September 11, 2023 • 22 mins
Imagine searching for a doll for your baby girl and going down aisle after aisle and searching far and wide online only to realize there aren’t any dolls that look like you or represent your culture. That’s when SF resident Elenor Mak decided the needed to make a change in the world. She is the founder and CEO of Jilly Bing the first toy company to create dolls and characters that resemble Asian American Children. With her huge vision Elenor’s line of dolls has launched the very first Asian American Doll so her daughter and all little Asian girls could have a doll that looks like them and makes sure they’re represented. On this episode we get to know her company Jilly Bing and get to know Jilly Doll who comes complete with a cute chef’s hat that transforms into a sweet egg tart. Get to know Jilly at JillyBing.com or @HelloJillyBing!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This Mama Got Drama. We're backfor another episode and another season. We're
celebrating season two. We're slowly butsurely kind of putting more in the books.
I'm Lady Ray, one of yourco hosts. This is my co
host. We are here for anotherepisode, and we've got an amazing guest
with us joining us today. Imean, we're always talking about, you
know, how we're kind of goingalong on this daily adventure called mama hood,
(00:24):
and how we're not only raising ourlittle ones into capable ones, but
also chasing our career goals and findingtime for self care. And joining us
today is an amazing guest who seemsto be doing all of that and doing
it for our little ones. Let'smake some noise for eleanor Mac who we
need to get like some official applausesounding Yeah, thanks for having me,
(00:45):
Thank you for coming on. I'mso excited because you've recently launched something that
a lot of young women are reallygoing to just appreciate. I mean,
I, as a you know,a mixed black and Filippino young woman,
would look down the aisles and bekind of like, what none of these
dolls look like me? And justlike for my you know, my cousins
(01:07):
who are full Asian, they weredoing the same thing. And so now
you created something that is gonna bejust life changing for a lot of young
women. Right, yeah, I'mso excited. This is just the beginning.
So jilly bit, I'll tell youa bit about how we got started.
And you know, yeah, Soit was last year my little girl,
(01:27):
Jillian, who was a little overa little over almost almost a little
over two, sorry, and shejust wanted a doll. She started playing
with her dolls like she did,you know, she did, like play
dates. She'd do it like takethem out to dinner. She would tell
them to wash their hands, likeall the things I would say to her.
So I figured, hey, it'sthe year twenty twenty two, I
(01:49):
live in San Francisco, Let's gobuy you a doll. Right. I
went to multiple toy stores. Iwent to the major retailers, and it
was crazy. Yeah, I didnot find one doll that I thought looked
remotely like any Asian kid. Iknow, right, you only knew these
dolls were meant to be Asian becausethey were wearing like a sheep paw,
(02:14):
they had a really bad haircut,they were holding up hand the bear,
and you know what, I waslike, Hey, like, our kids
are more than stereotypes, right,they deserve better. It also made me
feel like I got transported. I'mforty three years old. I felt like
I got transported back into my ownchildhood going into the toy stores and singing
(02:34):
in the same lack of representation,right, Yeah, it's it's it's pretty
sad that we're, like you said, just marking the year and thinking about
it of like, how is ittwenty twenty two or twenty twenty three.
We're not thinking about these things.And thankfully you stepped in and you've created
Jilly Bing and tell us a littlebit about the doll. Yeah, so
(02:55):
Jilly Bing is there's two things,and I think she is. We created
her after talking to many many AsianAmerican families, right about what what what
do they want? Right? Whatwas missing? What was important? How
do you capture, you know,a young Asian American child sort of you
know her, what makes her unique? Into one doll? Right, We're
(03:16):
starting with one doll. So wehad you know, rows and rows of
children's eyes, mouthed nose, andwe really tried to be authentic about creating
this Asian doll from scratch, andso, you know, we started last
year kind of spring of last year. I brought together an incredible team of
Asian American toy designers and you know, we've we've launched the doll. We
(03:38):
just launched last August, this pastAugust, sorry, and the response and
the heartwarming reaction has just been incredible. There are females, grown adult woman
that we hear from over and overagain where they say, this is the
doll I wished I had growing.You know, Someone's like, I don't
(03:59):
even have a daughter yet, butI'm gonna buy this from my future daughter
because I remember what it was liketo not have a doll that looks like
me right right. You know wherethe dolls available at. They're available on
our website, jillybing dot com.And so we launched in December. So
there was two stages we went throughto really kind of understand how people thought
and felt about what we were doing. So this last December, we introduced
(04:24):
the vision and sort of a prototypeof the doll for the first time,
and we just heard from everybody's sortof you know, the heartwarming responses.
We sold over five hundred pre orderssite unseen. It was, you know,
people are just so excited. Itwas you know, people are saying,
this is more than a doll,This is more than just a doll.
It's about being seen. And thenwe recently launched the dolls for sale
(04:46):
for shipping out of my basement herein San Francisco a few weeks ago.
