In The Doll World™, doll podcast and YouTube channel
www.inthedollworld.com Join In The Doll World™, doll podcast and YouTube channel, for intimate interviews with your favorite doll creatives, including: Mel Odom, Stacey McBride-Irby, Pat Henry, and Robert Tonner. Meet them up-close as they share their journeys. Learn what inspires and propels them! Hear their struggles and adversities.
Let In The Doll World take you on a worldwide tour, as we search the globe for amazing stories from new and fascinating movers-and-shakers who are expanding and reshaping the doll world! These doll artists, companies, collectors, storytellers, repainters, and accessory makers will become some of your new favorites!
Hosts: In The Doll World, doll podcast and YouTube channel, is hosted by Georgette Taylor, the history-making doll creator who co-founded and co-invented Big Beautiful Dolls™ (BBD), the first plus-sized fashion dolls.
In The Doll World™, doll podcast and YouTube channel
Azhelle Wade: The Toy Coach, Guiding and Empowering Others in the World of Toys.
www.inthedollworld.com In this wonderful episode of In The Doll World, I am joined by Azhelle Wade, the Toy Coach. Her journey to a key figure in the toy industry is an incredible testament to the power of passion and commitment and her love of teaching and being creative.
Embark on Azelle's journey as she shares her reasons for leaving corporate life to pursue her dreams. Explore the challenges and misconceptions of entering the toy industry, enriched by Azhelle's valuable insights. Discover the Toy Creators Academy, a platform designed by Azelle to support and guide emerging toy creators, offering a wealth of resources and industry insights.
As our conversation deepens, we explore the crucial issue of representation and inclusivity in the toy industry. Azhelle opens up about her experiences as an African American woman in the field, highlighting the rise of black-owned toy companies and her aspiration to create black dolls. We wrap up with an inspiring discussion about fostering entrepreneurship and expanding toy culture. So, grab your headphones, tune in and let's embark on this fascinating journey into the world of toy making.
To find out more about Azhelle , The Toy Coach or the Toy Creators Academy visit
www.thetoycoach.com
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Thank you for listening to In The Doll World, to see all the artists we have featured on the show or to leave a review visit www.inthedollworld.com or to see our video interviews please visit our Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/inthedollworld.com.
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Hello everybody and welcome to In the Dawn World, a show spotlighting the passion and the people of the Dawn community With your host, georgia Taylor, former vice president and co-founder of Big Beautiful Dolls. Join her as she talks to fascinating doll artists, customizers, avid collectors, redesigners, authors and all the people in between, as they share their journeys, give us glimpses into their processes and will propel their passion and drive to help keep the doll world moving and shaking. Welcome to the show, hello everybody, and welcome to In the Dawn World. I'm your host, georgia Taylor, and, as always, I'm so excited to have you join me for a new episode and I'm so excited about the guests that I have today.
Speaker 1:She is an amazing person in the toy industry and today we have Gell Wade. She's also known as the toy coach. She's a former toy executive, she is a three-time patented eventor, she's an educator and she is the host of the award-winning Making In the Toy Industry podcast. Thank you so much, gell. I'm so glad that you joined us. Thank you so much for being in the in the Dawn World with me.
Speaker 2:Yes, hey, georgia. And hey, toy people listening, hey, hey.
Speaker 1:I would love you to share your background and your journey when you're from and how you got started in the toy industry. I think that's a fascinating industry.
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, I actually studied toy design, so I took a quick shortcut directly into the toy industry. I loved kids. Since I was growing up I thought I wanted to be a teacher. I would teach my little brother's school. I remember my mom once got me this like school kit and it just came with all the things, so you could just be a teacher. And so I just made him go to school in the summer, which he hated, but I loved it. He hated it, I loved it. I would give him his gold stars. It was lovely. That is funny.
Speaker 2:When I grew up, I met a woman who had this incredible portfolio it was actually an exhibition and design portfolio and I asked her. I was like where'd you go to school? Because just what she was making looked like fun to make. I was like you did that, you made that display, you built that thing. I was like that looks so cool. So she went to the fashion Institute of Technology and she studied display and exhibition design and I just really liked her as a person. So I was like I'm going to do that and so I followed her footsteps and then, when I was there, everything I made, every time they gave us a project. I would make it kid focused. So we had to do like a museum exhibition and I did the Children's Science Museum and I made like an exhibition that looked like a twister game in, like a big white tent, and I made like a bubble exhibit. And I didn't really notice that everything I was doing was so like I don't know why. I just wanted to make kids stuff, I just liked it.
