November 29, 2023 • 33 mins
Welcome to an inspiring conversation with Andrea Furtick, the innovative CEO and founder of AGC Toys, and the creative force behind the Afro Goddess Warrior Dolls and Project. www.inthedollworld.com
Get an intriguing glimpse into Andrea's artistic journey that led to the creation of the Afro Goddess Tarot Arkanas and ultimately, these unique, representation-rich dolls. Discover how she overcame the hurdles of cost-effective doll creation, and ushered in the creation of Nova: Goddess of the Universe and The Afro Goddess Warrior Doll Collection.
Learn how her dolls empower and promote self-discovery, and how licensing can help ease the financial burden in the toy industry. We also discuss the concept of 'Sticker Shock' and the reality of high costs in creating a vinyl doll.
Have you ever wondered about growth and licensing in the toy industry? We've got you covered. Tag along as Andrea divulges her experiences at the New York Toy Fair and shares her invaluable insights into the significance of proper systems for business growth.
But there's more to the toy business than just creating dolls. Andrea shares the power of delegation, collaboration, and representation in building an impactful toy business. Listen to the exciting future plans of AGC Toys and how seeking the right support in business can make all the difference.
To learn more about Andrea and AGC Toys visit AGC Toys, Inc. (agctoysinc.com)
#ITDW #ITDWpodcast #dollpodcast #podcast #georgetteITDW #AndreFurtick
#afrogoddesswarriordolls #agctoysinc #agctoys
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everybody and welcome to In the Dawn World, a
show spotlighting the passionand the people of the Dawn
community With your host,georgia Taylor, former vice
president and co-founder of BigBeautiful Dolls.
Join her as she talks tofascinating doll artists,
customizers, avid collectors,redesigners, authors and all the
people in between, as theyshare their journeys, give us
(00:27):
glimpses into their processesand will propel their passion
and drive to help keep the dollworld moving and shaking.
Welcome to the show, helloeverybody, and welcome to
another episode of In the DawnWorld.
I'm your host, georgia Taylor,and, as always, I'm so excited
to bring you some amazing newdoll creators in the Dawn World.
(00:48):
So today is no exception.
I am speaking today with AndreaFurtick.
She is the CEO and founder ofAGC Toys and she is the creator
of Afro Goddess, which is awarrior doll collection.
So excited to have her shareher journey with you because
I've seen these dolls and mether about a year and a half
(01:09):
probably about a year ago, at apitch contest that was given by
one of the chambers before myfriend Audrey and I developed
the Gwynette Women's Chamber andwe have stayed in contact and
I'm just so glad to be able toshowcase what it is that she's
doing in the Dawn community.
So thank you so much, andrea,for being on In the Dawn World
with me.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's such a special opportunityand I'm really glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yes, I'm so glad to have you here and for you to be
able to share with my listenersand the people who watch the
show on YouTube, to talk aboutyour collection and why you got
that started.
I know you have a really uniquestory and share your story with
us.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So my name is Andrea Furtett and I am from Orange
Park, south Carolina, but Ireside in the beautiful streets
of Atlanta.
I have always wanted to be anartist, and so that has always
been the journey that life hastaken me on.
As I grew older and went tocollege and went to Savannah
College for Art and Design, Irealized that the college track
(02:11):
wasn't for me and life justwanted me to take a different
path.
So I left school, I went backhome to South Carolina and I
really took some time toactually study what it was to be
, I guess, a budding black womanin America, in the South today,
and so that was really a veryspecial situation for me, and so
(02:33):
I started to create all myartwork around Afrocentric
topics and theories, and I seethe world in a much more, you
know, beautiful way than a lotof other people.
And so what actually ended uphappening was one day I got a
random message from a lady I hadsold a painting to in England
(02:54):
and she loved the painting andshe said hey, girl, I really
think you should get into thetarot.
So didn't know anything abouttarot or divination practices at
that time.
However, I spent like a yearand a half just studying it card
by card, and then, from thetopics and the symbolism that I
saw and I felt were important,not just for me but for the
(03:14):
culture and for any other personwho came to use it, I created
my own tarot deck called theAfro Goddess Tarot Arkanas.
So this is the Afro GoddessTarot Arkanas.
It's a holographic edition.