Amazing, incredible, yea wow,yeah, I mean just to see your
your vision come to life. AndI think the other really cool thing about
Jilly is that she with these itemsthat are very true to culture, right,
like the fact that you you know, thought of these these small things
(05:08):
really make a huge difference, rightit is, And we really just spent
so much time making sure. Forexample, the doll's eyes were just so
important to me because growing up,that's what I got made fun of,
right like my my my slanty eyes, my ching chong, whatever you want
to call them. And we justreally wanted our children to be proud of
(05:29):
their Asian eyes. Know that ourAsian eyes all eyes, right, but
are beautiful as as they are.Then beyond the features, you know,
we also you know, I thinkfor a long time, right, I
certainly experienced this there the stereotype ofAsian girls. You know, we're shy,
we're dainty, we're nerds, allof that, right, which is
(05:50):
so not true when you look atmy daughter, because she is bossy.
She is like fossy and feisty.So we really want to make sure that
this doll captured that. So everythingfrom her position, her hands, like,
we really made sure she was notlike a doll that looked like she
was going to tip over. Itwas a doll that it was like ready
to have a food fight with you, ready to like chase you up the
(06:11):
hill. And we gave her anegg tart sort of print on her dress
because the storyline is that, youknow, she's really proud of her heritage.
She loves tinkering in the kitchen withher grandma. And there's a storyline
we give her where she brings heregg tarts to school and her friends make
fun of her because it's stinky.It's different and unlike you know what I
(06:35):
grew up with, which is Ishied away from it. I was embarrassed
by like the differences. We say, Julie is proud and she's bossy,
and she's like telling her friends,you're gonna try this, You're gonna try
this. I love that. Yeah, and so she represents, you know,
really who we want our children tobe proud of who they are.
Yeah. And speaking of that,I mean, your daughter must be so
(06:56):
proud of you and like just theidea coming to life as well. Yeah.
So it's funny. My son,who's older, I think he understands
it more so. He apparently atschool goes around saying Jilly bing American Asian
doll. But he like helps us, like, you know, kind of
promote spread the word. And youknow, I do have a vision for
(07:18):
a whole cast of Asian American characters, including little boys. So my son,
you know, I think deserves oneand we'll want to know that there's
one for him as well. Andmy little girl, she loves it,
you know. I think the firsttime she saw that doll was just one
of the best moments. She likeliterally grabbed the doll. Mind you,
this was a prototype, so thehead was not secured super type. She's
(07:42):
just so exciting. She's like,it looks like me, it looks like
Jilly. And she's touching the doll'sblack hair, and she's like black momo,
which in Chinese means hair she's ablack momo like me, like Jilly,
And she continues to squeeze the dolland then the head pops off.
And I love hearing about the factthat your son is already on the marketing
(08:05):
team and really just hyping up thedoll. I can't wait to hear what
happens when the when the Boy versiondrops. He's definitely gonna be shouting it
out all around school, I know. And I love that he's like American
Asian girl. And I was like, Okay, I guess you know I'm
not gonna correct him. Yeah.Well, I mean everyone knows, you
know how big this Barbie Doll moviehas been. The excitement over that.
(08:28):
I mean, how have you guys, like, you know, utilized this
moment to really bring Julie big intothe forefront? Are you guys you know,
looking at the excitement and saying,you know what, Julie is gonna
be at that level? Yeah?Yeah, you know. I'm you know,
as we talked about, I'm Ihad a full time job, I've
(08:50):
got two young kids. I'm alreadytrying to make it all work. So
adding Jolly being into the mix was, you know, it was no small
thing on my family, and Idid it because I wanted a all for
my child. But I continue todo this because the more I get into
it, the more I believe inwhat is possible. And so I think
for the Barbie, you know,I think it really brings up, you
(09:11):
know, to brings reminds us,right that everyone had dolls. Everyone knows
about dolls, right. A dollis so much more than just a toy.
It's it's really a child's first friend, right, yeah. And I
think for me, growing up withyou know, working parents, being an
only child, my dog was myonly friend at home really long time,
and I took that doll everywhere withme. And I think that's why you're
(09:33):
seeing so many people sort of respondingone way or another two Barbie, right,
But it's the fact that we allhad a Barbie, or we all
had a doll. But for me, my doll was blonde hair and blue
eyed, and I just she wasbeautiful in a way I never could be.
And I could even remember those feelingsas a kid. And so I
think we're out, we're out tochange that, right. We want to
(09:54):
create a cast of Asian American charactersthat you know, reflects all the diversity
under the massive Asian American umbrella.Jilly Bing is our first doll. We
have plans for a Blaisian doll,a Hopba doll, a boy doll,
a Southeast Asian doll. But really, you know, we're just we're just
getting started, and I'd love tosee a day where you can see Julie
(10:16):
being characters on TV, on books, that our children grow up knowing that
they belong and get to see themselvesrepresented in really fun and authentic ways.
Why the name Jilly, Why Jillibeing We'll have to name it after my
kid, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, so we we love the
name. We spent a lot oftime. We wanted to be catchy.
