner, which Omari had kindly prepared, Kavita shared something relatable that stayed with Liz.
It was something she had recognized in herself, and seeing other women business leaders at events.
At events, Kavita often carried a backpack—practical, but not something that reflected how she wanted to show up professionally.
She said this gift felt right.
That this was something she could carry into those same rooms and feel aligned with how she presents herself.
There's a charming presence and genuineness about Kavita that you notice immediately.
What stayed with Liz wasn't the bag.
It was being in their home. The way they spoke to each other. The ease between them. The way their twin boys are clearly at the center of everything.
Two people who have built successful careers, but what stays with you is how they are with each other.
For Liz, it holds the reason this work matters.
Because every once in a while, something you've spent years building finds its way into someone's life and becomes part of it.
Liz drove away from their home that night with a quiet sense of ease and pure delight.
That the piece, something that could just as easily sit in a gallery, had found the right home.
And that what was exchanged wasn't transactional. It was relational.
Liz is grateful to now call Kavita and Omari not just part of this Muoi journey, but friends.