Speaker 2:And one of my teachers told me he said you know, there's a toy design program here and I was like what's that? And he was like, yeah, like there's a whole industry, you can be a toy designer. And I was like that doesn't sound like a real job. No way, I was like that's not real. And it was. And so I met the founder of that program, Judy Ellis, and she took a liking to me, I think in my hardworking spirit, because you know I was like I emailed her and I was like hello, I need to be in this program, what do I need to do? And, like you know, really got into it and she's lovely and I went into that program. They had an amazing job placement rating. I got placed at a job called Horizon Group USA, a company called Horizon Group, USA, and that's where I got my first, my three patents, and that's how it all began my toy journey.
Speaker 1:That is so cool. I would have never thought that they had something like that. Right, that is so cool. So when you were able the fact that you said that they had such a great program to put you into a job type of position, yeah, and you started working for those jobs Did you find it to be a little bit different than what you learned in school? You know, it's always that thing oh, I have all the, I learned all the stuff and then now I got to work. Is it the same type of process for you?
Speaker 2:For me it was very different, but it yeah, but it was also the company that I worked for at the time. They were, they were forming a new innovation team. So I got, I got the privilege, but at the time it felt it felt like not a privilege, but I had the privilege of being on a team where nothing was planned Like. They were like we want you to innovate this area, but we are not going to tell you how to do it. You kind of get to make it all up. So I remember at first there were a few months where I was like I don't know, what do you want from me? And then, luckily, I had a boss who was leading our team now a dear friend, but a boss at the time who just was very open to my opinions.
Speaker 2:So I would bring some of the things I did from school, like the way that I did market research mostly market research actually and say this is how we used to research things in school. Do you think we should do it like this? And he'd be like all right, yeah, try it, go ahead. And then I would just do it, and then people would like it, and then I would just do it again, and that's how I got started. So just trying to make up the role, figure out where I can add value, what made people happy with what I was doing? Yeah, and it was not what I expected. Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sure it's probably just getting thrown into the den there. It's like, oh my goodness, I have to actually figure this out. So when you went to all the other companies that you worked for, were you in the same position there?
Speaker 2:No. So after Horizon Group I went to a small company called Blumenthal Lansing. They were a button company primarily and they wanted to break into arts and crafts. So at Horizon my whole career was focused on making arts and crafts products. The patents I have are arts and crafts toys.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So then I go to Blumenthal Lansing and I get to just again create what I want to create and we would design entire programs of buttons and button crafts and plush to pitch to all these major stores like Joanne's Fabrics and Craft was one big one and that was a lot of fun. I got like a full of what they call like an end cap placed of a product line that I created. That was great. And then I got my dream job and that was.
Speaker 2:Toys R Us, oh nice. Yeah, I remember the day that I went to tell my boss like I'm leaving. I got another job. She was like no, and I was like I know. And she asked she said is there anything I can do to convince you to stay? And I was like it's Toys R Us. It's Toys R Us.
Speaker 1:I mean I'm sorry, it's Toys R Us, so you know, had to go. I get that. So did you develop brands and stuff at Toys R Us?
Speaker 2:I led. So I was the director, I was the general manager for design, I think they called it. Oh, the design manager, that's what they call it Global design manager at Toys R Us for their girls' world brand. So that was Journey Girls, you and Me, happy Together, just Like Home Baby, so Sweet and Totally Me.
Speaker 2:And so my job was to make sure everything looked the way we wanted it to look. So we would have team meetings and we would talk about like the line lists, Like what are we going to pitch for spring 24, let's say. And then they'd say, ok, we're going to do a $5 item, a $10 item, a $20 item, these are what the items are going to be. Design team, go design it. So then I would divvy up the work with myself and people overseas and my assistant at the time and we would say, ok, you do this, I'm going to do that, the China team is going to do this, and we would work on things. Send it overseas, get samples back, review samples, make things at a foam core. Sometimes we would make like play sets at a foam core first before we sent them over it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:I love like to this day my favorite job Really.