(10:39):
Right at the end of the day, it's the doll company. It's meant
to be fun, but we wantto infuse some heritage into it. So
Jilly is short for Jilly and mydaughter and Bing was one of her first
words. It means cookie and Chinese. So that's when rhyme Jilly Jilli Bing,
it's it's a you know, mykids sing a song with Jilli being
in there, you know, intheir repertoire of getting ready in the morning.
(11:01):
So I think it was a namethat's meant to be memorable for kids.
I love that. That sounds likethat's going to be the song for
the intro of the cartoon show TotalWe Got It. I can't say so.
I'm not gonna sec My son's alreadysinging that in the mornings. How
is that? How kid? Isthat? One of the things that we
(11:22):
like to do as we kind ofget in our podcast is talk about our
kids a little bit. I mean, how has it been? I mean,
you're launching a brand new company.You're launching a brand new brand,
and it's no small feet because thisis one that has so much meaning for
so many people, right and you'redoing this with a three year old in
a five year old? How areyou juggling it all? Ask me this
(11:46):
tomorrow, because today I don't feellike it's It's really hard. I think
that's that's the truth. It's reallyhard, right. I feel like on
any given day, I'm not doingone ding particular. I can't do it
all well, like my company,my family, my marriage, you know,
my relationship with my parents. Ithink what has really helped is that,
(12:07):
you know, one we moved mymom grandma, My mom moved out
from New York City to help mewith the kids. So that's you know,
that's my that's my secret weapon,right that I've got Grandma on nearby
to help out. And you know, my husband has been incredibly supportive.
I mean, talk about stereotypes,right, he is, you know,
an Asian American doctor and here's hiswife trying to create a doll company.
(12:33):
That's also imposing on his schedule andour on our personal life, right,
but he has just been so supportive, like he will stay up late and
read my you know, emails Iwrite. He will you know when I
when I can't pick up the kid. It's not a matter of like that's
your job or that's you know,it's like, okay, well we'll figure
it out. So that's on thesort of the adult side with the kids.
(12:54):
You know, I really try toyou know, they're still young,
right, but many ways I thinkthey're able to absorb some of what's happening.
Like I think they think Jelly beingis their third sibling for a while.
But I love them have fun,you know, like they helped pack
so we had you know, eightbig paletques shop in my basement here in
San Francisco, and at some point. We let the kids help with the
packing, and I think they takepride and you know sort of packing up
(13:18):
the dolls. And we've given dollsto some of our family friends, so
they're the ones presenting the doll.So we really it's become a family business.
And well it has to be becauseyeah, physically present in every part
of my house. Yes, Imean I love the fact that you're you
know, letting the kids be apart of the journey, right, because
(13:39):
there are some moms who have suchcrazy schedules that they don't even get to
see your kids, and their kidshave no idea what they do for work,
and this is an opportunity for youto not only share what you do,
but bring them along for this journey, which is really exciting. And
do you feel that being that itis a you know, children's industry that
(14:00):
you're e and that makes it alittle more easy to kind of allow them
to learn about it and be apart of it. Really, Yeah,
I think so, right, becauseit's a doll. Well, I think
you know, my Jill, mydaughter has three jilly beings in her room,
right, so once she sleeps withone, she you know, takes
to the potty with her and thenonce she brings out right, so it's
it's a toy that's very much apart of their life, right, right,
(14:24):
so they understand the doll itself.And you know, I think my
daughter, you know, prior toJelly being we have been a very private
family on social media, so thatwas one big transition, right that we
had to you know, I've feltthe need to really kind of showcase my
family, right because that is verymuch part of our origin story and kind
of having Jillian and my son Jamesinvolved in a lot of these videos,
(14:48):
you know, it's been it's beena journey for us. But I think
it's you know, my daughter lovesbeing fun in front of camera. It's
just like she's like, you know, one day's putting on makeup myself and
she's like, can I have someone? I was like, no, no,
no, you're too young for makeup, and she's like, remember that
time Auntie Nora are like the womanwho helped me create my video about the
time Auntie Nora put me like you. And she does like the emotions.
(15:11):
So I think it's allowing us tosee, you know, kind of let
them have fun, let them exploretheirs and who knew my dog would love
being in front of the camera.You learned something new about these other people
all the time, and they haveso much personality and it's like wow,
like you know, you want tojust let them be loud and express themselves.
(15:33):
And then you're like, whoa,we need to take a little break.
Yeah, when she gets older,and I had to, you know,
kind of remove her from social media. I don't want I'm not ready,
but you know what, like she'sshe's enjoyed it, and you know,
we've sort of let her, lether be, let her enjoy the
process, like proud of what we'recreating. Yes, Yeah, And that's
that's got to be the piece thatthat feels so rewarding, is how proud
(15:56):
you get to be that you've createdsomething like this that families can bond over,
families can share in. I mean, I think it's really cool that
you mentioned that some moms are likeare some women are like, I don't
even have kids, and I alreadywant to buy this for my you know,
future child. In some instances,they're probably buying it for themselves.
