May 29, 2024 • 32 mins
Your mom most likely did NOT have a doll that looked like her, you may not have even had a doll that that looked like you, BUT your kids CAN! Meet Joey Dolls and owner Samantha as she takes us along her journey from having a vision and turning that into a company that is producing authentic and quality driven Asian inspired dolls that bring joy to families. She accomplished her goal, without a marketing degree or even any knowledge of how to make a doll! Her dolls include various Asian cultures and have already created a space for representation that allows children and even mothers and grandmothers the opportunity to feel seen and included. The launch of Joey Dolls featuring dolls that are Vietnamese, Filipina, Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Korean is just the beginning and they are already a part of some families long-lasting memories! Listen in and learn more at JoeyDolls.com or visit them @JoeyDolls on IG!"
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
This Mama Got Drama back for anotherepisode. I am your host, Lady
Ray. Our co host Drina Gonzalezwill be back with us for our next
episode. But we have a lovelyguest today who I'm so excited to talk
to you because there's so much thatwe got to dive in with this conversation.
Joining us today is founder creator MomExtraordinaire. Let's make some noise for
(00:23):
Samantha from Joey Dolls. Yay,thank you for coming on. How are
you doing today? I'm great?Thank you? How about you? I'm
good, I'm good. I'm excited. We're kicking off a fresh new episode,
which means that we always get totalk about something new that our babies
are doing. I mean, welike to kick it off that way because
(00:45):
you know, whether you've got aadult baby or you know, you've got
a new baby, there's always somethingnew in this thing we call Mamahood.
Is there anything new going on withyou? Oh? Just mainly just ye
just you know, working away withthe business, you know, like with
my two kids also at home,so it's just like juggling everything. It's
(01:06):
just it's just trying to manage reallyand it's It's interesting because you know,
you have two kids, but yourcompany is like your baby also, right,
Like you're exactly having to nurture it. You're creating it basically, and
all of the all of the things, right. I know. Over in
my house, we just celebrated abirthday. So my son just turned six,
(01:30):
and the new thing is my daughteris consistently uh announcing it to every
and anyone that comes in our pathwaythat he just celebrated a birthday. So
that's been fun and exciting. Butlet's jump in and learn more about Joey
Dolls for folks that don't know.Give them a little bit of information about
what Joey Dolls is, the importanceof it. I mean, there's so
(01:51):
much, right yeah. So Ireally started the business during the pandemic,
like with the rise of anti Asianhate. Actually I was a winning photographer
well like and during the pandemic,I actually lost like all my income for
about two years, and so Iwas really like left, you know,
at home with my daughter. Andso I was actually just recently a new
(02:13):
mom. She was like just turningone and around that time. But even
like struggling with that identity of likebeing a new mom, and then also
losing my entire business during the pandemic. Just I struggled with that so much.
And so I was just like sittingat home watching the news unfold,
watching the rise of anti agent hate, and it's like what can I do?
(02:36):
But also I just like, youknow, when you become a new
when you become a mom, youkind of relive your childhood like tough your
child like you kind of think likeI don't want them to experience the same
things that I did. And soI'm watching what I'm seeing, and like
I had this feeling of, youknow, the splashbacks of like shame of
(02:58):
being Asian or like wanting to besomeone else, like you know, so
I'm worried about how I look andI don't want that for my daughter.
And so you know, of coursewe're at home, we're alone, and
so I'm thinking I want her tofeel proud of who she is and how
she looks. And so of coursewe're at alone at home. So I'm
(03:19):
thinking I'm going going to find hersome dolls that she could feel comforted with,
and I'm struck by like how difficultit still is to find dolls that
are like playful and joyful, andthat looks like her, and that also
just like celebrates like mixed Asian identitybecause of course we like fall under this
broad label of being Asian, Butdoes that really like encompass the beauty and
(03:46):
that diversity and that rich tapestry oflike of Asia. And I think it's
such a broad label that it oftenwe get kind of like lumped into this
one big group and that all ourstories don't really get get told. So,
you know, she was turning one, and I remember wanting to put
her in like I'm Chinese Malaysian andmy husband's Korean, so we were going
(04:10):
to put her in both like thoseoutfits. And I was just thinking,
well, if we do this withour children, why don't we do it
through our dolls? And I wanther to see that through her dolls.
And that's all that whole idea cameabout. And it took me a long
time to bring to life because Ireally am just a mom. I don't
have any like, I don't haveany funding. I really brutstrapped this entire
(04:33):
company, especially during the pandemic.I didn't have a lot of money,
I didn't have income coming in,I didn't have income to like fund this
new project. So I was reallystruggling with trying to do everything on a
shoestring budget, trying to diy things, trying to figure out I don't have
expertise in like like selling products,making products. All of that was completely
(04:58):
new to me, and so Ijust took it once set of a time.
And of course my daughter was athome the whole time, so I
could only work when she was asleep, and she wasn't a good sleeper.
I will say, oh, Icould hardly hardly get anything done. But
yeah, I just made it mypassion. Like it was like I just
really wanted it. I made itmy mission. Really, it was became
(05:21):
a passionate and I really made mymission to bring these dolls to life because
I just realized how important it is, Like if she if I wanted this
for my daughter, I'm sure thatthere was many other families out there that
would want the same thing. Andlike I was just so struck by that
it hadn't been done before, right, Right, And the cool thing is,
(05:42):
like you said, it's not aboutjust grouping us in this one category
of Asian, Right, I reallylike the fact that you've got you've got
everyone included. I mean you've gota Vietnamese doll, you've got a Filipina
doll, you've got a Chinese doll, Korean doll, Japanese doll, and
Indian doll. I mean it's reallycool that you've got all this inclusion in
your dolls. And then you evenhave, you know, shirts that say
(06:05):
proudly Asian, Proud to be aVitnamese baby. I mean, all of
these things right, that we didn'tgrow up with, right, and to
have a doll that looks like you, that is celebrating the culture and wearing
cultural clothing, I mean, allof that goes into it too. Why
do you feel like it's so importantfor us to even see ourselves represented when
(06:27):
when it's playtime? Yeah, Ijust reflect upon my own experience thinking,
you know, when I was younger, I used to play with blonde dolls
because that's all that was out there. I just you know, of course
on TV, that's all you see, and so you just have this like
you grow even though it's not toldexplicitly to you, you grow up with
this feeling that, of course,if you're not on TV, you're not
shown in your playtime you're not like, you're not worthy, You're you're meant
(06:51):
to be on the sidelines. You'renot meant to be anybody like of value.