Speaker 1:Favorite job? Yeah, so cool. I mean you, you've had some really great opportunities and some really beautiful companies, but you decided to quit that I did Exactly Right and go some stuff something of your own. So what was the catalyst behind that?
Speaker 2:That was this woman, karen Karen, a woman named Karen I don't want to say her last name because she doesn't want me to say that Karen R. She met me at a toy industry event and she had a game invention that she really wanted to place, and I was in a position where I could have helped her make it real. And she didn't know quite what she needed to show me, and so I wanted to help her, but I was so busy with my job At that time. I was the VP of brand and product at a company. I just didn't have time. Like I had gotten her email. We emailed a couple of times back and forth, but I didn't have the time to adequately help her.
Speaker 2:And I remember thinking in that moment gosh, I wish there was just a resource I could direct people to like this podcast, this thing, this blog. I actually first thought this blog and that just was sitting in the back of my mind. And then, years later, the pandemic happens and everything's turned upside down. I start working from home. The first thing that triggered this, I think, was realizing the cost of living in New York and working outside of New York, because I had to cross a bridge and come back into New York to where my job was, and I just realized how much it didn't make sense. I was like I'm not spending nearly any time at this home that I'm paying to live in, I'm not having any of my own personal time, and it was just at that point that I was like I think I need to do something different.
Speaker 2:You know, I think this is the time. So I had already started this podcast. I had gotten the blessing of my boss. I'd started this podcast to help people, and people were reaching out for opportunities to work with me. So I took on some opportunities, I started working and then I decided I'm going to quit my job. Actually, I quit my job before I took on the opportunities. But I got the opportunities and I was like, hey, this is enough where I can make ends meet, leave this job and then go forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I took that leap. It was terrifying. I had to write my resignation speech like 20 times before I had the nerve to say it. I was so scared.
Speaker 1:I could imagine yeah, I could imagine Terrified, yeah, terrified Especially living in New York. You know you got to actually afford to live in New York. Uh-huh, it was rough. Yeah, I'm sure that was, but you found a lot more joy, though, I think, in what you do. Well, I mean, you mentioned that you found joy before, but I think it's just a different type of joy.
Speaker 2:I think the main difference is working so hard for your own dream versus working so hard for someone else's. And that is what, and you know what. It's a privilege to be able to do that, and I've learned even more now, being three years in. It's a privilege because it's not easy to be your own boss. I have so much respect for the last company that I worked at, because that was a family owned company. Oh wow, and I'm like I don't know how they did it.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm like they started from nothing. Just like me, you know it's, and they were huge multi-million dollar company. So yeah, you just, I respect this journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is a hard road, that's for sure. Yeah, yeah, be really tenacious and really believe. I think, in what it is that you're doing. You know just all out, like no matter what happens, like I still have to believe what I do. So, since you get the opportunity to speak with other people who want to be in the toy, you know the toy business what is. I think, what is one of the most misconceptions that people have. You know being in the toy industry.
Speaker 2:Like there's different levels because, like being in the toy industry, in the corporate side, people's misconceptions are usually that you get to kind of design whatever you want, that it's going to just be you being creative, designing things and seeing what happens. It's not that I know. Even when I described it it might have sounded like that, but there are always parameters, whether it's cost parameters or design parameters. There was one time I remember my assistant and I designed a dollhouse and we spent hours doing it and then the person who was leading us on that project was like no, no, no, no, we want, we want you to start over and we had to, like start from scratch the next day. And you know that happens in the when you're working in the corporate side of the industry. What you envision is not always what's going to go to market.
Speaker 1:Right, okay, I think maybe one of the misconceptions I believe, I don't know, I'm not in that space that you're in. Yeah, it's the cost, right, yes, talk about the cost of some of those things you know. I mean, okay, I heard you on another show talking about how expensive it is to create a doll. I know that from personal experience. You know creating those three ladies back there, but please share. You know the cost, I guess, of creating a toy or creating a doll.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I mean, I've gotten quotes for dolls where you might pay five to eight hundred dollars for the mold of a doll's head. But if you have like a fully articulated doll wrists and knees and ankles, and you know elbows and everything you could be looking at a super expensive mold cost of $70,000, you know, with the head and everything. So that is something that people don't realize. You have to design with cost in mind. I try so hard to teach my TCA Toy Creators Academy students that, like, cost is everything.
