The Dollpreneur™ Podcast
Welcome to the Dollpreneur™ Podcast!
I’m so excited to have you join me on this new adventure as I reignite my passion for the doll community with the Dollpreneur™ Podcast. Each episode celebrates the innovators and artists who bring this magical industry to life.
I’m Georgette Taylor, co-inventor, co-creator, and co-founder of the first plus-size fashion dolls, Big Beautiful Dolls and with years of podcasting experience from a business podcast to being the former creator, host and producer, of In The Doll World podcast.
Join me as I share inspiring conversations with talented creators from around the world, introducing both seasoned artisans and fresh new voices. The Dollpreneur™ Podcast offers a unique glimpse into the world of doll creators, blending art and entrepreneurship to showcase the passion that drives the doll-making world.
Whether you’re a doll enthusiast, an aspiring creator, or simply curious, the Dollpreneur™ Podcast is where creativity meets entrepreneurship, community, and every conversation inspires. Let me guide you through this world I’ve helped shape, from Big Beautiful Dolls to engaging discussions with the leading voices in doll-making.
Until we connect again, have a Dollpreneur™ Fabulous Day!
The Dollpreneur™ Podcast
Dr. Lisa Williams on Crafting a Legacy of Representation
www.thedollprenuerpodcast.com
How did a chance viewing of a documentary transform Dr. Lisa Williams from a successful academic into a pioneering entrepreneur in the doll industry? We sit down for an informative and wonderful conversation with Dr. Lisa, the visionary CEO and founder of Positively Perfect, The Fresh Dolls and The Fresh Squad to explore how one moment of awakening ignited her drive to champion diversity and representation in children's toys. Her mission—to create dolls that reflect the beauty and diversity of real-world cultures—is reshaping the toy industry and fostering self-esteem and aspirations among young children who finally see themselves represented.
Our conversation takes you through Dr. Lisa's courageous journey to revolutionize doll design, where authenticity reigns supreme. Despite having no initial connections or funding, her determination led her to China in pursuit of manufacturers willing to embrace unique and authentic features in dolls. Her story underscores not only the power of resilience and purpose but also the importance of community and teamwork in overcoming obstacles. From authentic sculpts to inclusive designs, Dr. Lisa's dedication to diversity is creating ripples throughout the toy industry and beyond.
Beyond the world of dolls, Dr. Lisa shares how prioritizing passion and family led her to a balanced life, where self-care and professional fulfillment coexist. As she embarks on new ventures, including a skincare line and a podcast for those over 35 pursuing their passions, her story is a testament to the strength of purpose and the impact of leaving a legacy. Join us as we explore how Dr. Lisa’s work continues to empower future generations, inspiring them to embrace their uniqueness and realize their dreams.
#drlisawilliams #thefreshdolls #postivelyperfect #thefreshsquad #representation #dolls #blackdolls #animation #thedollprenuerpodcast #dollprenuerpodcast #podcasts
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.
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Until next time, have a Dollpreneur™ Fabulous Day!
Hello everyone, welcome to the Dollpreneur Podcast, where I get to chat and share with you the amazing doll creators and creatives from around the world.
Speaker 1: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. So, whether you're a long-time doll lover or just curious, looking for something new and creative to listen to, join us for engaging, powerful and insightful conversations that celebrate the heart and soul of the people within the doll community. So what do you say? Let's get this show started.
Speaker 1:Hello everybody, welcome to the Dollpreneur Podcast. I'm your host, georgette Taylor, and I'm so excited that you're joining us today. You know, one of the things that I love about doing the show is I get to fangirl all the time, and today is no exception. I am so honored to be joined by Dr Lisa Williams. She is the CEO, founder and trailblazing creator of the fashion of the fresh dolls and trailblazing creator of the fresh dolls. She's also a champion for diversity in the toy industry. From her collaborations with the Proud Family to the incredible Wakanda Forever dolls, dr Lisa has transformed how children see themselves through play and we're so excited to dive into her journey and the amazing work that she's doing to uplift representation in the doll space. Welcome, dr Lisa. Thank you so much for joining me on the show.
Speaker 2:I'm so honored. Thank you so much for joining me on the show. I'm so honored. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited to talk to you. I know we talked a few years ago and I know you had some things coming up you couldn't share at the time. But all of those things are happening for you and I cannot wait to get into that. But before we do, can you just share a little bit about yourself for people who are watching the dollpreneur for the first time and talk a little bit about yourself and how you decided to start getting into the doll space?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. But you know, sometimes in life you don't really make the decision. It's kind of like life makes the decision for you. So that's kind of my story. I choose this. I was actually a college professor. I got my doctorate from the Ohio State University.
Speaker 2:I was the first African-American to get a PhD in my area and when I graduated from Ohio State the Ohio State- I went on to Penn State, where I was a professor there and I was the first African-American female to receive tenure in the College of Business, and so I was really happy there because I loved Happy Valley. But then the University of Arkansas made me an offer I couldn't refuse, as the godfather would say. So I found myself at the University of Arkansas and I had not one but two multimillion dollar endowments, which made me the highest ranking professor in the world in my area. So, as they say, life was good. You know, I'm traveling the world, I'm teaching doctoral students and MBA students and undergrads, and I'm really really loving it.
Speaker 2:And then one day, coming back from international travel, I was just sitting on my couch just trying to relax and chill, bring it down a little bit, and I watched this documentary by Anderson Cooper. It was actually an updated doll study. And in that updated doll study he asked this beautiful chocolate skin little girl what doll does she want to play with? The black doll or the white doll? Now I knew what she was going to play with her. I knew she was going to say she wanted to play with the black doll, because at that time we have beautiful African-an-americans on the cover of magazines. We had president barack obama in the white house with his beautiful wife and the beautiful children. I just knew, all right, I'm just I. She's gonna pick, she wants to play with a black doll.
Speaker 2:well, I was sadly and truly sadly disappointed, because she said she wanted to play with the white doll. But, georgette, what broke my heart is why? Because Anderson Cooper then asked her why? And she said because the black doll skin was and, as I say, wait for it was nasty. But then, when I broke into tears and I'm about to cry again I was going to say that just literally gave me goosebumps Like oh man Nasty.
Speaker 2:Nasty, not ugly, yeah, which is a strong word. But then it got even worse because he then asked her do you think your skin is nasty? I'm about to cry about it? And she said, yes, sometimes I cried because this is a generation of our children coming out not knowing their beauty and their brilliance and in some respects I think I was lulled asleep because I had been so successful as an academic.
Speaker 1:You know I was the first to graduate the first to do that.
Speaker 2:So I'm thinking oh well, you know, life is good and life is good, Life is easy and we're all benefiting from this prosperity, Right?
Speaker 1:I think it was just. You know my experience.
Speaker 2:Right, I think it was just. You know my experience, Right, when I saw her it was like a rude awakening, Like, oh my God, we have not come as far as I thought we had Right and when was that? When was that? How long ago was that? That was not too like I'm bad with years Georgia, but like 2009-ish Right.
Speaker 1:Somewhere around there Not that long ago. Honestly, that that thought of who you are as African-American or any other ethnic group is not worthy, and I think that that's so, so detrimental.