I would say, So I reallygrew up thinking that that I was
just meant to be on the sidelines. I wasn't good enough. I remember
looking at my child, like myclassmates, thinking they're so pretty and they're
so lucky to be gone that way. And of course, like all of
(07:14):
those things are learned from you know, childhood. So I think if we
can try to foster that sense ofpride and you know, and you know,
posititivity about you know, your yourheritage, I think there is so
much that we can instill in childrenabout like inclusion and like diversity and like
(07:39):
and celebrating our differences instead of thinkingthat they're bad. Yeah, I mean,
I think you said, you saidall the important things right of wanting
to celebrate your heritage, your culture. Feeling a sense of pride is so
important and instilling that at a youngage really helps to create that foundation for
confidence. And you know, justthe educational piece there is so vital,
(08:03):
right, and so when we thinkabout this idea of like inclusion and diversity,
our moms didn't get that right,Like our moms didn't get access to
this idea of like you're included,you're represented. I mean, do you
think that your mom or my mom, even who's Filipino, Like, do
you feel like they would see themselvesin these dolls? Yeah? So,
(08:26):
you know, I've gotten so manystories of people that not only buy them
for their children, but they've boughtthem for themselves, for their loved child
and their healing, and that they'vealso bought them for their lola and they're
like their grandma. So and liketo hear the stories that you know,
what we received like that you know, tears of happiness and like that healing
(08:52):
of like oh my gosh, likethis is what I would have wanted as
a child, or like you know, I've had stories of when the the
child receives the doll, they're like, oh my god, like they actually
say grandma. Yeah. They lookat the doll and they know that's Grandma.
Oh Ma. And so I thinkthat's such a narrative shift that we
(09:13):
haven't had before, like to lookat something and really identify. So I
think like these dolls aren't just forchildren. I hope that they offer entire
families that can really enjoy. Andthis is why I also created the dolls
with such happy faces, because theywanted to really just spread joy, especially
(09:33):
with all that's going on in theworld. I just wanted children or families
to receive the dolls and feel thatjoy in celebrating our heritage. I love
it. I love it. Likeyou said, it's those moments, right
that you're creating with your family,They really just resonate. And the other
thing too, is you know youtalked about it earlier, having a relatively
(09:56):
newborn baby. You know, youhad little to no income coming in and
you're trying to create this vision,right, Like, you have this vision,
this idea and seeing that there's aneed for it. I mean,
what are the obstacles that you cameup against. I mean we already talked
about the fact that sleep deperration wasone of them, right, because you
had a baby that had a hardtime sleeping through the night, and those
(10:20):
are the only times as new momsthat we can actually work is when the
baby is asleep. So what weresome of the obstacles on this journey that
you that you faced. Yeah,so it's definitely bad, especially Yeah,
definitely the funding, like not knowingwhere to go, like where to find
that information. That was like scouringthe internet trying to find resources even like
I don't know even I don't knowanything about sewing or facton. Wow.
(10:45):
Everything was a complete learning curve.So I was like literally borrowing books from
the library, and of course duringthe pandemic the library was closed. Yeah,
I had to like find ways toget the books at like put them
on whold and like go get them. And and so I would like borrow
book like find like resources online likehow to make dolls, and like even
(11:07):
just doing in like Facebook groups andasking questions. So there was just like
so much involved, but also likelearning the toys, safety and all of
that. And so initially I hadthis like great idea of like wanting to
do you know it sustainably and locallyand all of that, but of course
I had so much trouble finding justeven fabrics that would represent like different skin
(11:30):
tones, because it was so importantfor me to like show those Like at
the very beginning, I was told, why don't you just start with one
doll and like master that birth,And I was just like no, Like
I had this like vision for atleast six dolls, because I really wanted
to make a statement about, youknow, the diversity of skin tones,
(11:52):
the diversity of cultures within Asia,and I'm really wanted to like have at
least six to like make a statementto show how beautiful and diverse, you
know, Asian community is, andwith just one doll, like, I
don't feel like I could really dothat. And so that was my whole
Like, I struggled so much,like finding the right fabrics, and I
(12:13):
was I couldn't believe how difficult itwas to just find like, you know,
different shades of beige or different shadesof brown. And so it ended
up that I had to go overseas, and because because I had to find
more fabrics and more availability, andespecially with the cultural clothing, I really
(12:33):
wanted it to be as accurate aspossible and so and I also wanted to
be a great quality, and soI just didn't have that variety of supplies
locally, and that's when I hadto go overseas. And then of course,
when you're dealing with overseas, Idon't know, I can't like visit
the facility in person, and sothere was a lot of working like late
(12:56):
nights to try and like meet thetime zones and trying and you know getting
them shipped over with like the shippingbeing taken forever during that time all of
that. So so it was that'swhy I just took so long and just
trying to find I went through threedifferent manufacturers. I was so I was
(13:18):
so particular about the quality. Andthen even when we did go into production,
I did, like I did threeseparate inspections just because I really wanted
to make sure that quality was consistentand you know passing my line standards.
I felt like I was such aperfectionist. Uh So I really just wanted
(13:39):
that. The reason why I wasso you know, committed to all of
these things is that I really wantedthem when someone receives adult that they feel
that sense of pride and that likelove and care that was put into one
doll. Each of our dolls arehandmade, so you know all that time
that went into the doll. SoI didn't want like just to get any
(14:03):
old doll like that was just kindof put together right, right, someone
that when they do receive the doll, like go wow, like I'm so
proud to have this doll in familyand be able to show that to others.
