Feb. 21, 2025
Raising Self-Esteem One Doll at a Time: Kia and Rickey Davis' Journey with Early Affirmation Dolls
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What if the dolls children play with could empower them with confidence and self-esteem? Join us as we explore the heartfelt journey of Kia and Ricky Davis, the inspiring duo behind Early Affirmation Dolls.
This episode shares their mission to combat societal challenges like bullying and body shaming through the innovative Kyya doll, which is designed to encourage young girls, particularly Black girls, with positive affirmations. Kiya opens up about the simple yet profound practice that started it all—affirmations shared with their daughter, Kyla, inspired by her close relationship with her grandmother.
Rickey delves into their shared vision of creating a world where children see themselves reflected in their toys, empowering them to dream big.
Crafting dolls that genuinely represent diverse skin tones and hair types is a formidable task, yet Kia and Ricky have tackled it head-on with determination and creativity shining a light on their collaboration with manufacturers to ensure every doll they create is a true reflection of diversity.
Kia and Ricky’s story is not just about dolls; it's about inspiring the next generation to pursue their dreams with fervor.
Join us as we celebrate their passion and dedication, and learn how you can stay connected with the Dollpreneur community for more stories that inspire and empower.
#earlyaffirmationdolls #affirmations #dolls #thedollpreneurpodcast #dollpreneurpodcast #kiadavis #rickeydavis #dollpodcasts #dollpreneur #thedollpreneur
Thanks for joining us on The Dollpreneur™ Podcast! We hope you enjoyed the episode and feel inspired by our amazing guests and learn something new about the creative people within the doll community.
We would love for you to stay connected so please subscribe to us on Instagram, FB & our Youtube Channel all @thedollpreneurpodcast
You can also subcribe to The Dollpreneur™ Podcast newsletter by visiting our website The Dollpreneur™ Podcast to subscribe.
Until next time, have a Dollpreneur™ Fabulous Day!
Thanks for joining us on The Dollpreneur™ Podcast! We hope you enjoyed the episode and feel inspired by our amazing guests and learn something new about the creative people within the doll community.
We would love for you to stay connected so please subscribe to us on Instagram, FB & our Youtube Channel all @thedollpreneurpodcast
You can also subcribe to The Dollpreneur™ Podcast newsletter by visiting our website The Dollpreneur™ Podcast to subscribe.
Until next time, have a Dollpreneur™ Fabulous Day!
Transcript
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Hello everyone.
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Welcome to the Dollpreneur Podcast, where I get to chat and share with you the amazing doll creators and creatives from around the world.
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I am your host and creator of the Dollpreneur Podcast, georgette Taylor, and I'm so excited to highlight the inspiring stories from the people who keep the doll community buzzing with creativity and passion.
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So, whether you're a long-time doll lover or just curious, looking for something new and creative, to listen to, join us for an engaging, powerful and insightful conversations that celebrate the heart and soul of the people within the doll community.
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So what do you say?
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Let's get this show started.
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Welcome to the Dollpreneur Podcast.
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I'm your host, georgette Taylor, where we celebrate the creatives, innovators and entrepreneurs shaping the doll industry.
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Today we're talking with Kia and Ricky Davis, the husband and wife team behind Early Affirmation Dolls.
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Their Kaya doll is more than just a toy.
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It's a powerful tool for building confidence and self-esteem in young girls through positive affirmations, which I absolutely love, and self-esteem in young girls through positive affirmations, which I absolutely love.
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So we're going to dive into their journey, the inspiration behind their brand and how they're making an impact, one dollar at a time.
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Thank you so much, kia and Ricky, for being on the Dollpreneur Podcast.
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I'm so excited to have you here.
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You're very welcome.
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Thanks for having us.
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You're so welcome.
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So I'm going to ask you, kia.
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I love the mission behind the early affirmation dolls.
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I love affirmations.
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I use them all the time.
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I even created like positive word cards for affirmations.
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So I'm very much into that space.
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But I want you to tell me the moment when you first realized that your daughter's affirmations, you know, could become something bigger, and what inspired you to turn that into a business.
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We started out with our daughter doing affirmations and she was a baby, couldn't talk or anything.
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We would just stand in the mirror and say the four affirmations and we call those now the core four affirmations that we have in our doll.
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One day.
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One of us we don't know which one of us really came up with it we were like more kids need to hear this.
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We don't know which one of us really came up with it.
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We were like more kids need to hear this and at the time we were like okay, but we didn't have like any of the logistics kind of.
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It was just very much like okay, we know that more kids need to hear this, but so my mother in love passed in 2020.
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And thank you.
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With that hurt, we yeah it.