(16:18):
And yeah, yeah, I meanthat's what I was thinking too, Like
I'd buy a doll for myself,I felt like, you know, I
felt that like that connection, thatthat passionate about for sure. Yeah,
too old for dolls, No you'renot. And Jolly Being is very much
the doll we wished we had growingup, right, right. I love
my blonde hair, blue eyed Ada, but I wished I had a doll
(16:41):
that looked like me. And Ithink, really, I think really dolls
are just more than just a toyin passing. Right, Like we Rember,
we all remember our favorite doll growingup. Yes, for sure,
for sure. I mean let's talkabout the accessories though, because we touched
on it just a little bit earlier, the egg tart. I mean,
what are some of the other accessoriesthat she has? Yeah, so her
chef's hat flips into so we youknow, we Jilly's storyline. You know,
(17:04):
we were very conscious not to giveher a very specific storyline like I've
seen you know, lawyers, doctors. I'm like, no, that's we're
just you know, it's a kid. It's a doll, Like, lets
her have fun. What is mydaughter love doing? She loves messing around
the kitchen, right, acting likeshe's going to help out. So Jilly
bing is you know, loves totinker in the kitchen with grandma, and
her chef's hat flips into an eggtart. Very cool. Oh that's so
(17:29):
cute, and so we yes,it's sup like kids have so much fun
as a little squeaky toy in there. And really, the how we got
there was we wanted to flip thescript around what it means to be Asian
American females, what people assume aboutus, and we wanted to do that
in a fun way. Right we'reflipping the script, the chef's hat turns
into a really fun, delightful littleegg tart with a smiley face so that
(17:51):
squeaks. And then her egg tartdress. It's a little apron dress and
if you look closely enough, thereare a little egg tart expressions. One
got its head spit off, soit looks a little frowny face. There's
like egg white tarts. Just toreally add to the funness of it,
she comes with a pair of sneakers, and we were very intentional about this.
(18:12):
It was funny. As we're goingthrough production, they kept giving me
like Mary Jane's or like I waslike, you know, I want her
to look modern. I want herto be athletic, so that actually delayed
us in terms of finding that perfectpair of like fun like converse like sneakers,
because we wanted to showcase like,yeah, she's she's sort of a
versatile little girl. And then JillyBing's packaging comes with a little sort of
(18:37):
it's like a little kitchen in thebackground, so we you know, it's
a it's it was designed so thatyou can kind of reuse the packaging to
store It's like a little kitchen withlike a like a cabinet where you can
store her hat. We also italso comes with two bandanas. The two
bandanas come together and form like asyou grow your jelly bean collection, these
(18:59):
bandanas form a picnic blanket for thedoll or you know, for you know,
however the kid wants to play withit. And so the meaning behind
that is on the bandannas are differentfood prints. Right now. We have
some dim sum foods, where wehave some like tofu dishes, we have
tayaki it's wherever this red bean dessert. We've got ube cakes and the the
(19:21):
the meaning behind it, it's justyou know, come have a seat at
the table, right and we wantto showcase Asian foods in a fun way,
right, like we you know,And I think part our customer base
has been a mix of people withAsian American children, people without children,
but people with non Asian children whosay, you know, I want my
kids to have dolls that looks likethey're friends. I want my kids to
(19:45):
be exposed to, you know,kind of different cultures, and we want
to showcase Asian cultures in this reallyfun way through our doll. Wow.
I love that it's such a goodlike education piece too, right, like
a way for parents have these conversationsthat isn't so you know, uncomfortable,
right and makes it fun. Sohow awesome is that? I mean,
(20:07):
I love everything about I want jellybeing. I was just thinking I want
to order one for my niece.I like, I'm already. Oh,
she's gonna make a great holiday giftfor many many children. Yes, and
the holidays are coming in fast.So tell the people one more time,
give them the website, give themyour social media so they can find you.
Yeah. So our website is Jillybing dot com so jelly j I
(20:32):
L L Y B I n G. And our social handles is at hello
jelly ban. Oh. I loveit. I love it. And the
little videos that you guys post upof like the kids having their first reactions
or like playing with them, arejust so heartwarming and it's just a beautiful
thing to see. I mean,like you said, we didn't have these
moments as kids, and so it'sreally cool through their eyes and were able
(20:55):
to see all of this. Soagain, thank you for all that you're
doing for these young ladies and soonto come these young boys that are gonna
have these dolls to play with.Two. You know, one other thing
we wanted to ask you because wetalked about you know how, you know
we on the daily juggle so much. Right, are you fighting time for
self care? What are your whatare your go tos or secrets to make
(21:18):
sure that you're getting it in somehowsome way. Good reminder to right before
this is the reason I was askingif you're going to see me on videos.
I went for a swim. Ijust nice. I went for a
swim. I was like a millionof things to do. So I think
there's two things I did. Oneis I try to get to work out
in a few times a week nomatter what, because I find that that
gives me more energy. And youknow, it's funny. When things get
really bad, I feel so overwhelmed, I will go pick up one of
(21:41):
my kids early and do something withthem. Oh, because that I never
regret, and that just yeah,that's always It's a winning formula no matter
what. Yeah, I love that. I love it, eleanor a pleasure
to have you on. We can'twait to have you back on, probably
around the holidays, so we cantalk about how the beings are flying off
the shelves and you know, reallyjust see how you've how you've continued to
(22:03):
grow, and we just appreciate youand thank you for coming on with us.