This is actually the specialedition that US Games licensed
for me last year.
But the special thing about theAfro Goddess Tarot Arkanas
(03:34):
fully melanated version of thetarot that presents African
culture in a really magnificentand really beautiful kind of way
.
So here's a little glance at themagician card.
And so the magician card meansthat you have everything that
you need at all times to do thethings that you don't want to
that you need to do.
(03:55):
And so, even studying tarot, Ilearned that some, and probably
most in today's age, are AfricanAmerican community, are not
necessarily afraid, butincomplete misunderstanding of
what tarot is altogether.
So that became a real journeyto bring representation to
spiritual practice, to you knowjust what it is to grow up in a
(04:18):
path that's not so mainstream.
So, as US Games licensed thisdeck for me, it gave me an idea,
because not only did theylicense this deck, they licensed
the Afro Goddess Oracle deck aswell, and that provided me with
150 plus characters that Icould turn into a really amazing
(04:39):
story, because if you knowanything about tarot, you would
know that it is simply just astory being told about the
person.
We all live the same story.
It's called the hero's journey.
You can look up countlessarticles about that topic.
I've given speeches on it andit is a really mind blowing
phenomenon of how life isliterally the same, even in its
(05:02):
differences, for all of us.
So with these 150 charactersthat we have here, I started to
create the Afro Goddess WarriorDoll Project.
I always wanted to make dolls.
I think I handpainted likethree or four on Instagram and
it went viral and then I waslike, oh my gosh, can't hand
paint these, don't know what I'mgoing to do.
Well, the first thing westarted with was the Supreme
(05:25):
Goddess Statue.
So this is actually the Supremecard, which I added into the
tarot.
I'm kind of as an aphrocentricrepresentation of balance.
So she has balance of herthoughts, of her actions, of her
time and her material and whenyou think of all of those things
(05:46):
, it really creates a life whereyou can kind of master and
create anything that you want tohave.
So you made these, but theyweren't necessarily cost
effective.
If you're in the market ofbuilding dolls, you would know
sometimes if you're not gettingthe amount that you need like
cost too much in order tosustain the product.
But what we were able to do isprove to the market that people
(06:09):
want this product.
So then I was like, oh, let'shave a Barbie style doll.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So from her was birthed actual Nova it's the one
that I saw, by the way, just soeverybody can understand and
like.
When she came to the pitch,that was the first thing I saw
was this doll and I wasdefinitely I grew up definitely
gravitated toward that.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
This is Nova, and so we're turning her into a Barbie
style doll for our younger girlsnow, because it comes from a
realization that we really don'thave any evergreen, emotionally
intelligent, afrocentricproducts in the world.
We have a lot of black dollsbudding and that they're
(06:52):
beautiful.
They really are, but it's morethan just the outer appearance
and it's time that we show girlsthat there's, that these dolls
and the things that we're givingthem to entertain them and
teach them encompass more thandoing your hair or different
types of hair.
Like.
I love all the new products withthe afrocentric hair and
(07:16):
different types of hair, butbeing a black person is more
than just your hair.
It's the heritage, it's thethought process, it's everything
that there is to go into theculture other than just the
physical appearance.
So from here, we don't want toleave our younger babies out.
Nova turned into a plush and sotraveling through this and
(07:41):
designing it out in a reallycool and amazing way, and I have
a very unique tech approachthat we can't mention just yet,
but I'm super excited to sharethat with my hopeful new
manufacturing partners soon.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Thank you so much for sharing the process of that.
And again, I mentioned earlierthe doll was the one that I saw
and I just fell in love with her.
I thought she was so unique andso different and just so
beautiful and I was curiousabout your journey and I was
curious about where you wereheaded in creating that doll.
So I know that you went to ToyFair, so can you shed some light
(08:18):
on you know how that experiencewas for you and I guess, where
you at in the process ofcreating the vinyl doll and also
the plush dolls, because I dobelieve that those are probably
closer to production for youthan the vinyl doll.
But just share a little bitabout what your experience was
at Toy Fair.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Okay, so my experience at Toy Fair was
really, really cool.
I've actually spent severalyears as an independent
manufacturer, so if you don'tknow what that means, that means
every product that I've evercreated, from the tarot deck to
the statue bed to books, to anyof those things, I would
facilitate that creation,oversee it and have it brought
(08:58):
over from another country.