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It caused us like a tremendous hurt but we were like determined to turn our pain into purpose.
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So one of the things that she loved to do with our daughter was learning through play.
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Specifically, she had like this little Dora doll and the two of them would just be so happy just playing.
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So we kind of we were like, okay, so we we love the affirmations and we have been saying it with our daughter and, um, because we wanted to honor her legacy, them two and their doll play really inspired it.
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So we kind of just did a mash-up and so, um, there was Kaya was born, an affirmation doll.
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Nice.
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I love, I love that idea of bringing the doll and the and the play that your mother-in-law did with her.
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Because, you know, I I had an amazing mother-in-law and she, she just blessed me with such a great opportunity to see that mother-in-laws can be just as beautiful and sweet as as having a mom.
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You know, she was really like my second mom, so I'm sure she's just thrilled that you honored her in that way.
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You know.
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So, ricky, as Kia's husband and business partner, what was your initial reaction when she bought?
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Oh, I guess probably when you both thought about bringing the idea of creating Affirmation Dolls.
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And how did you decide to go all in and make this a joint venture with her?
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Yeah, so, like she said, just saying the affirmations to our daughter, kyla, every day, it was just powerful.
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And we know, with everything going on in society you see all the bullying and it's all on social media, bullying now, body shame and all types of stuff so that's kind of encouraged us to start early with the affirmations.
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But making it a joint venture and making it a product is, you know, just trying to impact, you know, all these young girls, because they need to hear that as early as possible, and not just young girls, but young boys.
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Yes, so that's something we want to do in the future, but it started out because we got the, the young daughter, and we had the great idea with the doll.
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Uh, it was just, it was kind of built out of necessity.
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And you know, one of our things we like to do we want to bring positivity to the world and you know we want to impact our community in a in a positive light.
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Yeah, well, that's great that you guys are doing that together.
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I think that really helps, too, when your children look at you.
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You know being able to do a business together, and also a business that is there to help create better self-esteem.
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You know, and as well as I do, that creating that type of foundation for a child is so important, because it really helps to shape how they see themselves in the world yes, you know and how powerful they are in the world.
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Um so I know you said you started with four affirmations.
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Did you include any more than four and how did you choose which affirmations to use in the doll?
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yes, so the core four are the exact same that we had, and so we didn't add anymore.
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Okay, it will be interesting to see, like, what the future holds especially with, like AI and just like different cool things and insights that can be given there.
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And so all the affirmations I'm beautiful, just like we make sure, and it's a door to open conversation.
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If a little girl may not know, mommy, what is beautiful, mean then you get the opportunity to explain it.
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That's the first one I'm strong, which we're strong.
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Yes, right, I'm smart, because you want them to believe that they are smart, right.
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The last one I'm going to change the world.
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And that's my favorite.
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That's the one that Kaya has on.
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It says I'm going to change the world, and so I always just talk about, like you know, sometimes the world may seem big to some people.
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It's like you change your part of the world, do what you're supposed to do, you know, with whatever your world looks like.
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That's so true.
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Just looks like your family, then you know, change that.
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And I think from another question.
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I think that I feel like self-esteem should be included in like school and me and my husband were just talking about this.
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I'm like that can stop you from doing a lot of stuff.
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It really can Believe in yourself, like you can be the smartest person on the planet, but your mouth and if you don't know if you like you know, because it's true, if you don't believe in yourself, it doesn't matter you know how much book intelligence you have, or anything like that, but if you don't believe in yourself, you're never going to show that side of you.
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And unfortunately, there's still adults that don't believe in themselves enough to make changes in their own lives.
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So I think being able to establish that when they're young is just so important.
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It's really so powerful to be able to do for them.
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So when you thought about creating a doll, had you ever created anything like that before and if not, what was your first steps to getting that done?
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So I have never in my life completed anything like that, have you?
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No.
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Okay, I've played with a lot of dolls, I've cut their hair, I've done a script, but I've never created.
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So the first thing was we just started looking at production companies.
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We wanted to do a production company that was, uh, in the united states.
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Oh, we were able to get that, but then it, you know, it's outsourced.
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Um, we just researched some production companies, set up a few meetings and, okay, I we were able to tell her them like, well, I want her to have two ponytails, I want them to have those, I want to.
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you know, that stuff was very fun for me, yeah I give her the, I give her the credit for doing those.
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Researching and product development companies then kind of landed on one and it was just very interesting to create something from scratch.
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Yes, everything about the dog we had input on like from the smallest of the features, even the voice box.
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My daughter couldn't talk at the time we created the dog.
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She couldn't talk clearly.