Thank you for I'm being excited.Thank you so much
This Mama Got Drama. We're backfor another episode and another season. We're
celebrating season two. We're slowly butsurely kind of putting more in the books.
I'm Lady Ray, one of yourco hosts. This is my co
host. We are here for anotherepisode, and we've got an amazing guest
with us joining us today. Imean, we're always talking about, you
know, how we're kind of goingalong on this daily adventure called mama hood,
(00:24):
and how we're not only raising ourlittle ones into capable ones, but
also chasing our career goals and findingtime for self care. And joining us
today is an amazing guest who seemsto be doing all of that and doing
it for our little ones. Let'smake some noise for eleanor Mac who we
need to get like some official applausesounding Yeah, thanks for having me,
(00:45):
Thank you for coming on. I'mso excited because you've recently launched something that
a lot of young women are reallygoing to just appreciate. I mean,
I, as a you know,a mixed black and Filippino young woman,
would look down the aisles and bekind of like, what none of these
dolls look like me? And justlike for my you know, my cousins
(01:07):
who are full Asian, they weredoing the same thing. And so now
you created something that is gonna bejust life changing for a lot of young
women. Right, yeah, I'mso excited. This is just the beginning.
So jilly bit, I'll tell youa bit about how we got started.
And you know, yeah, Soit was last year my little girl,
(01:27):
Jillian, who was a little overa little over almost almost a little
over two, sorry, and shejust wanted a doll. She started playing
with her dolls like she did,you know, she did, like play
dates. She'd do it like takethem out to dinner. She would tell
them to wash their hands, likeall the things I would say to her.
So I figured, hey, it'sthe year twenty twenty two, I
(01:49):
live in San Francisco, Let's gobuy you a doll. Right. I
went to multiple toy stores. Iwent to the major retailers, and it
was crazy. Yeah, I didnot find one doll that I thought looked
remotely like any Asian kid. Iknow, right, you only knew these
dolls were meant to be Asian becausethey were wearing like a sheep paw,
(02:14):
they had a really bad haircut,they were holding up hand the bear,
and you know what, I waslike, Hey, like, our kids
are more than stereotypes, right,they deserve better. It also made me
feel like I got transported. I'mforty three years old. I felt like
I got transported back into my ownchildhood going into the toy stores and singing
(02:34):
in the same lack of representation,right, Yeah, it's it's it's pretty
sad that we're, like you said, just marking the year and thinking about
it of like, how is ittwenty twenty two or twenty twenty three.
We're not thinking about these things.And thankfully you stepped in and you've created
Jilly Bing and tell us a littlebit about the doll. Yeah, so
(02:55):
Jilly Bing is there's two things,and I think she is. We created
her after talking to many many AsianAmerican families, right about what what what
do they want? Right? Whatwas missing? What was important? How
do you capture, you know,a young Asian American child sort of you
know her, what makes her unique? Into one doll? Right, We're
(03:16):
starting with one doll. So wehad you know, rows and rows of
children's eyes, mouthed nose, andwe really tried to be authentic about creating
this Asian doll from scratch, andso, you know, we started last
year kind of spring of last year. I brought together an incredible team of
Asian American toy designers and you know, we've we've launched the doll. We
(03:38):
just launched last August, this pastAugust, sorry, and the response and
the heartwarming reaction has just been incredible. There are females, grown adult woman
that we hear from over and overagain where they say, this is the
doll I wished I had growing.You know, Someone's like, I don't
(03:59):
even have a daughter yet, butI'm gonna buy this from my future daughter
because I remember what it was liketo not have a doll that looks like
me right right. You know wherethe dolls available at. They're available on
our website, jillybing dot com.And so we launched in December. So
there was two stages we went throughto really kind of understand how people thought
and felt about what we were doing. So this last December, we introduced
(04:24):
the vision and sort of a prototypeof the doll for the first time,
and we just heard from everybody's sortof you know, the heartwarming responses.
We sold over five hundred pre orderssite unseen. It was, you know,
people are just so excited. Itwas you know, people are saying,
this is more than a doll,This is more than just a doll.
It's about being seen. And thenwe recently launched the dolls for sale
(04:46):
for shipping out of my basement herein San Francisco a few weeks ago.
Amazing, incredible, yea wow,yeah, I mean just to see your
your vision come to life. AndI think the other really cool thing about
Jilly is that she with these itemsthat are very true to culture, right,
like the fact that you you know, thought of these these small things
(05:08):
really make a huge difference, rightit is, And we really just spent
so much time making sure. Forexample, the doll's eyes were just so
important to me because growing up,that's what I got made fun of,
right like my my my slanty eyes, my ching chong, whatever you want
to call them. And we justreally wanted our children to be proud of
(05:29):
their Asian eyes. Know that ourAsian eyes all eyes, right, but
are beautiful as as they are.Then beyond the features, you know,
we also you know, I thinkfor a long time, right, I
certainly experienced this there the stereotype ofAsian girls. You know, we're shy,
we're dainty, we're nerds, allof that, right, which is
(05:50):
so not true when you look atmy daughter, because she is bossy.