And I think that's part is soimportant because that's the whole part of
you know, being proud to shareourselves and of who we are, and
(14:28):
I impress that freely. Yeah,I mean, I'm hearing the fact that
you know, you stay dedicated.You you took every opportunity to connect with
people and to learn and to justeducate yourself on the whole spectrum of things,
right, whether it was like sewingthe dolls, fighting materials. I
mean, that takes dedication and reallyjust a drive to see your vision become
(14:52):
a reality. I mean, doyou think there was anything that was like
really pivotable, pivotal for you interms of breaking through some of these obstacles.
Yeah. So one thing that Iwas worried about was that cultural accuracy
piece. And so of course Iwas like doing a lot of research,
(15:13):
borrowing books from the library and allof that, but I still like struggled,
like is this the right thing?And so I can always guess and
all of that and like ask likeparticular people, but you know, there's
nothing better than asking a community ofpeople. And so that's where I really
went online. I started to developlike a following, and I really put
(15:35):
it back to my followers and supportersand like to put out like what do
you want to see? What doyou think? And even like vote on
the name, Like I really withthe name, I'm just something as small
as you think, you know,the name of the doll. I wanted
that to really be meaningful to people. Yeah, really was. It was
(15:56):
such a significant part of our process, and so we put it out there
like suggest names to us, whatdoes that mean? And then like I
really took it upon like to makelike corrections, like even with like the
Philippiniana dress with the shoulder piece,like we had it what I thought was
correct, and then I had afeedback and like, actually this part shouldn't
(16:18):
be pleaded at the bottom of thesleeve shouldn't be pleased. So I went
back to production and we did itcompletely all over again, and like all
of that like required like deconstructing itand recreating it again. So there was
like so many prototypes of the dolls, and it really did come through this
like entire process, like this wholejourney of like what the dolls were initially
(16:41):
from the initial concept to the likefinal concept that we finally were able to
finalize and so I'm really happy thatI did that because it allowed people to
to feel part of our journey.But also I could get the feedback from
people and know that that that's whatwas right, Like that was accurate.
(17:04):
Yeah, because I didn't want tobe like pretending that I knew that.
I didn't want to like misrepresent anyone. I just wanted people to just really
feel proubitful of like that these doltsrepresented their heritage. And it's it's obvious
(17:25):
right that you took the time toput the carring. You took the time
to pay attention to the small detailsthat really mean a lot to people.
And I think, you know,one of the things that can be scary
for someone who's taking on a projectlike this is to be as on point
as possible, right because there aregonna be millions of people looking and you
(17:48):
know the fact that you took yourtime, did your research and even employed
like a whole host of people showshow much you care about this product.
And as you you know, havebeen able to take it from paper and
make it into a real doll andthen actually have kids play with it.
I mean, were there points therewhere you were like, yeah, this
(18:10):
is this is like I don't knowif this is really gonna happen, Like
how do you pull yourself through thosemoments? Yeah, when I was going
through my second manufacturer, I thought, Okay, finally I found a manufacturer
that was able to produce the differentskin tones because and the first manufacturer couldn't
do the different skin tones. Andso when I found the second, I
(18:32):
was like, yes, like Icould. I'm finally gonna produce these dolls.
And then when I finally like wewere designing them all and then I
finally received them in person, Iwas like, oh, man, like
this is not the quality I wasexpecting. Wow. And then then I
was just like I've spent like nearlytwo years on this, and I was
like I can't fathom like bringing thesedolls out to the public while they have
(18:56):
my concept in mind, like theylook kind of like how I want it,
but when I feel them, it'sjust like I didn't feel like that
was like that wasn't it for me? So and I was just like,
oh gosh, like can I dothis? Like should I just give up
now? And that's when I actuallyconnected with a Gale Wade she's like a
(19:18):
like a toy industry extra. Shelike took coaches like other toy entrepreneurs on
you know, starting their own toyjourney. So she really encouraged me to
like keep going, like no,I gotta keep going and bring this like
there's nothing out there like this,and that I have a market for this,
like this is what people are wanting, and like I can do this.
(19:41):
I can. All I have todo is fine an manufacture, like
just summon all your energy. Andso as much as I felt so defeated,
like I just had to keep goingback to my why and like yes,
like of course I felt completely defbut there were like so many people
(20:03):
following me at that point, andI just knew that I wanted to do
this for the community, like II of course I wanted to do this
for my children, but I justknew that there was like such a need
out there, and so yeah,I had to I'm in all my energy
to like go find a new manufacturer, and like it felt like I was
(20:25):
restarting everything from scratch. But atthe same time, I had still come
to like such a long journey,like such a such a learning her up
until that point, so I wasable to go through that process a lot
faster, even though it was startingfrom scratch right and then and then finally
bringing them to life. So thatI think was such a pivotal point for
(20:48):
me that I just really at thatpoint thought I couldn't do it, And
you did it. You pushed throughand you know, like you said,
summoning all that energy takes a lot, right because you're you're thinking about like
all of the time, tears,but sweat whatever you want calling right that
you're putting in this and then youfactor in that you're a mom like you
(21:10):
you you don't you don't just likecall in sick, like you have to
be there, right, And soyou know, we talked a little bit
earlier about you know, juggling timeto work, juggling you know, your
own self care, right, buthow do you how do you structure you
know, launching this business, havingto travel overseas with with being a full
(21:34):
time mom, Like, how doyou how do you find the structure there?
Yeah, it was tricky. Ithink it was such a low point
for me at that time because Ithink it coincided with me finally when was
it. Uh, yeah, soI gave but I think it was like
I gave but my second child likeshortly before that, so of course you've
gone through those stages of postpotum andlike I remember, because yeah, I
(22:00):
gave birth to her in November,and like around December was when I received
those dolls, and I was justlike I don't know if I can do
this, like too much, likeit's too overwhelming. My youngest my eldest
daughter was two and a half,so like it just felt like I really
had two babies plus this business.And then I still was managing, of
(22:21):
course my photography business, which isthe one that was still like you know
bringing in some money, like notlike a whole lot of money, but
you know, at least some forme to sustain. And so yeah,
it was a lot to handle.Really just leaning on my husband like to
really like he was like I couldnot have done it without him, Like
(22:44):
he really took the time of workto help me and see like this through,
like he really wanted me to makethis happen. Actually it wasn't actually
his idea because when I was lookingfor dolls, I kept complaining to him
like I can't find dolls. Ican't believe how hard it is to find
(23:04):
dolts. And he's just like,well, if you can't find it,
why do not you just make it? So yeah, you're right, I
guess it could make it right,right, Yeah, I hadn't thought about
it, and he just like cameup with this like brand new idea and
(23:25):
like it really challenged me and andlike, I think, being such a
team together, and of course itwas just like chaos that whole like even
even till now it's still chaos.But being a team together is such such
an important thing to be able tolike, hey, you take this,
(23:45):
I'll take this on. Otherwise youcould just like yeah, completely lose yourself
in in everything. Yeah, Ican see that. I could see that.
