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#152: Why This Mission-Driven Doll Line Offers 100+ Custom Skin Tones with Dr. Lisa Williams
Making It in The Toy Industry with The Toy Coach
English - November 23, 2022 10:00 - 39 minutes - 26.9 MB - ★★★★★ - 32 ratingsDesign Arts Business Entrepreneurship toy industry how to design a toy how to make a toy toy design fit toy design make my own dolls entrepreneur small business Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
It is a myth that toys are shallow or don’t make an impact on kids. Today’s guest was inspired to leave a tenured position as the top professor in her field to create a meaningful line of dolls. Listen to today’s episode to discover what inspired her and how she made it happen.
Dr. Lisa Williams started off her career as the first black person to receive a doctorate in logistics from The Ohio State University. She became the top professor in her field, had a tenured position, and even had a multimillion-dollar endowed chair dedicated to her position that she could use for research, students, or studies. However, one day she saw a little girl interviewed in a study about dolls and race that changed her life forever.
After seeing the interview, Dr. Lisa Williams was inspired to create a line of racially diverse dolls with custom-blended skin tones. Since she didn’t have a background in the toy industry, she came up with her own methods of developing realistic skin tones for a variety of shades. Today, her brands The Fresh Dolls, The Fresh Squad, Positively Perfect, and the new Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dolls, are featured in Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s, and more.
In today’s episode, you will learn which role models inspired Dr. Lisa Williams, the unique way she created the custom blended skin tones for her dolls, how she found her way in the toy industry with a background in academia, and more.
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For the links and resources mentioned in this episode, head over to the episode page at www.thetoycoach.com/152
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