She is like fossy and feisty.So we really want to make sure that
this doll captured that. So everythingfrom her position, her hands, like,
we really made sure she was notlike a doll that looked like she
was going to tip over. Itwas a doll that it was like ready
to have a food fight with you, ready to like chase you up the
(06:11):
hill. And we gave her anegg tart sort of print on her dress
because the storyline is that, youknow, she's really proud of her heritage.
She loves tinkering in the kitchen withher grandma. And there's a storyline
we give her where she brings heregg tarts to school and her friends make
fun of her because it's stinky.It's different and unlike you know what I
(06:35):
grew up with, which is Ishied away from it. I was embarrassed
by like the differences. We say, Julie is proud and she's bossy,
and she's like telling her friends,you're gonna try this, You're gonna try
this. I love that. Yeah, and so she represents, you know,
really who we want our children tobe proud of who they are.
Yeah. And speaking of that,I mean, your daughter must be so
(06:56):
proud of you and like just theidea coming to life as well. Yeah.
So it's funny. My son,who's older, I think he understands
it more so. He apparently atschool goes around saying Jilly bing American Asian
doll. But he like helps us, like, you know, kind of
promote spread the word. And youknow, I do have a vision for
(07:18):
a whole cast of Asian American characters, including little boys. So my son,
you know, I think deserves oneand we'll want to know that there's
one for him as well. Andmy little girl, she loves it,
you know. I think the firsttime she saw that doll was just one
of the best moments. She likeliterally grabbed the doll. Mind you,
this was a prototype, so thehead was not secured super type. She's
(07:42):
just so exciting. She's like,it looks like me, it looks like
Jilly. And she's touching the doll'sblack hair, and she's like black momo,
which in Chinese means hair she's ablack momo like me, like Jilly,
And she continues to squeeze the dolland then the head pops off.
And I love hearing about the factthat your son is already on the marketing
(08:05):
team and really just hyping up thedoll. I can't wait to hear what
happens when the when the Boy versiondrops. He's definitely gonna be shouting it
out all around school, I know. And I love that he's like American
Asian girl. And I was like, Okay, I guess you know I'm
not gonna correct him. Yeah.Well, I mean everyone knows, you
know how big this Barbie Doll moviehas been. The excitement over that.
(08:28):
I mean, how have you guys, like, you know, utilized this
moment to really bring Julie big intothe forefront? Are you guys you know,
looking at the excitement and saying,you know what, Julie is gonna
be at that level? Yeah?Yeah, you know. I'm you know,
as we talked about, I'm Ihad a full time job, I've
(08:50):
got two young kids. I'm alreadytrying to make it all work. So
adding Jolly being into the mix was, you know, it was no small
thing on my family, and Idid it because I wanted a all for
my child. But I continue todo this because the more I get into
it, the more I believe inwhat is possible. And so I think
for the Barbie, you know,I think it really brings up, you
(09:11):
know, to brings reminds us,right that everyone had dolls. Everyone knows
about dolls, right. A dollis so much more than just a toy.
It's it's really a child's first friend, right, yeah. And I
think for me, growing up withyou know, working parents, being an
only child, my dog was myonly friend at home really long time,
and I took that doll everywhere withme. And I think that's why you're
(09:33):
seeing so many people sort of respondingone way or another two Barbie, right,
But it's the fact that we allhad a Barbie, or we all
had a doll. But for me, my doll was blonde hair and blue
eyed, and I just she wasbeautiful in a way I never could be.
And I could even remember those feelingsas a kid. And so I
think we're out, we're out tochange that, right. We want to
(09:54):
create a cast of Asian American charactersthat you know, reflects all the diversity
under the massive Asian American umbrella.Jilly Bing is our first doll. We
have plans for a Blaisian doll,a Hopba doll, a boy doll,
a Southeast Asian doll. But really, you know, we're just we're just
getting started, and I'd love tosee a day where you can see Julie
(10:16):
being characters on TV, on books, that our children grow up knowing that
they belong and get to see themselvesrepresented in really fun and authentic ways.
Why the name Jilly, Why Jillibeing We'll have to name it after my
kid, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, so we we love the
name. We spent a lot oftime. We wanted to be catchy.
(10:39):
Right at the end of the day, it's the doll company. It's meant
to be fun, but we wantto infuse some heritage into it. So
Jilly is short for Jilly and mydaughter and Bing was one of her first
words. It means cookie and Chinese. So that's when rhyme Jilly Jilli Bing,
it's it's a you know, mykids sing a song with Jilli being
in there, you know, intheir repertoire of getting ready in the morning.
(11:01):
So I think it was a namethat's meant to be memorable for kids.