I mean if there if there's amom listening and you know she's she's
got this idea, she just needsto like I mean figure out how to
(24:06):
make that leap right. I meanit's scary you think about. You know,
I have this great idea, Iknow how to execute it. I
just I don't have the funding orI don't have like I have no formal
training in this particular industry. ButI do want to, you know,
start a business or put together aproduct, like what would you what words
of wisdom or gems would you giveto that mom m? I think like
(24:30):
really believing in your why. AndI even like went back to this so
many times, like as long asyou have like a solid why, then
it will propel you to keep going. And that's when like, if you
really believe in it and you knowthat it's going to make a difference for
(24:51):
so many people, That's how Ithought about it. Then I knew I
had to keep going, and soI like some like yeah, all those
resources that I could to make ithappen, and like, you know,
I kept looking at my children,like if I want this for my children,
(25:12):
then like it is important. It'sit's so important, and so yeah,
I just I, I I guesskept going back to that and knowing
like that I was going to makea difference for people that like it was
(25:32):
significant that for me to like,I just made it my whole mission to
be able to do that, andI, yeah, I don't know what
else to say about that, butother than just going back to it because
it was such such a that's that'sjust has been kept keepping me going,
Yeah, no, that's I thinkthat that alone is huge because once you
identify that. Like you said,it definitely gives you the energy, it
(25:57):
propels you, it keeps you kindof on a particular path, and everything
kind of falls right into place asyou need it. So, I mean,
I think the one thing that mostof us working moms struggle with is
this idea of self care, rightbecause we know how to pour into others,
(26:18):
we know how to pour into ourchildren, pour into our you know,
our mission and our ideas. Butthen it's like, wait a minute,
Like none of that can happen ifwe're not taking care of ourselves.
Do you feel like you've you've kindof figured it out, or do you
feel like it's something in work inprogress. It's definitely a work in progress.
I think sometime during the pandemic,I remember just feeling so overwhelmed and
(26:45):
I finally like took the like someof the guts to reach out to like
a therapist, And it was likethe best decision ever, and not only
just doing it for myself, butI also encouraged my husband to do it,
and so we use the same companythat cater to parents, but especially
(27:06):
new parents, but of course wehave our own therapists. And I think
that was such a critical step forus because as we've been coming into like
this new identity of being new parentsand juggling everything work and family, everything,
and you know, taking on sucha big like project like this where
there's so much stress and like riskinvolved financially and time and everything, and
(27:33):
then you know you've got you know, handling the managing the two kids.
Like there's there's going to be timeswhere you know you don't agree on things,
or you know you think you feellike you're going crazy or right.
And so I think for us tobe able to like talk about things to
someone else and then be able totry, Like for myself, I definitely
(27:57):
don't do enough self care. Actually, with all that I feel like I
have to do, I feel likeI always want to do more right,
and just like you said, Ican't do more if I can't take care
of myself. And that's like thisfrequent topic that I have with my therapist
to be able to sleep more,because as I mentioned that, I was
(28:19):
sleeping so late and I was doingall this work and that was all the
time I could get done. Butand then the next morning I just felt
like crap because I felt like Iwasn't a good mom. I felt like
I was not doing enough and Iwas like cranky as ever because I wasn't
sleeping and all of this. Sothere's this this this constant cycle. But
(28:41):
also going back to I think,like even my childhood again that that feeling
of not good enough, like I'mnot good enough, and that's like the
cycle of trying to be perfect ortrying to overdo things because I again felt
(29:02):
that feelings of I wasn't good enough. So this is like a whole like
full circle thing that I think thatI hope like through the project, like
I can learn from myself but alsolearn from my children that we are good
enough, like we need to learnthat and that, you know, not
(29:26):
like I don't want, like evenmyself to to feel like I am like
this person because of my work,you know, like I'm like a mom
first or I'm you know, adaughter first, like all of that like
what's important to me. And Ithink it's always been sort of like work
first, because I've always felt likethat has defined who I am, right,
(29:48):
right, and then I struggled withall these other identities of being a
mom and all of that, andthen then then I feel like okay,
well then I'm not a good enoughmom and all of that. So it's
like this whole like everything fits togetherand this whole cycle of it, and
it's this whole like learning and unlearningof yeah, you know I've gone through
(30:11):
in my life. Yeah, Imean I think that's already a huge step
though, that you that you werehad the courage to get a therapist,
encourage your husband to get a therapist. I think culturally, yeah, we're
already kind of like you know,looked upon as like a state that's a
shameful thing to raise your hand andsay you want to do some therapy.
So I think you know, you'reyou're already on your way to mastering this
(30:33):
thing, is self care. That'sawesome that you're advocating for it, because,
like, like we said, likeculturally it's not it's still not a
thing. We're in twenty twenty fourand people still kind of have a stigma
around mental health and wanting to youknow, add that to your list of
like self care things, right,So I think that's amazing that you and
(30:53):
your husband are doing that. Andyou know, I'm excited to see where
Joey Dolls goes and how amazingly youguys grow you You made this statement with
your start of like all the dollsat one time, covering all of the
various cultures. I love that andlike I said, I can't wait to
see you continue to share these memoriesthat families are making once these dolls are
(31:15):
opened and shared, it's such abeautiful thing. Can you give us one
more time the website, maybe yoursocial media that way folks can start putting
their orders in. Yeah, yeah, So you can find us at Joey
Dolls dot com, so j OE y d O l l s dot
com and the same as Instagram andFacebook, it's just Joey Dolls, so
(31:37):
yeah, and also on TikTok andssame as Joey Dolls as well. Love
it. Thank you so much.We had such an amazing time talking to
you, Samantha, and I thinkwe're probably gonna want you to come back,
like right around the holidays time,because they're gonna need to remind people
these are the these are the coolestthings they have in your in your gift
basket as we get ready for theholidays. Of course. Yeah, thank
(32:00):
you so much for having me andsharing that story. Thank you. Hi
This Mama Got Drama back for anotherepisode. I am your host, Lady
Ray. Our co host Drina Gonzalezwill be back with us for our next
episode. But we have a lovelyguest today who I'm so excited to talk
to you because there's so much thatwe got to dive in with this conversation.