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So one of our friends' daughters is the voice behind the voice box.
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So everything about the dog is just you know we are special.
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Yeah, that is.
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That is so cool.
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I was literally going to ask you about that, about the technology behind the.
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You know the, the voice box, and you know what are the challenges that you had to overcome to get that right.
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Or did you get it to sound the way you want it to, even though friend's daughter did the voice with this changes that you needed to make?
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I just think it's been a learning process.
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I can't say that.
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When you said that, like you know, yes, it has been a lot.
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So no, a lot.
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I want you to share that because, you know, listen to this show because not just because they want to see doll makers, but they also, you know, want to get a glimpse into what it, what it, what it takes to bring something, like you said, from idea to you know, to production.
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Yeah, so those that good old voice box.
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So we knew that like it had to be included right, like there's no way we couldn't do it.
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So I don't know, they have like a little.
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It's an activation, like how you activate it all.
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Number one it's on the bottom of the box.
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It's very small, so we had to make sure that we made it visible on our website and we made sure they get the instructions when it's delivered but, that's one thing.
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I do think that next time I think I'll probably print the paper out and just so I can see everything visually right, right, um, so learning little things like that.
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Um, and with the doll having a battery in her, I think that they, they have it where it.
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You pull out that little tab and then it activates but there was some um dolls that needed a battery replacement.
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Right.
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Okay, so just different things like that.
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Although it was a no-brainer, like we had to have it, it's kind of been a challenge.
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You talk about during the development phase, like we had them, like, say, the four affirmations, but when we listened to it it didn't sound right.
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So like when we kind of had our daughter do it but that didn't sound right.
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So that kind of landed on getting an older girl.
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So multiple drafts to get the final version, whether it's voice box and as well as the clothing, the way the doll looked Like, the first few drafts of how the doll's face was.
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I'll just say it wasn't up to our standard going through that process.
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You know, that's the beauty of owning it like.
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Don't be satisfied with what they give you.
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Yeah that's so important.
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Yeah, thank you for sharing that.
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It's gonna be your name on the product, so get it how you want it to be.
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Yeah, yeah, that's so important.
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Thank.
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Yeah, thank you for sharing that.
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It's going to be your name on a product, so get it how you want it to be.
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Yeah, yeah, that's so important.
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Thank you for saying that, because I think a lot of times people who get into that, you know, they may do have a little bit of fear because they go to a company and they figure the company knows everything Right so.
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But it's not about that, it's about what you want to create and what you want to bring forward, and if that company doesn't fit with your idea, you know, then you may have to look for something else.
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But it seems like you know the company that you found eventually you know was you were able to work with and get the production out of that.
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So did you have a small run or did you have to do, like you know, four or $5,000?
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Oh yeah, that's going to sound really small.
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I know that sounded big to us, cause I mean we going to sound really small I know that sounded big to us because I mean, we've never done anything like this.
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So, um, the minimum order was a thousand dollars.
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Oh, that's wonderful.
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Yeah, is it?
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Yeah, no, it is.
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That's wonderful usually you have to do a lot more.
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So, yes, but you know, at the time we were all like just self-funded.
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I wish you kind of would have looked at talking to a bank you know rather than getting a loans business on, you know, purchasing the thousand dollars.
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You know it was a lot for us.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, in hindsight, you would have did things a little bit different.
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I understand that.
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I mean, yeah, you know, having that upfront money can definitely be a challenge when you are bootstrapping it, as they say.
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You know pretty much, but I think that that's one of the challenges of us creating dolls right, it is the fact that it does cost so much money to do that and you have to figure out different ways to process those costs and see what works best for you and your family or, you know, you and the business in general.
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So thank you for sharing that.
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What other complications or challenges did you have when it came to manufacturing and product development?
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I would say the skin complexion.
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So when I selected it it didn't look like what they gave me back.
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I was like she looks no offense, she looks borderline white, right, right, like I want the doll to look.
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I want my daughter to be able to see herself in the doll and it's not to say that a Caucasian doll won't be made in the future.
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But because I am who I am and my daughter who she is, I want to create that disability because, to be honest, like there's not even a lot of representation when you walk through the aisles of a wild water target or whatever, right right um, so yeah yeah, yeah, I would definitely say that she looked like michael jackson.
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It was not funny at the time, I probably could have cried, but that is one thing that we look back on.
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When we look at the picture, like all we can do is laugh like, and so you know, I think it.
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Just with that.
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I thought that the sample looked darker than when you got it right, yeah, yeah.
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So the challenges is colors and I know, speaking with other doll creators, it's the hair usually too, especially if they're doing something that's more of a natural type of hair.
