Rachel Bloom was at a bar one night while an undergraduate at Ohio State when she looked down to see that someone had opened her purse and stolen her phone and wallet. “It was terrifying,” recalled Bloom.

But the business major from Dayton turned that traumatic night out into a class project and later a business. While still in college, Bloom did some research and learned that more than two million people in the United States every year get their phones stolen out of bags or pockets, “and those are just the people who have reported the incident,” she said, noting that a month after her incident, a friend was pickpocketed at a bar.

For a class project, Bloom presented the concept for a bag with a fingerprint-locking zipper that only the owner could access. A trip to Israel the summer after graduation, in 2018, further solidified her decision to make ultra-secure bags a professional project.

“I remember in Tel Aviv being extra cautious about my bag in busy areas like the Carmel Market and along Rothschild Boulevard,” Bloom said. “That trip reinforced how important it is to have a bag that provides both security and peace of mind.”

It took several years to design and test various prototypes, but now she has launched her eponymous company, Rachel Bloom. (She’s trademarked the name, which is not to be confused with the Rachel Bloom who is the creator and actor from the series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.)

Bloom’s line of bags, which includes crossbodies, totes and backpacks in organically sourced pebbled leather, feature a slash-resistant inner lining, her patented fingerprint-locking zipper, pocket for an AirTag and optional GPS tracking for an extra cost. The bags range in price from $225 to $425, are charged with a USB cable and connect to an app so if one is lost, left behind or
stolen, the owner can locate it.

Bloom also founded a separate technology venture called Lock Us, which licenses her locking technology to be integrated into various products. “It can be put in luggage, briefcases, jewelry boxes,” she explained.

Bloom lives in Arlington, Va., with her husband, Matthew Tumen, and jokes that they have “an arranged marriage” since they were fixed up by their mothers. (Bloom’s mother, Julie Bloom, is the Dayton Hadassah chapter president.)

Now she’s planning to take her husband to Israel for his first visit.

“This time,” she said, “I’m going to be relieved knowing that my belongings are safe, and I don’t have to worry about anyone stealing anything.”

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Amy Klein