Joining us today is founder creator MomExtraordinaire. Let's make some noise for
(00:23):
Samantha from Joey Dolls. Yay,thank you for coming on. How are
you doing today? I'm great?Thank you? How about you? I'm
good, I'm good. I'm excited. We're kicking off a fresh new episode,
which means that we always get totalk about something new that our babies
are doing. I mean, welike to kick it off that way because
(00:45):
you know, whether you've got aadult baby or you know, you've got
a new baby, there's always somethingnew in this thing we call Mamahood.
Is there anything new going on withyou? Oh? Just mainly just ye
just you know, working away withthe business, you know, like with
my two kids also at home,so it's just like juggling everything. It's
(01:06):
just it's just trying to manage reallyand it's It's interesting because you know,
you have two kids, but yourcompany is like your baby also, right,
Like you're exactly having to nurture it. You're creating it basically, and
all of the all of the things, right. I know. Over in
my house, we just celebrated abirthday. So my son just turned six,
(01:30):
and the new thing is my daughteris consistently uh announcing it to every
and anyone that comes in our pathwaythat he just celebrated a birthday. So
that's been fun and exciting. Butlet's jump in and learn more about Joey
Dolls for folks that don't know.Give them a little bit of information about
what Joey Dolls is, the importanceof it. I mean, there's so
(01:51):
much, right yeah. So Ireally started the business during the pandemic,
like with the rise of anti Asianhate. Actually I was a winning photographer
well like and during the pandemic,I actually lost like all my income for
about two years, and so Iwas really like left, you know,
at home with my daughter. Andso I was actually just recently a new
(02:13):
mom. She was like just turningone and around that time. But even
like struggling with that identity of likebeing a new mom, and then also
losing my entire business during the pandemic. Just I struggled with that so much.
And so I was just like sittingat home watching the news unfold,
watching the rise of anti agent hate, and it's like what can I do?
(02:36):
But also I just like, youknow, when you become a new
when you become a mom, youkind of relive your childhood like tough your
child like you kind of think likeI don't want them to experience the same
things that I did. And soI'm watching what I'm seeing, and like
I had this feeling of, youknow, the splashbacks of like shame of
(02:58):
being Asian or like wanting to besomeone else, like you know, so
I'm worried about how I look andI don't want that for my daughter.
And so you know, of coursewe're at home, we're alone, and
so I'm thinking I want her tofeel proud of who she is and how
she looks. And so of coursewe're at alone at home. So I'm
(03:19):
thinking I'm going going to find hersome dolls that she could feel comforted with,
and I'm struck by like how difficultit still is to find dolls that
are like playful and joyful, andthat looks like her, and that also
just like celebrates like mixed Asian identitybecause of course we like fall under this
broad label of being Asian, Butdoes that really like encompass the beauty and
(03:46):
that diversity and that rich tapestry oflike of Asia. And I think it's
such a broad label that it oftenwe get kind of like lumped into this
one big group and that all ourstories don't really get get told. So,
you know, she was turning one, and I remember wanting to put
her in like I'm Chinese Malaysian andmy husband's Korean, so we were going
(04:10):
to put her in both like thoseoutfits. And I was just thinking,
well, if we do this withour children, why don't we do it
through our dolls? And I wanther to see that through her dolls.
And that's all that whole idea cameabout. And it took me a long
time to bring to life because Ireally am just a mom. I don't
have any like, I don't haveany funding. I really brutstrapped this entire
(04:33):
company, especially during the pandemic.I didn't have a lot of money,
I didn't have income coming in,I didn't have income to like fund this
new project. So I was reallystruggling with trying to do everything on a
shoestring budget, trying to diy things, trying to figure out I don't have
expertise in like like selling products,making products. All of that was completely
(04:58):
new to me, and so Ijust took it once set of a time.
And of course my daughter was athome the whole time, so I
could only work when she was asleep, and she wasn't a good sleeper.
I will say, oh, Icould hardly hardly get anything done. But
yeah, I just made it mypassion. Like it was like I just
really wanted it. I made itmy mission. Really, it was became
(05:21):
a passionate and I really made mymission to bring these dolls to life because
I just realized how important it is, Like if she if I wanted this
for my daughter, I'm sure thatthere was many other families out there that
would want the same thing. Andlike I was just so struck by that
it hadn't been done before, right, Right, And the cool thing is,
(05:42):
like you said, it's not aboutjust grouping us in this one category
of Asian, Right, I reallylike the fact that you've got you've got
everyone included. I mean you've gota Vietnamese doll, you've got a Filipina
doll, you've got a Chinese doll, Korean doll, Japanese doll, and
Indian doll. I mean it's reallycool that you've got all this inclusion in
your dolls. And then you evenhave, you know, shirts that say
(06:05):
proudly Asian, Proud to be aVitnamese baby. I mean, all of
these things right, that we didn'tgrow up with, right, and to
have a doll that looks like you, that is celebrating the culture and wearing
cultural clothing, I mean, allof that goes into it too. Why
do you feel like it's so importantfor us to even see ourselves represented when
(06:27):
when it's playtime? Yeah, Ijust reflect upon my own experience thinking,
you know, when I was younger, I used to play with blonde dolls
because that's all that was out there. I just you know, of course
on TV, that's all you see, and so you just have this like
you grow even though it's not toldexplicitly to you, you grow up with
this feeling that, of course,if you're not on TV, you're not
shown in your playtime you're not like, you're not worthy, You're you're meant
(06:51):
to be on the sidelines. You'renot meant to be anybody like of value.