So this is actually a newexperience for me going into the
licensing world and we'rereally only doing this because
my independent productionoutgrew me and I could no longer
sustain what it took for me todo that on my own not physically
or financially in order to growit to the rate it deserved.
(09:20):
So I caught on to licensing andI actually attended the Las
Vegas Licensing Expo and that'swhere I really learned about the
process and how, at that moment, I could go back to just being
a creator and not just doing allof those right brain things,
because I'm so much of a leftbrain individual but I'm good at
(09:41):
the right brain.
But you know you have to shopout for the things you're not
great Exactly.
Yes, so now I just get to goback to being a creator.
I actually stumbled upon notnecessarily a contest, but an
open pitch competition that youhad to submit to a committee
from the Toy Association, and Isubmitted the Afro Goddess plush
(10:05):
collection for that venture andwe were selected, and so that's
how the Afro Goddess brandended up at Toy Fair in like a
little blink of an eye, becausewe actually didn't intend to go.
But then they chose us and Irearranged my schedule, my kids
schedule and always grateful formy parents who are willing to
(10:26):
help and keep them when theyneed to and we took ourselves to
Toy Fair and participated inwhat they call Creative Factor
Inventor Day.
So Creative Factor Inventor Daywas a group of about 20
individuals that had newproducts that are coming out,
that are looking formanufacturing partners, and so
what the idea of the day was?
(10:47):
It was supposed to notnecessarily, you know, be a
cheat code, but like move youahead into being able to get
these meetings with theseindividuals because they're
already in the room.
And so I had a really coolexperience and I got to meet
some really fantastic peoplethat are executives and some of
the biggest toy companies in theworld.
And now I'm chatting with themabout the large scale production
(11:11):
of the got the Effer GoddessWarrior collection, because
where I used to, you know,produce it myself on a smaller
scale, maybe 500 to 1000, andthen bring them in and sell them
one by one, and then I have topack them and ship them.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
That's taking time.
Remember that.
Yeah, remember those days.
That's the creator.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
And when I tell people like I'm the Disney you
don't know, yet I'm literallythe Disney you don't know yet.
And if I'm ever going torealize that dream, I have to
make sure I put systems in place, because I also, at the same
time, I'm a mentor in a programcalled the Blocks Entrepreneur
Reality Show.
It's actually just aired onAmazon Prime.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yes, it has.
I've been watching it.
I've been watching it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yes, I was a contestant in season seven and
I'm now a judge and now a mentor, from season 11 and on, and so
I I share with them thatprocesses as we've learned from
our I guess our little guru, wesBergman, that your processes
are what are able to progressyou, and if you're too afraid to
(12:18):
put progresses in line or letsomeone else into the business,
you're kind of going to plateauand that's where it is.
So there was a decision day Iguess that had to happen, and
licensing became it.
New York Toy Fair has opened atremendous amount of doors for
me, so I'm extremely grateful tothe Toy Association and that
committee that selected me to bea part of that, and we were
(12:40):
actually featured in the toybook, which is really exciting.
Yes, congratulations, thank you,Thank you, and that's a really
commemorial and wonderfulexperience.
I'm really excited that thatactually happened.
So I'm just at this way we'rejust riding the wave, me and my
(13:01):
wonderful agent, marlene QSstuff, us licensing, and so now
that's my, my very godmother.
And you know we're just rockingout together.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
You have to have those people, you know you have
to have those people to help youunderstand.
You know how you need to grow inthat industry and I think what
you were saying was absolutelyright Like when you don't have
systems in place or you don'teven understand what systems you
need in place, you know, toreach that growth that you need.
It is really detrimental toyour business and, being a
(13:33):
solopreneur, we always want totake on all the jobs because
this is these, our babies.
You know whether it's a doll ora product or, you know, a
service, it's our baby and wewant to.
We want to feel like we'reprotecting it, but sometimes we
over protect and it doesn'tallow anything to really grow.
And so I think the you know theadvice that was given.
(13:55):
Obviously he's an amazingentrepreneur and he knows what
he's talking about.
He's been in business a longtime.