Speaker 2:So what I tell people that want to start their own toy businesses to do is don't start with the plastic doll item. Well, specifically, don't start with the doll and then don't start with plastic if you don't have to. So if you can start with a plush or start with paper based goods, because the cost is going to be a lot lower. What really sells product, especially today, is the brand behind it. So you want to spend your time building product that you can sell under a brand and you can make sure that you're building up that brand recognition and brand identity and loyalty. And then, once you have that following, you have those supporters you're like, okay, I've got enough people behind me. These people are want something else. I'm going to go into my doll development line.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, and I think it's so interesting because people will always say, oh, just make a doll. Or even when I'm talking to them about my doll that we did, oh, just make a doll. And I'm like, yeah, the cost is so ridiculously high Because at the end of the day, you have to make sure, like you said, you have a market margin to buy that.
Speaker 1:Oh, in the market, yeah, in the market and you can't just you can't sink $70,000 into something and then have them to produce two dolls. I mean, that's the right.
Speaker 2:They will not. There's a minimum. They're not going to do two dolls Right exactly.
Speaker 1:So the minimum sometimes is very high as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, the minimum is high too. Minimum is very high.
Speaker 1:So when you create a toy, something that's not a doll, you create a toy are they still very high when it comes to minimums?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's still high. I mean like plus. Usually you'll see a thousand units will be the minimum. Oh, okay, you might find someone who will go down to 500, but just be wary of those factories. They might not have all the right certifications, safety certifications, and then plastic toys. There's a side of it that most people don't know or think about. There's an entire open market catalog of products. So when we go so there's an event called the Canton Fair and that's essentially like I don't know think of a I don't know think of like a trade show just for factories.
Speaker 1:But it's like in China, right.
Speaker 2:So that's where you can find what they call open market goods. Now, open market goods are are goods, are like plastic goods you could buy without having to pay for the mold. Doll bodies, doll bodies that you could buy without having to pay for the mold. They're just, they already have them produced. They'll have a big batch of them. You could buy these units, these individual pieces, and build your own toy off of them.
Speaker 2:So oftentimes for craft kits, open market is what we use. So open market. So like I might have, like I don't know, like a bracelet making kit and I might get open market thread for the bracelet kit, I might get open market beads. None of that stuff is custom, it's customized. When I bring it all together and I package it for my unique brand, that's a great way to start out. So and I did have a client ones who did a custom doll head because the the mold cost for her was like $5 to $800 for the head and then she just used an open market body. So you could use a standard body. You're only paying the per unit cost for the doll body. That unit cost could be $2 to $5 maybe depending on the size of the doll right and the and the detail spray you want on the doll. Then you get your custom head and you get your clothes. It's still not cheap, but I mean it's. It's a lot cheaper than doing your own custom mold right.
Speaker 1:Right, okay, all right. Wow, I never knew about open market. Thank you for sharing that. That's great yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did not know that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did not know that.
Speaker 2:So one of the things I would say if someone's talking to a factory and they're looking, they're considering creating a mold of whatever it is they're making, let's say you're making oh. A great example of this is I'm working with a client right now. They're making a vehicle product. They they have a vehicle that is has a very specific wheel type Right, but in order for us to mold those wheels, it's going to add a lot of cost.
Speaker 1:A lot of cost Right, because that's a separate mold right, it's a separate mold and we're already molding the vehicles custom, right, okay.
Speaker 2:So what we're doing instead is we're adjusting. We had the factory look for all these wheels. They literally sent us a photo of piles of wheels and we had to find the wheels that look as close to what we want as possible. And then the factory is helping us adjust the design, the model of the vehicle itself so we can make it work with open market wheels. So we have this custom body and we'll have these open market wheels. The challenge with open market is, you know, you got to hope like they stay in stock right, because if something happens you might have some changes. But that's actually a great time to bring up that. You'll see a lot of craft kits will say there's a line, and then that says like contents and colors may vary.
