LESLEY BAILEY was born in 1953 in Auckland , New Zealand and educated at Mt Roskill school (now classified as one of the top schools in NZ) and the Royal College of Art in London .  Raised with an art background, and growing up in the Whiting house (an F.L. Wright inspired design) she has from a young age, loved everything about art, design and architecture.  Lesley “majored” in seeing the world (living in the UK , and Australia before moving to the US ) and diversifying herself in many fields from executive secretary, to managing concept retail stores in NZ & Australia.  Then opening her own store “Emotional Outlet” in 1983, known for its unique products and her jewelry Designs, for which she won many awards for her jewelry and packaging designs.  During this time she also designed jewelry collections for a famous fashion house in Sydney to go with latest collections of, Chloe, Lagerfeld, Rykiel, Ungaro, Valentino, etc., which were coordinated to be sold with the outfits.  In 1985, she co-founded ACME Studios with her husband Adrian Olabuenaga.