But to share that with you andfor you to receive that and take
that in and then say how can Iplace my company to grow the way
I want it to grow by, you know,allowing other people to be a
part of that, I think it'sreally kudos to you for
(14:16):
listening to that.
But I think you know, I knowyou personally, so I know you
have a lot of drive and a lot ofheart and you're going to go
after what you want, and so Iknow you made the right decision
to do that, because that'sreally kind of who you are,
because you really want yourbrand to succeed and and you
know, as a solopreneur, it'sreally hard to say, hey, come on
(14:40):
in and help me with thissometimes.
Sometimes it's hard to ask forhelp.
You're in a great positionwhere you have a lot of people
who want to give you help, andso you have to discern a lot of
that too.
I think you're doing an amazingjob.
I mean, you're just in the lastyear, you have grown so much.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, you really have.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
It's also been a little bit of a quite honestly
destiny at play.
To be completely fair, allthese decisions, I did not sit
down and map out Right?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yes, some.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
of the things just happened you know, for instance
in the creation.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
But you were ready at some point, right?
It's always that thing of whenyou know when you're ready, the
teacher appears right.
If you weren't ready andlooking for those things,
sometimes you, even if theteacher shows up, you're not
aware of it, but you're aware,yeah, because you already some
of your goals were in place.
You already kind of had avision of what.
You know what I mean.
I have this doll, I want tocreate this, I want to make sure
(15:33):
that it's seen by everybody.
And you went and you did.
You did the work in the front,you did the figurine, you did
the.
You know what I mean.
You did those things to putyourself in that place, and I
think that's important too.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, and you know that's that's actually a really
good point.
So when I made the figurine inthe back of my mind I knew I
wanted to make a doll, and Ithink at the time I had reached
out to a company that I thoughtcould possibly do it for me and
the price she quoted me was justridiculous.
And so that's how I actuallyended up making the figurines.
And I was talking with a friendthe other day and we were
(16:07):
talking about, you know, justshowing the universe that you're
willing, yes, that you'rewilling to try, that you're
willing to do it small, thatyou're willing to keep going if
you fall down, like all of thosethings, and just it naturally
just kind of ended up here, eventhough I did do some action in
the process, but the universeabsolutely met me halfway.
(16:28):
Very grateful, we're grateful.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Because you know, it's just a different twist.
The fact that they're theresharing those stories just
allows more people to understandwhat Tarot reading is about.
All of those things helpspeople to find out a little bit
more about who they are.
I think that's really, reallypowerful.
So that's one of the thingsthat drew me to the dolls.
I just think what you're doingis really powerful.
(16:51):
It gives people a differentperspective on who they are in
this world, and I think yourdolls can share that with young
girls and adults.
It's really cool.
And so I know you were talkingabout the difference between
making the figurine and anddoing a production of vinyl
dolls as opposed to a plus style.
I've been talking to dollcreators for many years.
(17:12):
I'm in my own doll creator andI know that manufacturing vinyl
is very expensive.
It has been expensive 20 yearsago when we started Pick
beautiful dolls.
It is just as expensive now,and I think that holds a lot of
a lot of people back that don'thave that kind of income to just
invest.
I mean, you know it could costyou almost a house really to
(17:32):
create a vinyl doll.
So talk a little bit aboutSticker Shock that you found
from trying to create a vinyldoll, and is that something that
you think holds back a lot ofcreators?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's definitely a barrier and I even want to say
for our you know, black andpeople of color creators,
because we don't have thecapital to inject into a project
like that.
So my very first project, Iactually got started on
Kickstarter.
The Apropos Terrarcanas ran andneeded like $6,000.
(18:05):
It made about seven.
I paid for the project and Icontinuously rolled that money
around and I ended up being ableto create a bunch of other
products.
Now the where you say StickerShock, going from publication
into the vinyl doll project,absolutely had a Sticker Shock
because those rounds of 500decks that I would buy would
(18:28):
cost me.
It started out costing me about$5,000.
And then that crept up too.
But asking them to make thatthere's not just the cost of the
product or the doll itself.
There is the setup fee, whichis for them to do the 3D
rendering of what is going to bedone and don't need it changed
(18:49):
more than twice.
There is the molding fee andthat is different between the
head and the body.
So those are two differentprices.
So the body that I had designedfor Nova was a more authentic
African body.