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It's.
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You know, they've been having a lot of challenges with hair and definitely skin tones.
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You know, um, and you would think that a lot of these companies now get a lot of people who are who-American who want to make dolls, that they would already have an idea of what we look like.
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You know what I mean?
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I would think that, but it's interesting you're still having those issues of what kind of colors they want to send back to you as acceptable, and I appreciate you standing up and saying, no, that's not how I want this doll to look at the end of the day, the pushback is very important.
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The first few drafts is like no, this is not it.
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That's not the image we're trying to portray.
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Now we have a beautiful doll, but it wasn't the start.
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Got to push back.
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How many variations did you have of the doll?
00:15:21.414 --> 00:15:28.505
I think probably five, wow yeah.
00:15:28.505 --> 00:15:31.594
Think probably five, wow yeah probably five and each.
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Now, each variation costs money, doesn't it?
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So at first we was like doing sketches and stuff.
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Okay, uh, as far as like.
00:15:35.524 --> 00:15:40.875
When we got the first prototype, by the time we got an actual doll in our hand.
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It was.
00:15:42.238 --> 00:15:47.465
That was one was good, so they did one, but it was not up to our standard.
00:15:47.705 --> 00:15:57.755
Then the next was good and that's the one that got shipped to us yeah, they kind of was doing like um one change at the time and then we would have to like okay it and move forward.
00:15:57.755 --> 00:16:28.139
They went from like pencil to color to like everything, kind of building upon the little minor things happening during that time, and I think that they they were um understanding and they knew that this was something that was new to us, but not in the in the sense of like they were trying to get over anything right being knowledgeable and being you know, given what they thought was the best direction, based on the clients that they serve.
00:16:28.445 --> 00:16:29.206
OK, all right.
00:16:29.206 --> 00:16:29.988
Well, that's good, though.
00:16:29.988 --> 00:16:36.340
I mean it seems like overall you had a pretty good manufacturing company, that you found somebody that was really good and worked with you really well.
00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:37.768
That means everything.
00:16:37.768 --> 00:16:41.136
When you're producing a doll, you have to have a company that you can work with.
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It's great that they provide you feedback, but that they also listen to your feedback.
00:16:45.572 --> 00:16:55.013
And I know we were talking you were talking earlier when you were talking about getting the doll back and it wasn't the color that you wanted and you were saying how important it is to have something that looked like your daughter.
00:16:55.013 --> 00:17:03.638
So why do you think it's so important for children, especially young black girls right To see dolls that look like them and to you know that affirms their worth.
00:17:03.638 --> 00:17:14.336
Not saying that just because you have a doll that you're not worthy or are worthy, but just the fact that there's a doll that says, hey, I'm important too and I have a place in this space, in the doll community.
00:17:14.986 --> 00:17:30.817
Honestly, I think it means everything because, like we had talked about before, like self-esteem and confidence, if you don't have that, that will close so many doors for you and you can, you know, you can be the next big thing, in whatever field it is.
00:17:30.817 --> 00:17:40.539
I mean you could be a doctor, like, but if you don't have the confidence and you don't have a self-esteem first, like who wants a doctor that doesn't even believe in themselves?
00:17:40.539 --> 00:17:41.609
So how can you treat me?
00:17:41.609 --> 00:17:46.730
Where are we going to even come up with a, a care plan here?
00:17:46.730 --> 00:18:00.707
And you're just like, uh, well, I don't know, like I don't want to step on your toes, like I think it is so, so, so important because even though it seems like something small, you learn so much.
00:18:00.747 --> 00:18:02.670
Playing with dolls, you really do.
00:18:02.670 --> 00:18:19.845
And to just be able to walk in the store and see, like man, I even like that the bigger companies, they even the um Barbies are starting to have like thicker legs and stuff like that, because like that's really how we look, yeah, and it's important.
00:18:19.845 --> 00:18:34.574
But I don't think in the African-American community that we don't like go after our dreams or we don't have as many people that saying like, ok, if that's what you want to do, do it, and people that you can look up to.
00:18:34.574 --> 00:18:47.747
So I think that it's very, very important that they see themselves in the dog that we create, because then they're like, okay, well, if she can do that, then I can do that.
00:18:47.907 --> 00:18:57.026
You know what I mean Exactly, and I think what you were saying too, is the fact that dolls are a very important part of a young child's life, whether it's a boy or girl.
00:18:57.026 --> 00:19:14.867
I've had many people on my prior show and this show just because they're male doesn't mean that they don't play with dolls either, and I think that's a stigma that people have, because I think it is allows them to have creativity, allows them to be able to have something to talk to and interact with, feel safe around sometimes.