Speaker 2:It is so detrimental, and I just kept thinking that if she thought that way about herself, then her opportunities in life would be limited, because she wouldn't even try. She would just say well, you know my skin is nasty, I'm unattractive, I'm not smart, I'm not going to go for that promotion. I'm not going to go to college, I'm not. You know, I'm not going to take advantage of life's opportunities. And that's what I kept feeling and thinking. And I was sitting on that couch like you cannot let this happen.
Speaker 2:You cannot let this happen. And so, without any money, no background in it, no experience, no internship, no connections, no investment, no money. I got to keep stressing. You can't stress that enough.
Speaker 1:I can't stress that enough. There was no money. We're going to talk about that too.
Speaker 2:Yes, no money, no money. But there was such a strong passion in our heart to make sure that we didn't have another generation of children not knowing the truth of who they are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, have another generation of children not knowing the truth of who they are.
Speaker 2:So that's kind of how, that is not kind of, but that is how the company was started and that's still the DNA of the company, and it's why I get up every morning, as well as the rest of my team, to make sure that no other child feels that they are not beautiful and that they're not brilliant that they're not brilliant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think that that's so powerful and I think that's what's so powerful about what you're creating with your company is the diversity of representation within the dolls that you create. They're so beautiful, they're fun, they're, you know, they're very approachable. You know, I mean, I just, I just, I really just love it. I just love all the things that you're doing. So, thank you, love all the things that you're doing. So, um, I know one of the missions of fresh styles was to offer a diverse representation of beauty, right? Um? So when you first started creating them, how did you decide on the design and the skin tones and the features of the dolls so that they reflect, you know, uh, the the beauty that's out there? How did that? How did that come about?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, part of it is being a part of the diverse community, right? So I'm African-American. Well, you know, part of it is being a part of the diverse community, right? So I'm African-American, so I'm blessed. No, no, you don't know that, right, you didn't figure that out. So it just meant that I am blessed to be in a community where I get to see diverse beauty and I get to see children that are gorgeous, and so I had the opportunity just to observe, just to observe my community and make sure that we got their noses right, the lips and the cheeks and the skin tones and make sure that was all perfectly blended.
Speaker 2:So it was representative and I wanted children of all ethnicities, yes, and so we do have African-American, and that's how we started, that's the core of what we do. But we also make sure that we represent blended ethnicities. So we have, like Blasian dolls, we have which is black and Asian, we have black and Mexican, we have Caucasian and African-American. We have a lot of blended skin tones and blended ethnicities represented, because I never want to hear another child say I don't want to play with that doll because the skin is nasty and then internalize that to think somehow they are nasty, so we focus on skin tones, hair, hair textures, hair colors and we just want again. We want to make sure that when a child picks up that doll, they can connect with it, they can relate to it and they can say, mommy, mommy, mommy, she looks just like me. That is the greatest honor that we get as a team is when we see a child that is just thrilled and recognize their beauty by playing with our dolls.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's so powerful. I mean I am, you know. I mean I have children who are mixed Older son is Puerto Rican and half Puerto Rican and my grandbaby now is part Mexican, part Puerto Rican, part black. So I understand you know the, like you said, the representation of making sure that everybody feels that they're beautiful and that they're worthy. You know, because I think that is just so, so important and there are just so many kids that are.
Speaker 1:They do have different types of, you know, ethnicities, you know within their family, and you don't want to not make them feel wanted At the end of the day, you want them to feel wanted and you want them to feel that they're important and special and that, no matter their skin tone or their hair texture, that they're still beautiful. Because, you're right, it impacts so many other things in your life, not just how you look, how you feel about yourself, like you said, how you're going to accomplish certain things. What do you believe in about yourself that you can do? You know, and it starts from an early age. So I want to you know again, thank you for doing all the things that you do within, within your company, to make sure that that is.
Speaker 2:That is something that is important, so yeah, I just remember, you know, being the only black child in class. And thank goodness that I was raised in a family that told us, my sister and I, that our black skin was beautiful. Our curly, kinky hair was gorgeous. You know, we were taught that. So even though I was in a room and I was the only person who looked like me, I didn't feel less than and I didn't feel my skin was nasty and I didn't feel that I couldn't compete, and so toys is just a parent toolkit.
Speaker 2:It's just a part of a parent's toolkit to help educate their child about the truth of who they are. And again, being in that classroom by myself being the only African American, I know it's important to have a healthy self-esteem, and I know what the limitations are when you don't have that.
Speaker 1:Right, so true, I mean and you know it's so funny you know I deal with a lot of women. You know I'm the co-founder of a vice president of a women's chamber here in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Speaker 2:I just love you and all the good things that you do for the community.
Speaker 1:I love you too, dr Lisa.
Speaker 1:I really do, I really do and I just your growth is just amazing to me and it's so beautiful and such a testament to you know what you bring to the table and what your passion is and and the legacy that you're leaving for everybody, but also for you and your family too.
Speaker 1:You know, I think that's I can literally cry right now about that, because I think that it's just so important. You know, I know, when I, when I, when I first started doing my own dolls, you know there just wasn't too many people to look up to. And so to have you, to have somebody to look up to and say, to have you to have somebody to look up to and say they've done that and know that you've created this foundation now that other people can follow, you know it just really makes me want to cry. It really does Gets me very emotional. It's just so important, you know, and, like you said, dolls are a conduit, you know, sometimes for children to share their feelings and to have those moments To be able to see a doll that looks like you, I think is so empowering and to have those moments to be able to see a doll that looks like you, I think, is so empowering.
Speaker 2:And I just want to say, while we're saying this, that and I stand on your shoulders the work that you did, you know that trailblazing work I stand on your shoulders, we all do so. It really is a community and I am sure, and hoping and knowing and seeing that there are others, that I'm standing on your shoulders and there are others are.
Speaker 1:I'm standing on your shoulders and there are others, hopefully that are standing on my shoulders, that are going to continue this legacy of providing high quality dolls that have built self-esteem. Yeah, that's so true, and thank you so much for that. I, you know, I'm just thank you. Because again well, thank you so much for that. I received that and I really truly appreciate that, you know, because coming out with plus size dolls back then was just like oh, what, like? What are y'all talking about?
Speaker 2:And now everybody wants them.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's so true.
Speaker 2:It's because they're authentic represent the shape of women.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, it really did and it still does. You know, and I'm very, I'm very excited about that and I'm very excited it allowed me to be in this community. Then now I get to share everything that you, that you all do, being creators in this space, with so many people who, you know, never thought about the dog community or a dog creator or a toy creator. And I get to do that and I'm blessed because of that, you know, and I'm blessed that you, that you all, say yes to being here on the show, because it just it's something that I, like you said, I'm just passionate about to make sure that people know you continue to give back and your bright light in the world attracts so many of us to you, and that's why, anytime you ask me, it's like yes, I want to do it you ask them, it's like yes, I want to do it.