It was larger but not toovoluptuous, but still a healthy,
(19:12):
bigger, strong woman, and thatbody was going to cost.
I want to say she asked me for$12,000 just for the body.
I had five different dolls.
We would use the same body anddo five different heads, and the
heads were $2,000 on the mold.
So now, after you paid all themold costs and the set of costs,
(19:34):
you get into the price of theactual product.
That includes that vinyl doll,the clothing, the hair,
depending upon what style or ifthey have the hair available,
which they probably won'tbecause this is a newer genre of
Afrocentric product.
They would not necessarily havethe hair that I requested, so
(19:55):
they'd have to find it.
Then there's the littleaccessories, because we had a
sword and a wand and cups thatwent with her.
Each of those have a cost.
There's the box, what they callthe bolster, which is the thing
that holds the doll in andmakes it look cute.
That has a cost.
There is the mysteriousshipping cost.
(20:16):
That always fluctuates and it'squite extensive depending upon
who you use and your method ofchoice.
You can put it on a boat or youcan put it on a plane, but
those prices are very, verydifferent, as are what happens
in those processes and the leastof time it takes for you to get
(20:38):
it.
So there's so many variables indoing that.
It really does take a team ofpeople and, quite honestly, I'm
extremely impressed with myselfthat I did it as long as I could
, and so now I am also impressedwith myself that I have figured
out the smarter route for asolo entrepreneur, without a
(20:58):
team, to get licensing Right,and licensing allows basically
not necessarily a team of peopleto work for me, but we partner.
I come through with ideas andplans and they execute them in a
way that I know is going to bemarket ready and they'll
probably already have the shelfspace in the stores that I'm
(21:19):
about to try to fight for.
So I'm super excited to getinto this journey with licensing
, and the sticker shock on thatactually was a blessing in
disguise, because at that timein my career when I was making
that, I didn't know exactly thatI could go.
I didn't know the route of ohgo, get a second mortgage on
(21:41):
your house, do all of this orget the type of loan.
I was literally flipping itaround and paying it my own way
and that's wonderful, but had Iactually had that capital, I
don't know that it would havebeen the smartest decision Right
.
Who injected all into creatingthose dolls at that moment?
And then what?
And so, then, how would theanimation get made?
(22:03):
How would marketing be paid for?
And so, being, I guess,obedient to Destiny's hand, and
waiting for the moment, thatseemed like it fit good and it
worked correctly.
Licensing fell in my lap, and Ihaven't looked back since.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
That's really, that's really, really, really exciting
that licensing is coming yourway, because I think it does to
allow you to be the creator thatyou are and you know you can
step back from having not thatyou're not making those other
decisions, but those otherdecisions are handled by other
people.
You share what it is that youwant to have and then they
(22:40):
figure out how to make that workfor you right, as opposed to
you trying to spend all thattime doing all of that.
So you know, and you are acreator, so that's what you want
to spend time on and I thinkthat's what gets a lot of
entrepreneurs, especially in thedoll world, caught up, because
they are creators and when theyhave to flip that script and
become you know the marketingteam, right, the PR team, you
(23:05):
know all of these other peoplethat they have to be to move
their product forward.
Sometimes it becomes a littlebit difficult for them because
you know they are the creators,they have this vision, but they
cannot see how to make it happenfor them on the other end,
because they just the thoughtprocess is different, you know,
in creating that.
So having a team, I think, isreally really helpful and I'm
(23:29):
glad that you were able to finda team, that they found you, you
know, and that they seesomething in what it is that you
have to bring to market.
So I'm excited for you and I'mexcited to see what's happening.
So, on that note, what advicereally would you give of
entrepreneurs or creators?
Right, that's looking to make asignificant impact in the toy
(23:50):
industry, especially in the dollworld.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
You know, with what you have already gone through,
my advice to other creatorslooking to enter the doll or toy
industry is quite honestly, behonest with yourself about your
capabilities.
We all have really big dreams,we.
If you can't break it down intoan actionable plan and actually
(24:13):
delve out thoseresponsibilities to other people
, the reality is it's often notgoing to go as far as you
foresee, because you'reliterally just one person, and
that was a hard lesson for me.
It really was, and so I've gotit now and I scream from the
rooftop every chance I get.