Speaker 2:Because sometimes a bead like gold will change a little bit. Yeah, yeah so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, all right. Now, when you talk about quantities, I mean, do you go there and they have like a hundred, or do they have like a thousand, or they have 10,000? I mean, what is the? It ranges from?
Speaker 2:It ranges they could have thousands, but you just never know how many they're selling. You know open market means anybody can use those. You don't know how many selling, they're selling and you don't know how many they'll keep making until they're not making them anymore.
Speaker 1:Okay, All right, I get that. That's cool. I never even knew that that's so cool.
Speaker 2:But that's what you're here for. That's what you do, that's what you do. That's what you do so well.
Speaker 1:So let me ask you this you became the toy coach and then you started creating the toy creators Academy. What is the difference between those two?
Speaker 2:The toy coach and the toy creators Academy. Oh, that's a great question. No one ever asked me that before. No one's ever asked me that before. So the toy coach was like a name I gave myself because I knew people wouldn't remember a gel and they wouldn't be able to say it and they would be confused. So I was like, okay, if I'm going to try to do something, which was my podcast, I need people to remember it. We're going to call it the toy coach. It's going to be by the toy coach.
Speaker 2:So, when I first came out, I didn't even use my face, I didn't use my name. I was a mysterious person called the toy coach. So the toy coach is somebody who puts out this free content into the world to help people on their toy journeys. There's a podcast, we have master master classes. That is what the toy coach is all about. Toy creators Academy is a paid program offered by the toy coach, so it used to be a 12 week program and is now turned into a 12 month program. Wow. So yeah, and the price is not that high. It's super cheap, anyway.
Speaker 2:So for now I'm going to tell you now, when you're listening to this episode, the price.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, next year. Don't find the episode and think Next year, yeah.
Speaker 2:Don't try to come at me. Okay, right now the price is affordable Anyway. So, no, no, it's very, it's very well priced, honestly. So toy creators Academy is a 12 month group coaching program. You have access to nine modules filled with, like all the information that I've gotten over my toy career understanding how to work with factories, how to design a toy product, how to understand the market, and it's constantly being added to and developed, so it has resources for factories and freelancers and trade show booth building and how to pitch to toy companies. And then at the end of the program, at the end of the year, let's say we have a virtual pitch event.
Speaker 2:And we're also going to be scheduling our first in person pitch event, so it's going to be very exciting and what we're doing is we you pitch to toy companies and you pitch to retailers. The whole idea is that your, your product is ready, you're trying to pitch it for licensing or you want to pitch it for placement.
Speaker 2:And the way we structure the 12 months is whenever you join TCA you can go through the program and binge it like your favorite Netflix show, or you can kind of go slow and try to go along with us. So, starting in October, I cover module one and we do a Q&A all about module one. In November, we do a Q&A all about module two and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:So we get to June, we're in module nine, and June is also the time of one of the biggest toy trade shows. So that is how we structure it. So we all kind of feel like we're on this journey together. But there's also an online community, that we have TCA alumni, so you can get help from them and from me, and it's a it's a great program.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it sounds like an amazing program, which I, you know, had a toy I was thinking about because I would be all over that, you know well, everybody says they don't have ideas before they joined TCA, they have ideas after, because something that people joined with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the people that joined without ideas are always like oh my gosh, I had so many ideas going through module one and two. Or the people that joined with one idea say I started this with one idea, but now I have a new idea.
Speaker 1:That is so cool. That is so cool. I love that. I love this. Okay, good, so everybody can join. That's what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we do have a refund policy. So if you really find that toy creators Academy isn't right for you, there is a refund policy.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool. So you've been in. You've been in toys for a long time now. What, what do you find the most fascinating part about the toy industry?
Speaker 2:Um, the most fascinating part? Yeah, I mean I don't, this probably isn't a good answer. I mean I love, I guess, okay, no, I would say, the most interesting part is going Okay, let's, yeah, you want me to ask?
Speaker 1:that question. Ask that question again. What do you find?