I love that. That sounds likethat's going to be the song for
the intro of the cartoon show TotalWe Got It. I can't say so.
I'm not gonna sec My son's alreadysinging that in the mornings. How
is that? How kid? Isthat? One of the things that we
(11:22):
like to do as we kind ofget in our podcast is talk about our
kids a little bit. I mean, how has it been? I mean,
you're launching a brand new company.You're launching a brand new brand,
and it's no small feet because thisis one that has so much meaning for
so many people, right and you'redoing this with a three year old in
a five year old? How areyou juggling it all? Ask me this
(11:46):
tomorrow, because today I don't feellike it's It's really hard. I think
that's that's the truth. It's reallyhard, right. I feel like on
any given day, I'm not doingone ding particular. I can't do it
all well, like my company,my family, my marriage, you know,
my relationship with my parents. Ithink what has really helped is that,
(12:07):
you know, one we moved mymom grandma, My mom moved out
from New York City to help mewith the kids. So that's you know,
that's my that's my secret weapon,right that I've got Grandma on nearby
to help out. And you know, my husband has been incredibly supportive.
I mean, talk about stereotypes,right, he is, you know,
an Asian American doctor and here's hiswife trying to create a doll company.
(12:33):
That's also imposing on his schedule andour on our personal life, right,
but he has just been so supportive, like he will stay up late and
read my you know, emails Iwrite. He will you know when I
when I can't pick up the kid. It's not a matter of like that's
your job or that's you know,it's like, okay, well we'll figure
it out. So that's on thesort of the adult side with the kids.
(12:54):
You know, I really try toyou know, they're still young,
right, but many ways I thinkthey're able to absorb some of what's happening.
Like I think they think Jelly beingis their third sibling for a while.
But I love them have fun,you know, like they helped pack
so we had you know, eightbig paletques shop in my basement here in
San Francisco, and at some point. We let the kids help with the
packing, and I think they takepride and you know sort of packing up
(13:18):
the dolls. And we've given dollsto some of our family friends, so
they're the ones presenting the doll.So we really it's become a family business.
And well it has to be becauseyeah, physically present in every part
of my house. Yes, Imean I love the fact that you're you
know, letting the kids be apart of the journey, right, because
(13:39):
there are some moms who have suchcrazy schedules that they don't even get to
see your kids, and their kidshave no idea what they do for work,
and this is an opportunity for youto not only share what you do,
but bring them along for this journey, which is really exciting. And
do you feel that being that itis a you know, children's industry that
(14:00):
you're e and that makes it alittle more easy to kind of allow them
to learn about it and be apart of it. Really, Yeah,
I think so, right, becauseit's a doll. Well, I think
you know, my Jill, mydaughter has three jilly beings in her room,
right, so once she sleeps withone, she you know, takes
to the potty with her and thenonce she brings out right, so it's
it's a toy that's very much apart of their life, right, right,
(14:24):
so they understand the doll itself.And you know, I think my
daughter, you know, prior toJelly being we have been a very private
family on social media, so thatwas one big transition, right that we
had to you know, I've feltthe need to really kind of showcase my
family, right because that is verymuch part of our origin story and kind
of having Jillian and my son Jamesinvolved in a lot of these videos,
(14:48):
you know, it's been it's beena journey for us. But I think
it's you know, my daughter lovesbeing fun in front of camera. It's
just like she's like, you know, one day's putting on makeup myself and
she's like, can I have someone? I was like, no, no,
no, you're too young for makeup, and she's like, remember that
time Auntie Nora are like the womanwho helped me create my video about the
time Auntie Nora put me like you. And she does like the emotions.
(15:11):
So I think it's allowing us tosee, you know, kind of let
them have fun, let them exploretheirs and who knew my dog would love
being in front of the camera.You learned something new about these other people
all the time, and they haveso much personality and it's like wow,
like you know, you want tojust let them be loud and express themselves.
(15:33):
And then you're like, whoa,we need to take a little break.
Yeah, when she gets older,and I had to, you know,
kind of remove her from social media. I don't want I'm not ready,
but you know what, like she'sshe's enjoyed it, and you know,
we've sort of let her, lether be, let her enjoy the
process, like proud of what we'recreating. Yes, Yeah, And that's
that's got to be the piece thatthat feels so rewarding, is how proud
(15:56):
you get to be that you've createdsomething like this that families can bond over,
families can share in. I mean, I think it's really cool that
you mentioned that some moms are likeare some women are like, I don't
even have kids, and I alreadywant to buy this for my you know,
future child. In some instances,they're probably buying it for themselves.