Speaker 1:So true, so true, so true, dr Lisa, and I really do appreciate that. So so I know you have you had a really significant impact with the in the in the retail space for Fresh Dolls.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go back and talk a little bit about when you were saying how you started. So when you started out, you were saying that you didn't have any money really to do this business right, you didn't have any connections really to do this business. So what did you do to make that happen for yourself? Because one, the doll business is expensive. Yes, this industry is expensive and I don't want her I'm not asking her to share that to dissuade anybody. I'm asking her to share that. So you understand it's not just like let me make a doll. You know there's so many components that go into that and the amount of money that you invest in that. You better doggone, be passionate about it. So I just want you to share a little bit about you know that story, cause I know when you shared it with me a while ago it's very, it's very touching, but I know you went through a lot to build this business. So I want you to share a little bit about that because that's important.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, you know, you're right, I had, as we just said, no money, no experience, no connections, no mentoring, no nothing. But I had this strong passion, that little girl's story, just it just totally transformed my world. And so I had this crazy passion that I couldn't let go of and it caused me, in hindsight, to do things that were truly crazy, like like, like hopping on a plane going to China when I can't speak the language. Right, I'm like I got to find somebody to make these dolls and there are no manufacturers in the US.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I literally Google doll companies and then hop on a plane to go to China.
Speaker 2:Again, I can't speak the language I have no friends over there, no connections just these strange boundaries that I'm meeting with, and I didn't even realize the danger of what I'd done until I arrived in China. And I'm looking at the signs and I'm like, oh God, I can't read anything, I don't. Oh boy, I can't call anybody, I'm just here. And then when I got to the factories, you know, they were very adamant that I was doing it the wrong way and they were telling me that the most expensive part of a doll is the sculpt is the face, the face sculpt, and it is.
Speaker 1:it is the most expensive part.
Speaker 2:And it's also the most unique part, obviously except when you did the beautiful full body doll.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did the full, yeah, full body. Oh, you had both.
Speaker 2:But as we were designing the doll with them, as I was saying, hey, this is what I want it to look like. It has to be authentic, the lips have to be full, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, they kept telling me, no, no, not gonna do it. And I'm like, wait, no, it has to be this way. And they're like no, no, no, you've never done this before. You don't know what you would. Let us tell you how this industry works. And they said we have a complete room full of doll faces. Just go in there, pick one doll face that you like, we'll put brown paint on it with a pink lip on it, and then you'll have a black doll. And I'm like, no, that's not authentic. It got actually heated. The conversation got very heated because I was adamant that it had to be done authentically.
Speaker 2:That was so important to me because that little girl's voice in my head nasty.
Speaker 2:it had to be authentic and so what they were just trying to do is replicate a model that they've been doing for decades, and all other companies at that time, honestly, were doing so. Ultimately, I said, it really did kind of get kind of warm and got heated in that conference room and I'm the only person in there that's fighting for these children, and that's how I felt like if you don't fight for them right now, they're going to continue to get the same thing they've already always got.
Speaker 2:So ultimately I said to them this is how it's going to be. I'm not going to use one of your sculpts. I appreciate it, thank you so much. But we have to start from the ground up and whatever cost there is, I will have to pay it because it has to be authentic. So ultimately I wore them down and they agreed to do it.
Speaker 2:But the thing is, I had to really fight and I realized that while I was fighting there that I was in such a vulnerable position. I didn't realize it, but I was, because, again, I'm in another country, right, I myself have no friends, no contacts. I'm just arguing with these people about what I want. But when you're so passionate, like I said, sometimes you throw caution to the wind, and I did. I threw caution to and I'm kind of, and I'm glad that I did Cause. In hindsight, if I had been very logical and rational in my decision-making one I probably wouldn't have done it. I would have been like, oh my gosh, we need to do something. Maybe I'll donate money to a cause or something. So I wouldn't have done it. But then, when they were so fighting against me, I would have felt so insecure because, again, I don't know how to do this business, but that little girl was my muse, my inspiration, and that's what kept me moving forward and even when I didn't have money.
Speaker 2:That's what kept me moving forward.
Speaker 1:And even when.
Speaker 2:I had to file bankruptcy. I don't know if we'll talk about that, but even then you would think I would stop Right. You think somebody would say okay, that's it. You tried it, you gave it your all. It didn't work, Move on.
Speaker 1:But you couldn't, couldn't, and that's what I'm saying, like they, when people listening to the show, they have to know that if you have, if you don't have, your passion is not big enough. You're not, like you said, you're not going to make those choices, those hard choices, because it may cost you money, it may cost you, like I said, bankruptcy. It may cost you your car, and you know, you've heard those stories from entertainers, you know, who have been sleeping in their car because they, you know, trying to find work, but they're driven. I mean, it's still the same premise. You know, when you start to become an entrepreneur, that is the premise of that.
Speaker 1:And whether you're a doll creator or not, you're still a dollpreneur, right? Because at the end of the day, you're making this product, you want to sell this product, right, you want people to see it, you want it to be in the market. So it takes a lot. It takes a part of that part that you're trying to be creative with. You know, you have to sometimes put that to the back burner too and realize, well, now I have to balance the books and I have to make the money and I have to do all of these things even though I have a passion to be creative.
Speaker 2:And I want to commend you because it's something that you said was very, very powerful. You said your passion has to be big enough, and that is so true. I believe that if we're going to do anything and really make an impact in others' lives as well as our own, it has to be a big vision. Right, it has to be a vision that you yourself don't know how you're going to do it. If you know how you're going to do every step, it's too small the vision is too small.
Speaker 2:You got to tap into something that's bigger than you and trust God, allah, the universe, to come in and lift you up to where you need to be. And I'm here to tell you it happens that way. Don't figure out, or try to figure out the how, because the how will keep you stuck, the how will keep you. Well, I don't know how to do it. Well, I don't have the money. Well, nobody's helping me, so I just can't do it. You got to move forward anyway. When you take those steps, then again God, the universe, steps in with you and lifts you up. And all of a sudden you look back on your life, you're like oh my God, I created a dog With no money, no experience, no connection. I did it. How did I do it? I can't tell you all of it, because some of it is, you know, supernatural, some of it just takes over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, something does take over. It's so funny because, you know, I think back a lot of time. You know, when I started done projects, you know, I guess recently or maybe just in the past, but and and I get frustrated and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm not focused. You know, I think about how focused I was when we were doing those dolls. When I was doing those dolls, we were so, like you said, so focused, like the goal was to make sure we had this doll in place, and we knew nobody either. You know, I collected a few dolls, but I didn't know anybody. You know, I didn't know how to make them either. And I and I pretty much did like you said. I just I went to the stores and I flipped the boxes around hey, who, who did this, who did that, who did that, you know?
Speaker 1:And I wound up finding somebody in Maryland who did a I think it was integrity toys, and I called them and we were like, hey, we want to do this. We knew Maryland was close, we could drive there. We lived in Jersey, we want to do this. Dog. You know, can you spend time with us? And Percy Newsome said, sure, no problem, and we drove down there, spent all day with him and that was kind of like the catalyst really, you know, to get us going. But again, we had no clue. So I totally understand that, like you, you if, if you have a passion, you know, like again, you will find the way. We certainly didn't say, well, we don't know anybody, we just like we're going to find somebody. At the end of the day we're going to find somebody, you know, and that's what you did committed and being focused and not listening to no.