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, no, because I'll because there's two, because there's two sides, because I would feel like the most interesting part is probably the factories. Like when I go and see toys being made, even to this day, or if I get a video from a factory, I just think it's so cool and weird and like, just like it's so interesting that this is how something comes together Like it's and it's just crazy.
Speaker 2:But then the other side of it is that I love that we can write toys off in our taxes Because it's research, you know, so I can play with anything right? Yeah, I mean, but it literally is like if I have to buy something for a show segment or for or for like a content for my course it's a it's, it's work, it's work, it's work, it's so true that is never, thought about it like that. It's great.
Speaker 1:It's great. So when you were growing up I know you were a teacher, I know you were, you know, having class with your brother Were there any kind of toys that you really liked, where there's like a specific toy that you really love and what would?
Speaker 2:you like, I was obsessed with Polly Pocket, but I also really liked the quints, like the little tiny they're, like these little babies you would put in the. I just love children. I don't know what was happening with me, but yeah the little quints.
Speaker 1:Okay, the quints and Polly Pockets. That's pretty cool, okay. So one thing I do want to talk about you being African American woman in the toy industry. I cannot not talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, go ahead, go for it.
Speaker 1:I know you definitely have been in many rooms when you're probably the only one there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:How has that been for you, and have you seen representation grow within the toy industry, and, and if so, has it really been slow or do you feel that they're moving at a really good pace now?
Speaker 2:I think there's definitely an increase in representation in the toy industry. I think largely, a large part of it is due to us, as other black women who are coming out with these brands. That cannot be ignored. I don't necessarily see a huge push from the majors, like you know I mean, but that being said, you know there are a lot of, so they're more independent.
Speaker 1:you're saying More independent?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's more independent, Like the majors, now have to cater to everyone in all these different cultures that they were kind of allowed to ignore before because society said that was okay, and so now you know it's hard to say are there enough black dolls? Because are there enough Asian dolls Are there enough.
Speaker 2:You know there's so many other, but the amount of black owned companies that have come out and then have gotten major press and won awards like TOTI awards, which is the toy of the year awards, is I mean I've never seen anything like it. I wish that I could be a part of it. In that way, I feel, oh, one thing people don't know when you work a full time in the toy industry, you're not allowed to work on other projects.
Speaker 2:Most jobs don't allow you to work on other toy designs that they don't own. So I remember I had several doll ideas for black dolls and at the time I didn't think they were so revolutionary. Yet today I see them being done and I'm like oh my gosh, I love seeing this being done, but I do wish that I could have done it too.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I think it's. I mean, I'm looking right now at I don't know if you heard of Dr Lisa. I've heard about her on the show. Of course I've heard about her.
Speaker 1:I love that, so she sent me some gifts. Nice.
Speaker 2:And this bow baby doll oh my gosh, so cute. So the bow baby doll. What I love about this is she put Dr Lisa patented a lock technology for hair so that dolls can have actual locks, not braids that look like locks like for real, for real lock hair. And that has never been done before, and Dr Lisa told me that she fought for this. It was something that the factories didn't understand and they're like oh no.
Speaker 2:But you have to fight for these things and the fact that there's a company big enough and powerful enough that can fight for something like that like locks.
Speaker 1:I'm just I know, especially with all the controversy continuing all the time about hair, I know.
Speaker 2:I want to have locks. Look how cute her locks are.
Speaker 1:They are adorable, they are so cute.
Speaker 2:She's got lime green bangs.
Speaker 1:I know she does, but Dr Lisa is doing amazing things in the doll industry. She really is, and she's amazing. So I'm working on getting her back on the show because so many things have happened since I interviewed her a year and a half ago.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, she's doing her thing. She's a busy lady.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited about that and I'm just so excited to have you in that space because you're so needed to be able to guide people that don't understand that process and to be able to share information with people who don't have that kind of money to get the things that they want to have happened for themselves. I know when I was doing that's like the olden times when I was doing my dolls, you know 2000. Like what is that? But you know? But what we found to be challenging is there was just nobody out there that we could really reach out to. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, it was just so difficult to find anybody out there especially people of color that was doing that. So I'm just excited to have you in that space. You know to be a young woman in that space that can help guide other entrepreneurs in the toy industry, because it's a huge industry. And what I love about what you do, too, is that you can you mentor them through that process. You also not just mentor them, you give them ideas, you have them look at things differently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, and that's what I love about what you do, thank you. You have been bringing so much knowledge to the table about. You know ways for them to do things that they have never seen before, and I just want to thank you so much for being a representation of that. It's just so needed, yeah.