I would say, So I reallygrew up thinking that that I was
just meant to be on the sidelines. I wasn't good enough. I remember
looking at my child, like myclassmates, thinking they're so pretty and they're
so lucky to be gone that way. And of course, like all of
(07:14):
those things are learned from you know, childhood. So I think if we
can try to foster that sense ofpride and you know, and you know,
posititivity about you know, your yourheritage, I think there is so
much that we can instill in childrenabout like inclusion and like diversity and like
(07:39):
and celebrating our differences instead of thinkingthat they're bad. Yeah, I mean,
I think you said, you saidall the important things right of wanting
to celebrate your heritage, your culture. Feeling a sense of pride is so
important and instilling that at a youngage really helps to create that foundation for
confidence. And you know, justthe educational piece there is so vital,
(08:03):
right, and so when we thinkabout this idea of like inclusion and diversity,
our moms didn't get that right,Like our moms didn't get access to
this idea of like you're included,you're represented. I mean, do you
think that your mom or my mom, even who's Filipino, Like, do
you feel like they would see themselvesin these dolls? Yeah? So,
(08:26):
you know, I've gotten so manystories of people that not only buy them
for their children, but they've boughtthem for themselves, for their loved child
and their healing, and that they'vealso bought them for their lola and they're
like their grandma. So and liketo hear the stories that you know,
what we received like that you know, tears of happiness and like that healing
(08:52):
of like oh my gosh, likethis is what I would have wanted as
a child, or like you know, I've had stories of when the the
child receives the doll, they're like, oh my god, like they actually
say grandma. Yeah. They lookat the doll and they know that's Grandma.
Oh Ma. And so I thinkthat's such a narrative shift that we
(09:13):
haven't had before, like to lookat something and really identify. So I
think like these dolls aren't just forchildren. I hope that they offer entire
families that can really enjoy. Andthis is why I also created the dolls
with such happy faces, because theywanted to really just spread joy, especially
(09:33):
with all that's going on in theworld. I just wanted children or families
to receive the dolls and feel thatjoy in celebrating our heritage. I love
it. I love it. Likeyou said, it's those moments, right
that you're creating with your family,They really just resonate. And the other
thing too, is you know youtalked about it earlier, having a relatively
(09:56):
newborn baby. You know, youhad little to no income coming in and
you're trying to create this vision,right, Like, you have this vision,
this idea and seeing that there's aneed for it. I mean,
what are the obstacles that you cameup against. I mean we already talked
about the fact that sleep deperration wasone of them, right, because you
had a baby that had a hardtime sleeping through the night, and those
(10:20):
are the only times as new momsthat we can actually work is when the
baby is asleep. So what weresome of the obstacles on this journey that
you that you faced. Yeah,so it's definitely bad, especially Yeah,
definitely the funding, like not knowingwhere to go, like where to find
that information. That was like scouringthe internet trying to find resources even like
I don't know even I don't knowanything about sewing or facton. Wow.
(10:45):
Everything was a complete learning curve.So I was like literally borrowing books from
the library, and of course duringthe pandemic the library was closed. Yeah,
I had to like find ways toget the books at like put them
on whold and like go get them. And and so I would like borrow
book like find like resources online likehow to make dolls, and like even
(11:07):
just doing in like Facebook groups andasking questions. So there was just like
so much involved, but also likelearning the toys, safety and all of
that. And so initially I hadthis like great idea of like wanting to
do you know it sustainably and locallyand all of that, but of course
I had so much trouble finding justeven fabrics that would represent like different skin
(11:30):
tones, because it was so importantfor me to like show those Like at
the very beginning, I was told, why don't you just start with one
doll and like master that birth,And I was just like no, Like
I had this like vision for atleast six dolls, because I really wanted
to make a statement about, youknow, the diversity of skin tones,
(11:52):
the diversity of cultures within Asia,and I'm really wanted to like have at
least six to like make a statementto show how beautiful and diverse, you
know, Asian community is, andwith just one doll, like, I
don't feel like I could really dothat. And so that was my whole
Like, I struggled so much,like finding the right fabrics, and I
(12:13):
was I couldn't believe how difficult itwas to just find like, you know,
different shades of beige or different shadesof brown. And so it ended
up that I had to go overseas, and because because I had to find
more fabrics and more availability, andespecially with the cultural clothing, I really
(12:33):
wanted it to be as accurate aspossible and so and I also wanted to
be a great quality, and soI just didn't have that variety of supplies
locally, and that's when I hadto go overseas. And then of course,
when you're dealing with overseas, Idon't know, I can't like visit
the facility in person, and sothere was a lot of working like late
(12:56):
nights to try and like meet thetime zones and trying and you know getting
them shipped over with like the shippingbeing taken forever during that time all of
that. So so it was that'swhy I just took so long and just
trying to find I went through threedifferent manufacturers. I was so I was
(13:18):
so particular about the quality. Andthen even when we did go into production,
I did, like I did threeseparate inspections just because I really wanted
to make sure that quality was consistentand you know passing my line standards.
I felt like I was such aperfectionist. Uh So I really just wanted
(13:39):
that. The reason why I wasso you know, committed to all of
these things is that I really wantedthem when someone receives adult that they feel
that sense of pride and that likelove and care that was put into one
doll. Each of our dolls arehandmade, so you know all that time
that went into the doll. SoI didn't want like just to get any
(14:03):
old doll like that was just kindof put together right, right, someone
that when they do receive the doll, like go wow, like I'm so
proud to have this doll in familyand be able to show that to others.
And I think that's part is soimportant because that's the whole part of
you know, being proud to shareourselves and of who we are, and
(14:28):
I impress that freely. Yeah,I mean, I'm hearing the fact that
you know, you stay dedicated.You you took every opportunity to connect with
people and to learn and to justeducate yourself on the whole spectrum of things,
right, whether it was like sewingthe dolls, fighting materials. I
mean, that takes dedication and reallyjust a drive to see your vision become
(14:52):
a reality. I mean, doyou think there was anything that was like
really pivotable, pivotal for you interms of breaking through some of these obstacles.