Speaker 2:And the biggest no's we get, by the way, is a no's within our own head. That's the biggest no. Other people will give you a no, but that doesn't sting as much as when you are constantly saying you can't do it, you don't know how to do it, you don't have the money to do it. Why are you doing it? This is crazy. That's the cycle you have to break. So I applaud you for breaking that cycle. And then I applaud you for reaching out for the help. And then I have not met the founder of Integrity Toys, but I take my hat off to him because he opened the door and was able to give you nuggets of wisdom that you needed to create, and we need that. Everything is a community. We don't do anything alone.
Speaker 1:So true, say that again, dr. Lisa, please.
Speaker 2:Some people think that that's what they do. It is a community. We don't do anything alone. People are so kind, they give me these accolades oh, you're so great. I'm not. I'm not. I am a woman that's very spiritual and very dedicated, and I like to believe that I'm making a positive change in the world and in the lives of our children. That's my passion, but I have an incredible team of people that are always there to support and to help and have that same passion.
Speaker 2:So we all do it as a community. I remember when we won doll of the year for Black Panther, and so they rushed us off and rushed me off stage and they wanted me to go take pictures with the press and I said no, no, no, I, I'm not moving. I'm not moving until my team gets here, because I did not do this alone, we did it as a team. We will take the accolades as a team. We will be interviewed by the press as a team.
Speaker 2:We will take our team photos together. It's really important that we really communicate and understand. We can't do anything as an individual. It takes a village.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so true. Thank you for saying that too, because I think people do lose sight of that a lot. You know they like you say they get the accolades and they're like, oh, you know, they love the spotlight and that's great, you know, because I mean you still do. You still do some of the work too. No-transcript.
Speaker 2:Exactly Because a business is your child, isn't it it?
Speaker 1:really is, it really is. So, speaking about your children again, your fresh dolls, right? I want to know. I know you started out with them and they were all girls. When did you decide to launch, you know, the Fresh Squad dolls?
Speaker 2:and why? Oh, that's a great question. Actually, the very first line of dolls we did was Positively Perfect. Oh, yes, that's right. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2:The 14 inch and the 18 inch for babies, for baby dolls, and then, after they did so well, then we moved to doing the fresh dolls, and then from the fresh dolls to the fresh squad. And so your question is a brilliant one why? Why did I do that? Why did I stay with Positively Perfect? Because that was a really successful line. And it was because I'm noticing little girls were growing up and as they were growing up, they were having body image issues, right, and they the leading doll in the market. So therefore I'm not pretty. So I'm like, okay, we got to stop this. So now it was the young children, now it's the older girls. So we need fresh to do the older girls. And then, a year or so later, after that, I started looking around and I'm a mother of two boys men now. So I'm looking, I'm like I don't see anything that represents them. And, in addition, every time I saw something on the news or someone talking about our males in our community, it was not in a positive light. That's so true.
Speaker 1:And I'm like.
Speaker 2:these are not the men that I live with, that I know of. These are not my husband and my boys and my uncles and cousins. These are not the men I know are chivalrous and kind and generous, and so I wanted to represent a line of dolls that portrayed that power that's in our community and in our male community, and so that's where the Fresh Squad came from.
Speaker 1:That is so cool. I love them too. They're so nice. I mean, they're very handsome.
Speaker 2:I paid particular attention to that. When I was working on them, I had a phone. My phone was full of attractive men that I found attractive, that I I mean picture after picture after picture. And my husband got my phone one day. Why are you on this minute? I'm like, oh wait, wait, wait, there's a reason to my madness. But if you wouldn't have known, you were like, okay, does she got some kind of addiction Cause it's like you know, four or five hundred pictures, oh my God, that's hilarious. But that's what it took for me to find that right combination of the nose and the nose relative to the lips All of that's important.
Speaker 2:Proportionality is very important, and so, as I was looking at all these hundreds of gorgeous men, I came with kind of a theme of what I wanted them to look like.
Speaker 1:And so that's the first one. Oh, that's so cool, interesting, because I was wondering how do you come up with the faces, you know, how do you come up with the ideas of what they, what those dolls you know, especially, like you said, the teens or the older dolls? How do you decide, like, how do you want them to look? You know, do you see somebody and you say, oh, I think that would be a great face for a doll, or how do they, how do they come to you?
Speaker 2:That's exactly it. It's all about being authentic. Even with our names we are authentic. Most of the names of the dolls are people that we know, so I know that that's an authentic name for a Latina, or the authentic name for an.
Speaker 2:African-American young girl, because I know someone has that name the same with the looks right. I am constantly on the prowl, if you will, for just looking at beautiful people, beautiful children, and that's why the way everyone I want to stress that it's not like I'm picking out particular people. We're all beautiful. And the other thing that I recognize is that beauty is not perfection, meaning sometimes our lips are not totally aligned, maybe the upper lip is a little more narrow than the bottom lip or vice versa.
Speaker 1:The eyes may not even Eyes not be yeah, Right.
Speaker 2:But those air quote imperfection is what make us beautiful. So I am constantly on the lookout for the beauty and imperfections and I want that to be reflected in our doll line because, again, everything is about reflecting back to children and adults their own beauty. Yeah, so I want to make sure that the beauty is authentic. Yeah, and no one has perfect face Right. No one has a symmetrical, it just doesn't exist.
Speaker 1:So neither do our dolls but I mean I like how you like you said how you, how you think about you know the faces and the beauty part of that that you want to have come out and not be perfect so cool. I want to talk a little bit more now about your expanding, because we know about positively perfect and the fresh styles and the fresh squad. And then now you have partnered with a couple of people you know to create other dolls and to create and do licensing things you know between Disney and Marvel. I think that's amazing. How did that partnership, how did the partnerships come about? Did you have an idea about the Proud family first and then went to them or they approached you? How did that happen for you?
Speaker 2:You know, I have never. As we were speaking earlier, when you just take a, you take that first step and the universe, God, will come and elevate you. That's really what happened. I was just out here creating the dolls, that that you know the positively perfect fresh dolls, fresh squat talking about those.
Speaker 2:And then one day I'm in a meeting with the Disney for Black Panther and the Proud family, and both were so dear to my heart because I had watched the Proud family for years with my children, who are now adults. And, of course, black Panther movie the franchise, oh my God. The first one just changed my world when I saw those powerful black women. Yes, I know, oh, I just loved it. So to have the opportunity to represent them in doll form was really a deep honor, and it still is. And so that's why me and the rest of my team, we were so dedicated in getting every little detail right. If you look at their faces, it's like a mini Lupita Nyong'o. Look just like her and that's so cool.
Speaker 1:That's what I love about it, because there's so the character. It just looks like that person. I mean I we know, being in the doll space, there's so many people who create other dolls based on characters and you can't look at them sometimes and say, oh, that looks like so-and-so like. I like to see dolls that look like the character. If you're portraying a character, it has to have something of that character that makes it you know, authentically them.
Speaker 2:I and my team, we thought so, and so that's why we were meticulous, not just in their facial features and their skin tones we made oh my God, we went through so many different combinations of skin tones to get theirs right, so many but also the hair, particularly the character Lupita played. She had locks. They were not braids, they were locks. And so once we saw that, we instantly again, being in the community, recognized oh, these are not braids, these are locks. And then it's like, okay, well, we got to go find locks. Well, there was no locks to be found, there was none. So then we had to create the fiber, create the technique, create the lock technique that she's wearing in her doll in the film and that has been patented to you.