Speaker 2:Thank you so nice.
Speaker 1:You're so welcome. You're so welcome. So the Academy has started. What other? Do you have any other programs that you're going to be launching? I know you're busy, but do you have? Any other programs you're going to be launching.
Speaker 2:Well, no, I do have an accelerator version of TCA.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so if you are just like, I love this, ajal, but I want to work with you one-on-one, there is an option for that.
Speaker 1:Oh, no thanks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's TCA accelerator. So it's a six-month version of TCA, so you get everything that you get with normal TCA, plus me, and it's essentially like having a coach, like on-call, a business partner, on-call.
Speaker 1:Like you can say like what's this?
Speaker 2:Or like what do you think about this, you know? Or what have the factory said? They can't do this. What should I say?
Speaker 1:You know things like that.
Speaker 2:And I do communication with my students through WhatsApp, probably because I want to encourage them to get WhatsApp, because WhatsApp is the key tool you should use to communicate with factories. Like most, yeah, whatsapp and WeChat. So, yeah, I use WhatsApp so that I can connect with my people during TCA accelerator and kind of follow up with them.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's pretty cool. I did not know that. See again just something else that we don't know.
Speaker 2:We're just so much more in TCA. I know that's right.
Speaker 1:Have your own speed dialysis. That would be great, right, that would be so cool. So how are you expanding? Also, you're expanding the toy culture. I know you're continuing to do podcasting, but is it going to expand into anything else?
Speaker 2:I want to do things, but I need to expand just this first. So right now, because every time I look to add something else to my business, I have to look at how it either brings new people to TCA or it helps promote the people that have graduated. So the things that I'm focusing on adding right now are more to promote the people that have graduated. So I'm looking to do more scholarship programs. We just had one with Dr Lisa to bring two people into the program, and then I am creating more opportunities for pitch events in person and virtual so that more people can pitch their ideas. And now we're looking to partner up with a bunch of play cafes across the United States so that we can get students' product placed there.
Speaker 1:So I'm just constantly looking for ways to promote their product. Yeah, I was going to ask you how do you do marketing for them? I mean, because in your program I'm sure it's just not. Hey, let's just get a product and that's it. You go about your business.
Speaker 2:Marketing is yeah.
Speaker 1:Marketing is key.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I teach a little bit of marketing, I teach the way that I market in this program. And then I have pitch events. Like, of course, my pitch events are either an extra fee or we have percentage options, because it is extra work. Like I review your products. It's not just like here's a list, go contact them. It's like I review what you're going to pitch, I give you feedback and then I coordinate the meeting with the right companies for you so that's like the extra pitch event.
Speaker 2:That's only for TCA grads but there is an extra fee for that pitch event and yeah, and that's just what we do. I just try and I try to share their stories, like if I can get them on my podcast, if I can write a blog post about them. All TCA students have access to this link, which is essentially submitting for a blog article.
Speaker 2:So, they can submit their finished product or, if they've gotten a license, they can submit their story. So we can look at it and see if it's a good fit to put on our blog and we'll put it on our blog and then that will build their SEO and then they can use that blog to promote themselves and just help them get started faster.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing. You do a lot for them, which I think is beautiful. I think, it's really a great opportunity for anybody who wants to create a toy to really reach out to you honestly, because I don't think you ever get that one-on-one or even that walkthrough or just the connections that they'll get from.
Speaker 2:The connections are everything.
Speaker 1:The connections are everything they really are. So wow, thank you so much for doing what you do. I really appreciate that. In the toy world. I'm so excited.
Speaker 2:So excited.
Speaker 1:So you know, as being a serial entrepreneur such as you are, I know you've learned a lot of lessons about resilience and also adaptability. So how do those qualities really contribute to you being in the toy industry and building your business?