(16:18):
And yeah, yeah, I meanthat's what I was thinking too, Like
I'd buy a doll for myself,I felt like, you know, I
felt that like that connection, thatthat passionate about for sure. Yeah,
too old for dolls, No you'renot. And Jolly Being is very much
the doll we wished we had growingup, right, right. I love
my blonde hair, blue eyed Ada, but I wished I had a doll
(16:41):
that looked like me. And Ithink, really, I think really dolls
are just more than just a toyin passing. Right, Like we Rember,
we all remember our favorite doll growingup. Yes, for sure,
for sure. I mean let's talkabout the accessories though, because we touched
on it just a little bit earlier, the egg tart. I mean,
what are some of the other accessoriesthat she has? Yeah, so her
chef's hat flips into so we youknow, we Jilly's storyline. You know,
(17:04):
we were very conscious not to giveher a very specific storyline like I've
seen you know, lawyers, doctors. I'm like, no, that's we're
just you know, it's a kid. It's a doll, Like, lets
her have fun. What is mydaughter love doing? She loves messing around
the kitchen, right, acting likeshe's going to help out. So Jilly
bing is you know, loves totinker in the kitchen with grandma, and
her chef's hat flips into an eggtart. Very cool. Oh that's so
(17:29):
cute, and so we yes,it's sup like kids have so much fun
as a little squeaky toy in there. And really, the how we got
there was we wanted to flip thescript around what it means to be Asian
American females, what people assume aboutus, and we wanted to do that
in a fun way. Right we'reflipping the script, the chef's hat turns
into a really fun, delightful littleegg tart with a smiley face so that
(17:51):
squeaks. And then her egg tartdress. It's a little apron dress and
if you look closely enough, thereare a little egg tart expressions. One
got its head spit off, soit looks a little frowny face. There's
like egg white tarts. Just toreally add to the funness of it,
she comes with a pair of sneakers, and we were very intentional about this.
(18:12):
It was funny. As we're goingthrough production, they kept giving me
like Mary Jane's or like I waslike, you know, I want her
to look modern. I want herto be athletic, so that actually delayed
us in terms of finding that perfectpair of like fun like converse like sneakers,
because we wanted to showcase like,yeah, she's she's sort of a
versatile little girl. And then JillyBing's packaging comes with a little sort of
(18:37):
it's like a little kitchen in thebackground, so we you know, it's
a it's it was designed so thatyou can kind of reuse the packaging to
store It's like a little kitchen withlike a like a cabinet where you can
store her hat. We also italso comes with two bandanas. The two
bandanas come together and form like asyou grow your jelly bean collection, these
(18:59):
bandanas form a picnic blanket for thedoll or you know, for you know,
however the kid wants to play withit. And so the meaning behind
that is on the bandannas are differentfood prints. Right now. We have
some dim sum foods, where wehave some like tofu dishes, we have
tayaki it's wherever this red bean dessert. We've got ube cakes and the the
(19:21):
the meaning behind it, it's justyou know, come have a seat at
the table, right and we wantto showcase Asian foods in a fun way,
right, like we you know,And I think part our customer base
has been a mix of people withAsian American children, people without children,
but people with non Asian children whosay, you know, I want my
kids to have dolls that looks likethey're friends. I want my kids to
(19:45):
be exposed to, you know,kind of different cultures, and we want
to showcase Asian cultures in this reallyfun way through our doll. Wow.
I love that it's such a goodlike education piece too, right, like
a way for parents have these conversationsthat isn't so you know, uncomfortable,
right and makes it fun. Sohow awesome is that? I mean,
(20:07):
I love everything about I want jellybeing. I was just thinking I want
to order one for my niece.I like, I'm already. Oh,
she's gonna make a great holiday giftfor many many children. Yes, and
the holidays are coming in fast.So tell the people one more time,
give them the website, give themyour social media so they can find you.
Yeah. So our website is Jillybing dot com so jelly j I
(20:32):
L L Y B I n G. And our social handles is at hello
jelly ban. Oh. I loveit. I love it. And the
little videos that you guys post upof like the kids having their first reactions
or like playing with them, arejust so heartwarming and it's just a beautiful
thing to see. I mean,like you said, we didn't have these
moments as kids, and so it'sreally cool through their eyes and were able
(20:55):
to see all of this. Soagain, thank you for all that you're
doing for these young ladies and soonto come these young boys that are gonna
have these dolls to play with.Two. You know, one other thing
we wanted to ask you because wetalked about you know how, you know
we on the daily juggle so much. Right, are you fighting time for
self care? What are your whatare your go tos or secrets to make
(21:18):
sure that you're getting it in somehowsome way. Good reminder to right before
this is the reason I was askingif you're going to see me on videos.
I went for a swim. Ijust nice. I went for a
swim. I was like a millionof things to do. So I think
there's two things I did. Oneis I try to get to work out
in a few times a week nomatter what, because I find that that
gives me more energy. And youknow, it's funny. When things get
really bad, I feel so overwhelmed, I will go pick up one of
(21:41):
my kids early and do something withthem. Oh, because that I never
regret, and that just yeah,that's always It's a winning formula no matter
what. Yeah, I love that. I love it, eleanor a pleasure
to have you on. We can'twait to have you back on, probably
around the holidays, so we cantalk about how the beings are flying off
the shelves and you know, reallyjust see how you've how you've continued to
(22:03):
grow, and we just appreciate youand thank you for coming on with us.
Thank you for I'm being excited.Thank you so much
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