Speaker 2:And it's patented. Yes, patent is pending on it, and we also had to make sure that her hair is ombre. If you notice, it's not just one color, it's an ombre effect. We had to make sure that that was there too. So it was very meticulous. Sleepless nights. We had to go through several different hair suppliers and fiber suppliers actually to get someone that was willing to work with us. Wow, because that's the whole point. What we do is not something you just go to a book and say, oh, that's the face, that's the skin tone, that's the hair.
Speaker 2:It doesn't exist, because they're all unique, they're all authentic. We start from the ground up. So you have to have factory partners that are willing to take this risk and this journey with you. Have to have factory partners that are willing to take this risk in this journey with you. Thank goodness, we did find a factory partner that was willing to basically throw out the book of how hair texture should be, to work with us and to take lead from us and my team about creating the lock hair and the lock technology.
Speaker 1:And that's yeah, like you said, that's a challenge in itself. You know, like you said, finding a company that can get past what they've been used to doing and finding a company that's willing to take, you know, challenges and different outlooks on, you know different things. So I think that that was really powerful, that you found somebody. How long did it take, from the conception of somebody saying, hey, you know, we want you to make this doll, and you then presenting them with a actual like prototype?
Speaker 2:So with the first doll I ever was asked to make, which is a positively perfect doll the 14 inch and the 18 inch was the first one it took, and it still does, about a year and a half to do that. Wow, and that doll was what took so long. There is getting the face features in the hair, because there we did custom faces, custom skin tones. Those are one of a kind sculpts. You're not going to find them anywhere else in the world. So coming up with that took a lot of time and you got to remember I was a new dog.
Speaker 2:I know Right. So they're talking to me about tooling and tooling times. I'm like huh, what is that? What's that? What's a tool? I just I didn't know. So, again, I had to have factory partners that were willing to be patient with me as I learned.
Speaker 1:A year and a half. So does it take you a year and a half now to create a doll?
Speaker 2:If I'm starting from scratch, like yep, if I'm starting from a whole new sculpt, yes, from a whole new sculpt, yes, it still takes that amount of time. If I have an existing sculpt, an existing body, then all I'm doing is changing hair, skin tones and fashion. It does not take that long at all because we have so many skin tones in our arsenal. I guess I'll say that now we can kind of point to a book and say, oh, let's go with this skin tone for this doll.
Speaker 2:Let's go with that skin tone for that doll. But that's because we pre-mix, if you will, all these skin tones, so we have them now as a collection that we can pick, and so that shortens the amount of time, so you don't have to go and recreate something.
Speaker 1:You already have a basis now, a base for it, and if you want to make changes, you make it from that base before you have that I totally understand that. It was so funny. You were talking about skin tones and popped in my head. When I interviewed Byron Lars and he was doing his collection for Mattel I doll that had short blonde hair, natural hair, and his outfits were slamming I know right, Just leave it.
Speaker 2:Take your breath away.
Speaker 1:Just so beautiful. But I remember when he was talking on the show and he was saying, like one of his dolls, the darker skin doll, the very it's a really dark skin doll, and he was saying that there was no color like that at all. So he literally made that color, like he literally wind up making that color from a child because they had no nothing that was dark, you know. And so it made me think about that.
Speaker 2:When you were talking about mixing colors, you know, we think, and dolls have been in existence for decades, generations, right, but when you think about authentic dolls that look like us, you are one of the pioneers, you're one of the early part of doing that. So there's still so much room and so much growth. I mean, we talked about the skin tones, but the hair is the same way. We talked about, you know, patent pending to get the locks. Well, whether we're doing locks, or whether we're doing curls or braids or Afro puffs, you would think, oh, that's easy, just go to a magazine or go to a catalog and pick that texture. Nah, it's not easy Because, again, our hair is not only the curl pattern but it's the color and then the style that you want to do with it. All of those things are still revolutionary. They're not old by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 2:Right, they're not my team is constantly being innovative with, again, skin tones and hair, hair textures, hairstyles, because I know that in our community hair is so important, particularly the quality of it. I don't want a little girl to get a doll and after playing with it for three or four days the hair just tangles up and mats up and she can't get her fingers through it right, can't get her through it yeah, that does not promote the image of beauty right and brilliance, which is what we do.
Speaker 2:So we make sure that we're using the highest, highest quality fiber for the hair. All of our hair has very high, high quality, so that again they can play for for a long time right until they start cutting it. You know how we do as kids, we can't help that. But in terms of entangling and matting up our hair will not do.
Speaker 1:That's funny. You're cutting it. You know how we do. You know how we do.
Speaker 2:You know how we do as kids. We get the scissors. First thing you want to do is go cutting.
Speaker 1:I know right, but which is so funny, because you want to dab it long hair, but then you want to cut it up. It's hilarious, you know. But you taking time to understand the textures and the quality of hair, you know, it gives them opportunity to be able to just play with the hair any way that they want to. It comes out well, it's not tangled up. They don't have to throw away the doll because the hair is so badly done and so cheaply done, because sometimes that happens too. You put a lot of thought into that and that's a beautiful thing, because it is again another part of you, of your representation of the beauty of who we are.
Speaker 2:You just words right out of my mouth. I was going to say and every company has to be profitable. So I'm not trying to say that we're not concerned with profits because in order to stay in business and provide, a service we do have to be profitable, but we do not make decisions where money is over, overriding the benefit of our children.
Speaker 2:So the hair that we use is premium hair. It is very expensive hair, but we do it and we and we make more less money on our dolls than any of the other manufacturers because we're putting in better quality hair. But to me it's worth it because when that little girl or boy is playing with that hair and again they can glide their fingers through it, they can twist it up, they can braid it up, they can wash it and restyle it. Now they understand the value and the beauty of their unique hair texture. So it's worth us paying more for that, so that they have that self-esteem and self-love.
Speaker 1:Exactly. But that's your passion, that's your mission. You know what I'm saying. If it wasn't, then yeah, you'd be like I put whatever hair I want to do on it and it doesn't matter. But that's not your passion and that's not your mission. Like you said, you use more good quality stuff and maybe, yes, the profit may not be what it could be if you use cheaper stuff, but that's not what you're, that's not you, that's not what you do. Exactly, I'll tell you a story real quick.
Speaker 2:So when I first started the first line that I did the Positively Perfect Dolls I still was putting in quality hair. Again, I was still learning, so I didn't know all the different textures of quality of hair back then. I didn't, but I knew that I needed it to be luscious and curly and beautiful, and so I put time into that. Long story short, I flew over to China a few times to make sure the dolls were exactly as I wanted them the sculpts, the skin tone, the fashions, the hair, the ribbons, everything. And so I saw them. The factory assured me everything was fine. I said, oh yay go ahead and ship.
Speaker 2:So we were shipping to a major retailer and I got a call from the buyer a couple of days after they had shipped and he says Dr Lisa, and it's kind of like when your mama calls your name, you know if you've done something wrong just by the tone in their voice.