00:19:14.867 --> 00:19:15.869
I think that's so important.
00:19:15.869 --> 00:19:33.894
So so, speaking on that point of Ricky, I know you have a daughter and I know you know it's important for girls to play, play with dolls and do you have any kind of ideas of, I mean, young boys having dolls or having, you know, having boy dolls as well, and how do you uh feel that uh dolls can help you, whether you're a young?
00:19:33.933 --> 00:19:34.715
boy or a girl.
00:19:34.715 --> 00:19:36.827
Yeah, I think it's real key.
00:19:36.827 --> 00:19:43.826
I think, uh, I know me growing up, you know I had, like you know, the action figures right, you know, just have.
00:19:43.826 --> 00:20:01.531
I just just watching my daughter and daughter and knowing what a lot of kids do, the creativity, the imagination, just playing with a dog, what that does to a kid and just helps build them, I think it's just amazing the conversations that she'll be having.
00:20:01.531 --> 00:20:03.617
I'll just be kind of listening.
00:20:04.468 --> 00:20:13.471
I can't believe she thinking about that because she picked up everything like I'm saying to her uh siblings, the dog will be doing the same thing.
00:20:13.471 --> 00:20:17.262
So so circling that back around with.
00:20:17.262 --> 00:20:26.480
You know, boys, like growing up when I had, you know, my uh toys, I played play with my action figures, my everything that I'm seeing in the world.
00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:30.355
You know, I'm incorporating that in my little imaginative play.
00:20:32.153 --> 00:20:33.644
Yeah, I think it's important.
00:20:33.644 --> 00:20:51.965
I think, like you said, it allows them to be creative regardless of you know what gender they are, To be able to make that connection and find something within a doll or plush doll or action figure that that serves them and it can help them to be creative and be more confident who they are, you know.
00:20:51.986 --> 00:20:56.516
so everybody asks us like a product for males, like that's definitely.
00:20:56.516 --> 00:21:01.031
That's the next thing, because we also have three sons as well.
00:21:01.031 --> 00:21:10.053
They are older, but it's just amazing to see, like different kids that even live in the same house, how different they can be.
00:21:10.053 --> 00:21:22.307
We have one like overly confident kid and then one is like it's not confident at all, so I wish I can like disperse it um, but it's, it's just key it really is key.
00:21:22.789 --> 00:21:30.955
Um, so, now that you have the doll, you created this beautiful doll let's talk a little bit about marketing and how do you reach your audience right.
00:21:30.955 --> 00:21:38.896
How have you been able to get the word out about your dolls and a couple, I guess, marketing strategies that you have used that you felt were effective in reaching parents about what you do?
00:21:40.086 --> 00:21:41.491
That marketing, I went whoo.
00:21:41.924 --> 00:21:46.125
I think that's the thing that we uh struggle, that we struggle with the most.
00:21:46.125 --> 00:21:50.734
You know, brand awareness, that's things that we we got to get a lot better at.
00:21:50.795 --> 00:22:00.366
You know, we've done a lot of different things we had two commercials, uh, okay, by local in our local cincinnati area.
00:22:01.167 --> 00:22:02.509
Uh, we've done commercials.
00:22:02.911 --> 00:22:12.193
Uh, we did like faces, yeah, we have done whose appearances um the facebook ads have done um.
00:22:12.193 --> 00:22:12.815
Um.
00:22:12.815 --> 00:22:21.275
We did some ad, ran some ads on walmart, because our style is also on walmartcom, so we did some walmart ads.
00:22:21.275 --> 00:22:23.058
It was just a lot of different things.
00:22:23.058 --> 00:22:26.867
We I went to an entrepreneurship school here in Cincinnati.
00:22:27.388 --> 00:22:43.354
And so they provide like a lot of opportunities, and so another thing that we also tried for marketing was we got some students that were about to graduate and so they, like took over our social media accounts for 30 days or something.
00:22:43.354 --> 00:22:43.855
So that was.
00:22:43.855 --> 00:22:45.238
You know, that was cool.
00:22:45.238 --> 00:22:47.229
I feel like we've done a lot.
00:22:47.229 --> 00:22:55.468
I feel as if I have taken so many marketing classes, but that's just not God's like.
00:22:55.468 --> 00:23:01.558
I don't think he wants me in that space, but for right now I have to be in it, like.
00:23:01.558 --> 00:23:04.490
So, like my husband said, like we just have to get better.
00:23:04.490 --> 00:23:16.184
It's just one of those things that you just have to get better, and, even though I don't understand it, I'm always seeking classes that teach something new, because I already feel like I'm behind.
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