Speaker 2:Oh man, yeah, resilience is just like keep going every time we get a no. Like I know my students pitch ideas and I try to tell them like try not to take those no's personally. And I tell myself the same thing, because I get no's too when I'm trying to get funding for the program for them, when I'm trying to get them placed, when I'm trying to get on TV to show their product. I get no's all the time. So I mean, like when I'm getting my students to go out there and pitch their ideas, I know they're getting no's too. It's just the remind for me. Actually I do a couple of things. I have one. I just look at my testimonials sometimes.
Speaker 1:You gotta look at what people that love.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look at the people that love what you're doing and just remember how much you help them, and I tell my students to do the same thing. Look at their customer feedback and what people think of their product, and that will keep them going. And then the second thing I actually got this tip from I don't know some self-help podcast where they said take a photo of yourself as a kid and put it and like, print it out and put it somewhere you can see it.
Speaker 2:And you'll just anytime you are trying to give yourself negative self-talk, you'll look at that picture and say you're negative self-talking, that little girl.
Speaker 1:You know yeah, and then you feel, yeah, right, it gets you. That's so weird. I literally just saw myself there and me thinking about me saying really negative things.
Speaker 2:So that would be not pretty cool. Yeah. So then you give yourself grace, you're like, look at that sweet little girl, I know Like you're, like she's a sweetheart, she's fine, she's a sweetheart Right oh, wow, that's really great.
Speaker 1:That, wow, that's a great piece of advice. No, it really is. I think that that would touch a lot of people. I think, because, you know, it's always that little kid that needs to be reminded and supported and loved. That's really cool. So would that be the same type of, I guess, inspiring thing that you would tell other entrepreneurs, regardless of what space they're in?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean yeah, limit that negative self-talk. I mean I know, I feel it all the time. I you know doing something, the bigger you go the easier. It is to be hard on yourself because you're doing more, so there's more to criticize. But you just, you know, I remind myself every day Like I'm not good at being nice to myself. I have to remind myself every day. I'm like you know, you're doing a good job, everyone is fine, everything is going great. Okay, you know you're working hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you know we're all humans and we all go through that, no matter where you're at or whatever level you're at. And I think a lot of people tend to, you know, think that, oh, because somebody is up here that they always have it together. They always know what they're doing, and that's you know that's not the case. We all suffer from that.
Speaker 1:You know imposter syndrome every once in a while, you know even no matter how much you know good we're doing in the world. So, yeah, thank you for reminding us about that. Well, I want to thank you so much, a'jelle, for being on In the Dawn World with me. It's been so exciting and you are just so awesome and I'm just so happy to have you in the toy space. I just cannot even express how happy I am to be that you're there. So can you just share with everybody how they can get in contact with you, all those people now who are running to make toys and hook up with you. I'm just Happily.
Speaker 2:Happily, happily. If you're interested in Toy Creators Academy, go to toycreatorsacademycom, and if you're just interested in my podcast, go to the toycoachcom and at the top you can click podcast or in the menu bar if you're on your phone and just listen. I mean, I would recommend starting with episode one because when I first started I intentionally did it in the order of development. But you honestly can start anywhere, close your eyes, scroll through and just land on an episode. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you definitely will enjoy it and, as a matter of fact, she gave me an episode that I'm gonna check out and I will definitely do that. So thank you so much again for taking the time and saying yes to be a guest on In the Dawn World. I'm just thrilled, so thank you again so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, Georgia. This was really fun.
Speaker 1:You're so welcome, love. Okay, bye everybody. Bye, bye. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for listening to In the Dawn World. I hope you enjoyed the show. Please don't forget to share the podcast with other doll enthusiasts such as yourself. They can find us at Facebook, instagram and Twitter at In the Dawn World. The show can also be downloaded on all apps with podcasts or streamed To see videos of our interviews. Please visit our In the Dawn World YouTube channel and don't forget, in the Dawn World is also on Alexa. Just ask Alexa to open Dawn World. Did you know that you can now leave a voicemail or give us a review? We would love to hear from you or suggest a guest for the show. You can do all that by visiting wwwinthedawworldcom and, until next week, add a little play into your life by collecting a doll, sharing a doll or giving a doll a home. And again, thank you for listening to In the Dawn World.