Speaker 2:So I can tell by the tone in his voice there was a problem. Yes, it tells me that basically the dolls left the port of China with a ribbon for their Afropa In route and in transit to the US. The dolls shake right, they shape in the ship and when they shook, the ribbon came loose and the hair fell and the factory, in effort to cut costs, left the dolls bald, so there was only hair around the perimeter and when that ribbon fell down, they left the dog bald. They left the dog bald Because I don't want to see it right by the time it got to the customer. It would only be when a child saw it, and a child may or may not think that's a big deal, you know, once they get in their hands right, yes, but they didn't pay attention or didn't factor in that the shipping of the ship right Was going to cause that hair to fall.
Speaker 2:And then that's when I got the big test, because this retailer, major retailer, called and said this is what happening. What do you want us to do? We can discount them, is what they told us. We can sell them at us. You know, on a sale. We can put them on the shelf because you know we could try to work with it or you could send someone here and try to correct it and I told them not the mission of the company.
Speaker 2:That's not the message I want to communicate to our little girls and that they should send them back, discard them, throw them away.
Speaker 1:Don't donate them.
Speaker 2:Literally throw them away. Right, because I didn't want any little girl to say, oh, we don't deserve better. Right, that's the whole reason I started this company so that they knew they did deserve better. And so it cost me significantly because I keep saying I had no money, so whose money was I using?
Speaker 1:Yours.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I was using money again. You asked me how did I do it? And that particular example I was using money out of equity out of credit cards, friends and family, and equity out of my home. That's what I was doing. So when I made that decision to have him to just throw all those dolls away, that wasn't an easy decision because it means financially I now couldn't pay my mortgage, my family back or my credit card. So it was a really dark time.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well, like you said, you know there was something in your soul that just said you had to do it. There's just no way that you could, Because you know, at the end of the day, you wanted your company to represent what you wanted your company to represent, and it wasn't going to do it any other way.
Speaker 2:Really, and you know it gets to a point where you have to go within your soul and know what is your life really about? Right, and for me, the legacy I want to leave is you can live your, you can do whatever you want to do. Again, you may not have money, you may not have endorsements, you may not have support, you may not have the education in this particular field that you want to go into, but if you've got passion, faith and you're willing to take that risk, life really will open up for you. So I am that example that it happens even through bankruptcies, through bad business deals, through bad business partners, et cetera, you can still thrive and survive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get. You have to believe in that. You really do have to dig down deep and believe in that because, there are times when it's just like I'm just going to give up, I mean because it feels so much easier. But you know, on the back end of that it's really not, it's really nothing.
Speaker 2:Because it makes life a little harder, I think because you're always going to say I didn't, I should have, I should. And that's what I didn't want. On my deathbed we all have that experience, right I want to say I did the best I could and I lived my life to the fullest. Not that I was so afraid of living that I was, in a way, dead before I died, you know, because if you're not living from your heart and living from your passion, there is a little bit of you that dies.
Speaker 1:It dies? Yeah, it really does. It really does you play it safe?
Speaker 2:So there's money in the bank and you're not worried about the house or whatever. But you're not worried about the house or whatever, but you're not alive and you're not living, and so what's you know? And again, I'm not telling everybody to go out and start a business and go bankrupt. I am not. Let me be really clear. I am not telling you to do that, but what I am saying is take what perceived to be a risk. Follow your heart and your passion. You will be surprised how things line up for your favor.
Speaker 1:I've got to talk about the fact that you not only expanded into, you know, creating characters and things like that, now you're into animation. I mean, look, I want to be like you when I grow up, dr Lisa, just so you know. So you're into animation. How did that start?
Speaker 2:The animation. It goes back to what we've been kind of the thread that's been running through our conversation, and that is you take a, you take a leap forward or a step forward, and the universe, god will, allah will come to your rescue. That's what happened. I didn't even really know I wanted an animated series. I knew that I loved animation as an adult and as a child, and my sister and I would run down in our pajamas on Saturday to watch the Jackson 5. So I knew the value and the importance of doing animation for characters. But again, I didn't have the money.
Speaker 2:I didn't have the experience, I don't know how to do animation, I know nothing about that, but as life would have it, I met this amazing person, carl Reed, and his company, composition Media, and they are Oscar winning animators. They won the Oscar for Hair Love.
Speaker 1:Incredibly talented.
Speaker 2:Yeah, matthew Cherry, his short film. They created that for him and they won the Oscar, so they're top notch and the fact that they wanted to work with us, I'm like you gotta be kidding. The answer is yes, let's do it. Let's do it. So we have, and it's been nothing but a delight to work with him, and that's the good thing about working with partners. I want to offer this piece of advice too Things may look good on paper, but really ask yourself is this someone you want to have dinner with, you want to have a conversation with? You want to just hang out, have a cup of tea and chat? If the answer is no, don't partner with them. Okay, that's good advice.
Speaker 2:I can tell you that from bad experience, because you know you start looking at balance sheet like oh, I can make so much money, we can do so much with this other partner, but again, if there's something about the two of you that isn't in alignment, maybe they're unethical, I don't know. But whatever it is, if you can't collaborate together, the partnership is going to be disastrous.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm glad you collaborated with them to create Fresh Beats.
Speaker 2:They are so amazing. They me, carl, and what his team has done, and I'm addicted to it too. The music that comes with it. And then the last episode is your favorite episode, and it was my debut as an animated character.
Speaker 1:Now you're animated as a cartoon character.
Speaker 2:It was fun.
Speaker 1:Super fun to do. That is so cool. Yeah, the universe conspires, you know what I mean to do things for us sometimes that we would not even had a vision for or even thought was possible.
Speaker 2:I don't even I didn't even have it on my wish list like oh, animation, I'd like to have that, lord.
Speaker 1:No, I didn't even know that was something that was possible so, out of all of those things that you do, um, how do you balance life in general? Because you, you know you were talking about some of the other things that you have going on and I said to you, oh my gosh, like how do you find the energy for that? I know it takes a team, but you still have to figure out your own life in all of that too.
Speaker 2:It's a great question.
Speaker 1:How does that work for you really?
Speaker 2:It still goes back to passion and priority. So passion, of course, is making sure the next generation is better than this current generation. So that's, that's the passion. Then priority, of course, is my family and my health and my own, as you say, self-care. Now, in total honesty, as I've always been in this interview, I've not always done that well. I'm not. I'm not always balanced it well. I'm not always done that well, I'm not. I'm not always balanced it well. And usually I take care of the company, the children, the husband, the family, all of that I do. But guess who you didn't hear mentioned in all of those people? You, I didn't take care of me. I got sick, and that's when I learned the value of self-care. We can't keep giving, giving, giving, giving, giving without pouring back into ourselves rest and peace and solitude. You have to have that. It's not a luxury, and I used to think work, work, work, work, work. And if I took off a few hours to take a nap, oh well, then you're being lazy, you should be keeping up, you ain't that tired.
Speaker 2:Get up, keep moving. But I recognized that that was not in my best interest. And for me to be here long period to continue to provide the dolls, the toys for the little girls and boys and to be a parent and to be a spouse, I have to take care of myself. It was a long lesson and a hard lesson that I had to get to take time for you. So now my day is very different than how it used to be. There was a time I literally would hop up in the morning, start to working right away. Sometimes I wouldn't Georgia, sometimes I wouldn't get out of my pajamas and I wouldn't get out. To be it. I'm like, look, I don't roll over, I got the laptop on my lap.