Yeah. So one thing that Iwas worried about was that cultural accuracy
piece. And so of course Iwas like doing a lot of research,
(15:13):
borrowing books from the library and allof that, but I still like struggled,
like is this the right thing?And so I can always guess and
all of that and like ask likeparticular people, but you know, there's
nothing better than asking a community ofpeople. And so that's where I really
went online. I started to developlike a following, and I really put
(15:35):
it back to my followers and supportersand like to put out like what do
you want to see? What doyou think? And even like vote on
the name, Like I really withthe name, I'm just something as small
as you think, you know,the name of the doll. I wanted
that to really be meaningful to people. Yeah, really was. It was
(15:56):
such a significant part of our process, and so we put it out there
like suggest names to us, whatdoes that mean? And then like I
really took it upon like to makelike corrections, like even with like the
Philippiniana dress with the shoulder piece,like we had it what I thought was
correct, and then I had afeedback and like, actually this part shouldn't
(16:18):
be pleaded at the bottom of thesleeve shouldn't be pleased. So I went
back to production and we did itcompletely all over again, and like all
of that like required like deconstructing itand recreating it again. So there was
like so many prototypes of the dolls, and it really did come through this
like entire process, like this wholejourney of like what the dolls were initially
(16:41):
from the initial concept to the likefinal concept that we finally were able to
finalize and so I'm really happy thatI did that because it allowed people to
to feel part of our journey.But also I could get the feedback from
people and know that that that's whatwas right, Like that was accurate.
(17:04):
Yeah, because I didn't want tobe like pretending that I knew that.
I didn't want to like misrepresent anyone. I just wanted people to just really
feel proubitful of like that these doltsrepresented their heritage. And it's it's obvious
(17:25):
right that you took the time toput the carring. You took the time
to pay attention to the small detailsthat really mean a lot to people.
And I think, you know,one of the things that can be scary
for someone who's taking on a projectlike this is to be as on point
as possible, right because there aregonna be millions of people looking and you
(17:48):
know the fact that you took yourtime, did your research and even employed
like a whole host of people showshow much you care about this product.
And as you you know, havebeen able to take it from paper and
make it into a real doll andthen actually have kids play with it.
I mean, were there points therewhere you were like, yeah, this
(18:10):
is this is like I don't knowif this is really gonna happen, Like
how do you pull yourself through thosemoments? Yeah, when I was going
through my second manufacturer, I thought, Okay, finally I found a manufacturer
that was able to produce the differentskin tones because and the first manufacturer couldn't
do the different skin tones. Andso when I found the second, I
(18:32):
was like, yes, like Icould. I'm finally gonna produce these dolls.
And then when I finally like wewere designing them all and then I
finally received them in person, Iwas like, oh, man, like
this is not the quality I wasexpecting. Wow. And then then I
was just like I've spent like nearlytwo years on this, and I was
like I can't fathom like bringing thesedolls out to the public while they have
(18:56):
my concept in mind, like theylook kind of like how I want it,
but when I feel them, it'sjust like I didn't feel like that
was like that wasn't it for me? So and I was just like,
oh gosh, like can I dothis? Like should I just give up
now? And that's when I actuallyconnected with a Gale Wade she's like a
(19:18):
like a toy industry extra. Shelike took coaches like other toy entrepreneurs on
you know, starting their own toyjourney. So she really encouraged me to
like keep going, like no,I gotta keep going and bring this like
there's nothing out there like this,and that I have a market for this,
like this is what people are wanting, and like I can do this.
(19:41):
I can. All I have todo is fine an manufacture, like
just summon all your energy. Andso as much as I felt so defeated,
like I just had to keep goingback to my why and like yes,
like of course I felt completely defbut there were like so many people
(20:03):
following me at that point, andI just knew that I wanted to do
this for the community, like II of course I wanted to do this
for my children, but I justknew that there was like such a need
out there, and so yeah,I had to I'm in all my energy
to like go find a new manufacturer, and like it felt like I was
(20:25):
restarting everything from scratch. But atthe same time, I had still come
to like such a long journey,like such a such a learning her up
until that point, so I wasable to go through that process a lot
faster, even though it was startingfrom scratch right and then and then finally
bringing them to life. So thatI think was such a pivotal point for
(20:48):
me that I just really at thatpoint thought I couldn't do it, And
you did it. You pushed throughand you know, like you said,
summoning all that energy takes a lot, right because you're you're thinking about like
all of the time, tears,but sweat whatever you want calling right that
you're putting in this and then youfactor in that you're a mom like you
(21:10):
you you don't you don't just likecall in sick, like you have to
be there, right, And soyou know, we talked a little bit
earlier about you know, juggling timeto work, juggling you know, your
own self care, right, buthow do you how do you structure you
know, launching this business, havingto travel overseas with with being a full
(21:34):
time mom, Like, how doyou how do you find the structure there?
Yeah, it was tricky. Ithink it was such a low point
for me at that time because Ithink it coincided with me finally when was
it. Uh, yeah, soI gave but I think it was like
I gave but my second child likeshortly before that, so of course you've
gone through those stages of postpotum andlike I remember, because yeah, I
(22:00):
gave birth to her in November,and like around December was when I received
those dolls, and I was justlike I don't know if I can do
this, like too much, likeit's too overwhelming. My youngest my eldest
daughter was two and a half,so like it just felt like I really
had two babies plus this business.And then I still was managing, of
(22:21):
course my photography business, which isthe one that was still like you know
bringing in some money, like notlike a whole lot of money, but
you know, at least some forme to sustain. And so yeah,
it was a lot to handle.Really just leaning on my husband like to
really like he was like I couldnot have done it without him, Like
(22:44):
he really took the time of workto help me and see like this through,
like he really wanted me to makethis happen. Actually it wasn't actually
his idea because when I was lookingfor dolls, I kept complaining to him
like I can't find dolls. Ican't believe how hard it is to find
(23:04):
dolts. And he's just like,well, if you can't find it,
why do not you just make it? So yeah, you're right, I
guess it could make it right,right, Yeah, I hadn't thought about
it, and he just like cameup with this like brand new idea and
(23:25):
like it really challenged me and andlike, I think, being such a
team together, and of course itwas just like chaos that whole like even
even till now it's still chaos.But being a team together is such such
an important thing to be able tolike, hey, you take this,
(23:45):
I'll take this on. Otherwise youcould just like yeah, completely lose yourself
in in everything. Yeah, Ican see that. I could see that.