Speaker 2:That's how I did it, and I will work to the evening hours and the weekends, with just more time to work without being interrupted by me.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh, wow, and it eventually took a toll. Yeah, without a doubt it will shut me down. Yes, and it did.
Speaker 2:So now I understand the value of self-care. So now when I wake in the morning, the first thing I do is my prayers and meditation. Then, if I have a really good, if I get up early enough, I literally go to a two hour silent meditation where I sit in complete silence, just complete silence, just letting God speak to me for direction. Then after I leave there, I go and I work out for like an hour, maybe two hours. Then I come back, take a quick shower and start my day. Now, if you had talked to me a year or two ago, I would have said the getting up meditating for two hours, the going to the gym for an hour or two, that's a waste of time. You can cut that out. Get straight to the men's meeting. But again, that's things like your blood pressure starts rising, your heart starts doing crazy floppy things and the doctor's looking at you a little side eye about your heart. You're like okay, I think I need to change some things here yes, yes, you don't want to be taking like 50 pills.
Speaker 1:You know like you don't want to be doing that, exactly, exactly, wow, I can't. You said ask me a year ago. I'd have been like that's a waste of time you can pray during the day, between meetings.
Speaker 2:you pray, but you need to get to work. That is literally how I talk to myself, and I believe that that was the way to success. It had fueled me for so long right, not only as a doll entrepreneur, but getting through my PhD, getting the first position, getting promoted to the highest ranking professor. I worked myself into oblivion, really. I just kept working, working and I thought that was the formula.
Speaker 2:Wow, and everybody tells you that work until you drop is the formula for success yes, I am here to tell you work until you drop means you will drop I was lucky that when I dropped, I could be picked up, but sometimes if you work yourself too, hard, you drop, and you know that's true, and then there's no work.
Speaker 1:So there you go. After all that, you know what I mean. So your journey from you sitting down seeing that story to where you're at now. What is the one thing that makes you the most happiest about that journey?
Speaker 2:That's an easy one. I'm about to cry about it. That's easy. It's not what you might think Meaning.
Speaker 2:While I am so appreciative of the Toy of the Year Award, I'm appreciative of being a Wonder Woman Award, I'm appreciative of being a momentum maker out of all the being on you know, the Tamron Hall Show, meeting Gayle King, giving Gayle and Oprah, all of that were wonderful, life-changing events that I will be forever grateful for. But still and that's why I'm about to cry, but still, the thing that gives me the most joy is when I see a little girl or a little boy playing with our doll, loving that doll and telling their mom, aunt, grandma how much they love that doll and it looks like them. When I get stories that people tell me that my daughter would not leave her doll, she takes her doll to Sunday school and to regular school. That one parent told me that her daughter took the doll to school and they're not allowed to bring toys to school. She was so addicted to her doll that she wouldn't be separated from girl to school, had to make a rule change, allow her to uh, to bring her dolls to class.
Speaker 1:those are the, those are the things that just yeah, yeah, just feel your soul, and I think that's great, I think that's beautiful.
Speaker 1:You and your team have done amazing and beautiful work in the doll space and in the toy space and in the industry, and I'm proud to know you. I'm blessed to know you as a person. I'm blessed to know you as a person. I'm blessed to know you as a beautiful dollpreneur doing amazing things out there and creating dolls that are there to represent the beauty in all of us, and I just want to thank you so much for what you do and what your team does, and they bring amazing things to your company. And I want to thank them too because, like you said, without them and without you working together, you know, you just really wouldn't be where you're at, and I think it's a testament to the passion that you share with them and the passion that they have for helping you to bring your you know, your ideas to life. So, yeah, thank you so much for being in the doll world, thank you so much for being an amazing dollpreneur that you are. Really do appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Oh, that means the world to me. I thank you and I will share all of that with the team. They are an amazing team and you know they're so good that people think that we have the same size of, like the major doll companies, right, like I love and respect every doll company that's out there. But we are not Mattel, right, and we are not MGA right. We, we are not. We are nowhere near the size of those companies.
Speaker 2:Yes, you see our product on the shelf, the same shelf and the same retailers. So sometimes people think, oh, they're a big company. I think we're, by count, I think there's maybe seven of us or eight of us, and that is it. So the same number of the same functions that have to been done by Mattel is the same things we have to do Safety standards, packaging, marketing, meeting with buyers, meeting with, with factories flying across the world. All of that insurance, liability, all of that that Mattel has to do. We have to do it too, but instead of of having hundreds of thousand employees located around the world, we do it with seven or eight people on a limited budget. But we're so passionate about.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is so crazy. Just to think, seven to eight people, that is like it's a lot of work and that's what I, you know, I really, and that's why I love people coming on the show talking about what they do, because I, I want people to know that yes is, it's a passion and you can create a doll, and but the amount of work that goes into that, you know it's not just, oh, let me put a doll on the shelf. So many things go into that because you know people will be like oh, you should make this doll, well, you should make this doll look like this, you should. And it's just like, well, it just doesn't work like that. So many things.
Speaker 2:Well, I tell you, georgia, that's because you did it so well, you made it look easy, but it's not easy.
Speaker 1:It's not easy, you know, like you said, just thinking of the face and the hair. Well, you know, the makeup, the's, yeah, it's a whole thing. It really is a whole thing.
Speaker 2:It's a thing, it's a thing, it really is a thing.
Speaker 1:Please share with everybody where they can find all your amazing dolls and all the things that are happening for you and your company.
Speaker 2:Well, you can go to our website, the Fresh Dolls. You can also follow us on Instagram, the Fresh Dolls, or Fresh Dolls. We're also on Facebook and you can watch our animation or cartoon series on YouTube and all the music. I wanted to make sure that every song was inspirational and positive, and it is. If you listen to the lyrics, it's all inspirational and kids feel that, and you can also see when you watch kids listen to their dance and their movement.
Speaker 1:Because the music is so infectious. Yeah, that's so cool. I love it. Okay, one last word. What do you would like to share with the up and coming dollpreneur you know that says, oh, I really want to create a doll. What would be one thing that you could share with them about becoming a dollpreneur?
Speaker 2:Beautiful question, number. One thing I would ask them why? Why do you want to do it? And if it's anything less than I want to make the world a better place, I want to empower children, if it's any well, I want to make a lot of money, or I want to be known for this, or I want some fame or any of those things.
Speaker 2:Do something else, Because it's so hard it is so incredibly hard to do it, that you have to do it for a higher calling. Like I said, you have to do it beyond what you think you're capable of doing. So once they articulate why and the why is not about them, the why is about someone else. It's about community, it's about children, it's about empowerment, it's about self-love, whatever your why is then follow that and to what you just said, georgette, there are going to be mornings that are so hard You're not going to want to get out of bed. I know there are days I've gone to sleep at night and said, lord, I'm done, I've given all I got, I'm tired, I have no money, I have no more avenues, but what I can do, I can't go to no knock on, no out on exhausted friends, I'm done.
Speaker 1:And I go to bed with that truth. I mean, that is my truth, I'm done. It's over Tomorrow.
Speaker 2:I'm going to call the major retailers and say, hey, we're not shipping. So but then, and this happened, I'm telling this as a true story and I told my mom, I called my mom who's now? 95.
Speaker 2:I said oh I quit, I'm done, I can't do it anymore. I've given all I can't, I can't give it. And she said go to sleep and sleep on it and see what God tells you in the morning. And I'm like, ok, I can, but my mom show, I'm clear, I'm very clear, I'm done. And that morning I woke up and a friend called me and said you know, I think because I had told another friend like hey, how do I? Because here's my thought I was out of the business, I was clear, I was done, I was hanging up my hat. But I didn't want to make it bad for the next entrepreneur coming behind me. So I called this friend of mine who has connection with a major retailer he actually used to work with one and I said to him I'm out, I'm done, but I don't want to make it bad so that when the next person comes to Walmart or Target or Macy's, that they'll say, oh, we don't want to work with you because we worked with Dr Lisa five years ago and she didn't deliver and I didn't want to leave that legacy for the next company coming behind me. So that morning when I woke up he called and he says I have a solution for you and I met a new factory and we kept moving, and we continue to this day. So those are the things that happens.
Speaker 2:I talk about passion, which is important. You also have to surrender At some point. You do all you can do and then you literally say, lord, it's yours Again. Lord, allah, god, whatever you know, universe, whatever you call it, I'm done, I give this to you, I've given it my all, I'm completely done here. When you do that and literally, your mind, your heart, you walk the way, not that you've given up on your passion, but you're just like I can't. I've done it all and there's nothing else for me to do, for me to do. It's amazing, then, what the universe comes and what you think were scraps and what you thought were dead ends. God comes and extends that road to that dead end and takes those scraps and make a luscious meal out of it, because we're talking about infinite power. So true and I also want to add this piece of advice also is for the entrepreneur, or any entrepreneur that has a passion to do something, like I said, know your why that's important and then follow your passion and then know the power of faith and surrender that is incredibly important and also lean on that meaning, lean on your surrender, lean on that infinite power. Don't lean on your own mentality, your own ability to think it through, because you're going to have problems that you cannot figure out. It's not meant for you to figure out. It's meant for you to let go and surrender and then again it gets uplifted into a powerful place that you didn't know.
Speaker 2:I think sometimes what so many of us do that I've watched is that we're still, we're out here in a passion, is that we're still we're out here in a passion, but we're looking for somebody out here to help us. Like, oh, maybe that company or maybe this person, or maybe the person you're looking for is you. There is no one that's going to rescue you. I wish I could tell you oh, just find that right person. They're going to. No, they're not. But what will happen? As you keep moving along, you will grow and expand and attract the people that are going to take you to the next level.
Speaker 2:But you're never going to find a savior. That person doesn't exist. That person is you. But there will be people come along the way that will support you in your vision and in your dream and in your passion.
Speaker 1:Nothing else to say, Dr Lisa.
Speaker 2:Thank you for allowing people like myself to speak and to speak our truth and to have this platform. It is so important and I just want to say that because of what you are doing and you're giving people a voice and a way to empower others and, as I said, I stand on your shoulders in regards to that. I stand on your shoulders in another area, too, because I am starting a podcast, not in the dog community, but I am starting a podcast for those who have a passion about doing something and don't know how to do it. It's like you have a passion, but what do you do with that? And, in addition, what if you're over 35?
Speaker 2:So people are telling you oh you're too old to start a new path. You know, listen, you got a mortgage, you got a kid, you got a husband or a spouse. Just keep doing what you're doing. Maybe when the kids grow up and go to college, then you can start living your dream. What I want to share on my podcast is that's not true, that you can live your dreams and live your passion at any age, and actually post 30, post 35 is the ideal time to do your second career.
Speaker 2:I didn't start doing the dolls until I was well over 35. That's when I started, and now I'm doing a podcast. You asked me about self-care. I am starting a skincare line, again for mature people of color. Yes, because I know that self-care is so important and, as I said before, I didn't take care of myself. Now I do a lot of things. I exercise and, like I said, I do a lot of meditation, but I'm also very concerned about health and diet and my skin, and so I have created a skincare line called Fresh Traditions. Notice the fresh, so cool. The reason why it's called Fresh Tradition is because it's really based on the traditions that my mother, grandmother and aunt passed down to me, and so I took all of those traditions that they gave, all the self-care that they told me to do for my skin, and I added a fresh, scientific approach to it, and that's why it's called Fresh Tradition.
Speaker 1:Nice. Oh, I love the title. That is so great.
Speaker 2:I'm having so much fun with it.
Speaker 1:I really am, I'm so excited.
Speaker 2:I'm just having so much fun. I have to send you some.
Speaker 1:Yes, please do. My mailbox is open, my mailbox is receiving. Yeah, so I mean but that's what I'm saying you open up yourself to become so much more well-rounded from all the things that you have learned, and now you're at a space now where you want to share all those things, so you can kind of walk hand in hand with people to help them along in different areas of their life, between what you do in the doll space, with your new podcast, and also with your skincare, so, and you're passionate about all of them, and that's a beautiful thing, it's all about leaving the world a better place.
Speaker 1:It really is.
Speaker 2:At a certain point in your life, a certain age in your life, you think, okay, I've had a good life, god has blessed me. Now I want to give back. I don't want this to be as hard for the next generation coming forward as it was for me. It shouldn't be right. I should lay down, like you did for me. Being a pioneer in the doll industry, you laid the foundation. So then when I came, I again stood on your shoulders. Were those coming after you and me? They should be standing on our shoulders. They shouldn't have the same challenges, hardships that we did, because we should lay that pathway a little smoother for them. So now I am measuring my success on my legacy Like am I making the world a better place for the next generation?
Speaker 2:Generation of children, generation of entrepreneurs. Am I making it? And that's when I will decide the success of my life. It will not be based upon how many millions the company made. It will not be based on the kind of car that I drive? It just will not. It will be made. Did you make a difference in this life experience? Did you help somebody? Did you leave a legacy that somebody else can now pick up and move forward? If the answer to those questions is yes, then I've had a life well lived.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love the fact that you said you'll decide your legacy. That's just so powerful. Again, putting the power in your own hands to create the thing that you really want to create. So no matter what the obstacles are, and you are a true testament to that. So thank you so much for that. Thank you Appreciate that. Thank you for being on the Dauphinor podcast.
Speaker 2:I appreciate your time Absolutely my pleasure and my joy. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:You're so welcome love. Thank you, guys, so much for listening. Until next week, have a doll fabulous day. Bye, guys. Thank you so much for joining us at the Dollpreneur podcast. We really hope you enjoyed the episode and feel inspired by our amazing guests, as well as learn something new about the creative people within the doll community. So don't forget to visit our website at wwwthedollpreneurpodcastcom for more content and please, we would love for you to stay connected to us, so please subscribe to the Dollpreneur Podcast newsletter, youtube channel, instagram and Facebook pages, and they can all be found at the website, wwwthedollpreneurpodcastcom. Thank you again for listening to the Dollpreneur Podcast and until next time, have a doll fabulous day.