I mean if there if there's amom listening and you know she's she's
got this idea, she just needsto like I mean figure out how to
(24:06):
make that leap right. I meanit's scary you think about. You know,
I have this great idea, Iknow how to execute it. I
just I don't have the funding orI don't have like I have no formal
training in this particular industry. ButI do want to, you know,
start a business or put together aproduct, like what would you what words
of wisdom or gems would you giveto that mom m? I think like
(24:30):
really believing in your why. AndI even like went back to this so
many times, like as long asyou have like a solid why, then
it will propel you to keep going. And that's when like, if you
really believe in it and you knowthat it's going to make a difference for
(24:51):
so many people, That's how Ithought about it. Then I knew I
had to keep going, and soI like some like yeah, all those
resources that I could to make ithappen, and like, you know,
I kept looking at my children,like if I want this for my children,
(25:12):
then like it is important. It'sit's so important, and so yeah,
I just I, I I guesskept going back to that and knowing
like that I was going to makea difference for people that like it was
(25:32):
significant that for me to like,I just made it my whole mission to
be able to do that, andI, yeah, I don't know what
else to say about that, butother than just going back to it because
it was such such a that's that'sjust has been kept keepping me going,
Yeah, no, that's I thinkthat that alone is huge because once you
identify that. Like you said,it definitely gives you the energy, it
(25:57):
propels you, it keeps you kindof on a particular path, and everything
kind of falls right into place asyou need it. So, I mean,
I think the one thing that mostof us working moms struggle with is
this idea of self care, rightbecause we know how to pour into others,
(26:18):
we know how to pour into ourchildren, pour into our you know,
our mission and our ideas. Butthen it's like, wait a minute,
Like none of that can happen ifwe're not taking care of ourselves.
Do you feel like you've you've kindof figured it out, or do you
feel like it's something in work inprogress. It's definitely a work in progress.
I think sometime during the pandemic,I remember just feeling so overwhelmed and
(26:45):
I finally like took the like someof the guts to reach out to like
a therapist, And it was likethe best decision ever, and not only
just doing it for myself, butI also encouraged my husband to do it,
and so we use the same companythat cater to parents, but especially
(27:06):
new parents, but of course wehave our own therapists. And I think
that was such a critical step forus because as we've been coming into like
this new identity of being new parentsand juggling everything work and family, everything,
and you know, taking on sucha big like project like this where
there's so much stress and like riskinvolved financially and time and everything, and
(27:33):
then you know you've got you know, handling the managing the two kids.
Like there's there's going to be timeswhere you know you don't agree on things,
or you know you think you feellike you're going crazy or right.
And so I think for us tobe able to like talk about things to
someone else and then be able totry, Like for myself, I definitely
(27:57):
don't do enough self care. Actually, with all that I feel like I
have to do, I feel likeI always want to do more right,
and just like you said, Ican't do more if I can't take care
of myself. And that's like thisfrequent topic that I have with my therapist
to be able to sleep more,because as I mentioned that, I was
(28:19):
sleeping so late and I was doingall this work and that was all the
time I could get done. Butand then the next morning I just felt
like crap because I felt like Iwasn't a good mom. I felt like
I was not doing enough and Iwas like cranky as ever because I wasn't
sleeping and all of this. Sothere's this this this constant cycle. But
(28:41):
also going back to I think,like even my childhood again that that feeling
of not good enough, like I'mnot good enough, and that's like the
cycle of trying to be perfect ortrying to overdo things because I again felt
(29:02):
that feelings of I wasn't good enough. So this is like a whole like
full circle thing that I think thatI hope like through the project, like
I can learn from myself but alsolearn from my children that we are good
enough, like we need to learnthat and that, you know, not
(29:26):
like I don't want, like evenmyself to to feel like I am like
this person because of my work,you know, like I'm like a mom
first or I'm you know, adaughter first, like all of that like
what's important to me. And Ithink it's always been sort of like work
first, because I've always felt likethat has defined who I am, right,
(29:48):
right, and then I struggled withall these other identities of being a
mom and all of that, andthen then then I feel like okay,
well then I'm not a good enoughmom and all of that. So it's
like this whole like everything fits togetherand this whole cycle of it, and
it's this whole like learning and unlearningof yeah, you know I've gone through
(30:11):
in my life. Yeah, Imean I think that's already a huge step
though, that you that you werehad the courage to get a therapist,
encourage your husband to get a therapist. I think culturally, yeah, we're
already kind of like you know,looked upon as like a state that's a
shameful thing to raise your hand andsay you want to do some therapy.
So I think you know, you'reyou're already on your way to mastering this
(30:33):
thing, is self care. That'sawesome that you're advocating for it, because,
like, like we said, likeculturally it's not it's still not a
thing. We're in twenty twenty fourand people still kind of have a stigma
around mental health and wanting to youknow, add that to your list of
like self care things, right,So I think that's amazing that you and
(30:53):
your husband are doing that. Andyou know, I'm excited to see where
Joey Dolls goes and how amazingly youguys grow you You made this statement with
your start of like all the dollsat one time, covering all of the
various cultures. I love that andlike I said, I can't wait to
see you continue to share these memoriesthat families are making once these dolls are
(31:15):
opened and shared, it's such abeautiful thing. Can you give us one
more time the website, maybe yoursocial media that way folks can start putting
their orders in. Yeah, yeah, So you can find us at Joey
Dolls dot com, so j OE y d O l l s dot
com and the same as Instagram andFacebook, it's just Joey Dolls, so
(31:37):
yeah, and also on TikTok andssame as Joey Dolls as well. Love
it. Thank you so much.We had such an amazing time talking to
you, Samantha, and I thinkwe're probably gonna want you to come back,
like right around the holidays time,because they're gonna need to remind people
these are the these are the coolestthings they have in your in your gift
basket as we get ready for theholidays. Of course. Yeah, thank
(32:00):
you so much for having me andsharing that story. Thank you. Hi
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!