You cannot do it all.
(24:33):
Your job is to create, to makebeautiful things, to come up
with amazing ideas, and it takestime and energy just to think
these things up.
You know, sometimes I can justI have dropped my children off
to school, come back home, makecoffee and just kind of sat at
the table for hours, and beforeI knew it, hours have passed.
And it's not that I'm not doinganything, I'm thinking what am
(24:54):
I going to do next?
What's going to make this work?
How can I make this productbetter?
How am I going to market thisLike?
Even not doing thoseresponsibilities, I have to come
up with a plan for it to becarried out, and so, trying to
come up with the plan.
Carry out the plan see if theplan works.
Adjust the plan, relaunch theplan.
(25:16):
All of that is so much on oneperson.
It'll just drag you down andit'll kill your creative edge.
So the best advice I can giveis to understand what your power
is.
Find someone that can give you80 percent of you.
You'll never find 100 percentof you, but if they can give you
80 percent of you, that will beable to be directed into
(25:41):
something you would find nearperfect.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Wow, that's great advice.
That's so great advice becauseit is true, it will drag you
down, it will wear you out.
Been there.
Yeah, it'll stop you from doingthe thing that you really want
to do.
You can get discouraged becauseit is like you said it's not,
it's not.
Oh, I'm going to create thisand this is going to happen.
(26:05):
It is a process.
For any of that to happen, youjust have to be able to switch
different parts of you.
Sometimes, like you said, ifyou really don't have the power
in that area, then you reallyneed to find somebody else who
does, because otherwise, by thetime you spend all your time
trying to do things that you'renot really sure about, you waste
(26:28):
the time on the things that youcan do.
So thank you for sharing that.
I really appreciate that.
So, when you were talking aboutcoming home and taking the kids
to school and things like that,I know you have young kids.
I know you're out there makingit happen for them as well.
What do they feel about whatyou're doing, as you're building
(26:48):
a legacy this is a legacydriven business and how do they
feel about the jobs that you'recreating and what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
So I have very honest kids and these, this is my
little focus group.
This is my little focus group.
So what's interesting is NoblePlush has been made twice and
the first time Noble Plush wasmade she had a wider smile and
my younger daughter thought shelooked kind of strange and so,
(27:15):
after I revamped her, gave herthis smaller like cuter lip, and
all five of them came in withthese same like small cute lips
and she put them all up onto thetable and I called her
downstairs and she said can Ihave them?
And that's when I knew itworked.
So they're wonderful, they'regreat.
(27:41):
They listen to my plans.
My older daughter is more of thehelp me with the story Because
she's like that doesn't makesense, so what about this?
And then because she's 13, soshe's looking at everything with
a very critical eye.
So they're my focus group, myvisual focus group, my storyline
focus group, and I really likehaving them be able to be
(28:02):
involved in the creation of thisproject.
And I've even realized, justmeeting some of the other
creators in the toy industry, alot of those children that are
on the boxes in the store.
Those are their actual children.
They're actual kids thatthey're taking pictures of them
playing with these products athome and they're using that.
(28:23):
It's not necessarily a photoshoot with these children models
that they picked.
Those are their actual children.
So I actually can't wait to beable to use my actual children
box and it can grow up and belike, yeah, that was me on that
box.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
That's going to be really, really special.
I'm really so excited for youand so proud of you.
I mean being in this spacebecause, you know, I think the
more of us that are in thisspace, the better opportunity it
is for us to be able to reachout and say, hey, this is what I
need.
Or, you know, I know that thisperson did that.
I can do that too, and that'sagain.
It all boils down right torepresentation of who we are as
(29:02):
people.
You know what we look like aspeople, you know where we come
from as people, and the more wehave represented in the Dolls
page, the more holistic it'll be.
So I'm just excited to seewhere you're going.
And so, speaking of that, canyou just provide us a little
glimpse of the future?
Maybe some other excitingproducts you have coming up?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
OK.
So the future of AGC toys atthe moment is very bright, and I
can't tell you exactly how, butyou'll be able to see her in a
very amazing way of quarterforward next year in a large
retail store the very vague PapaChampagne bottle kind of answer
.
Now you know, we having arelease here in Atlanta, even
(29:47):
though it's not necessarily atoy city, it is our city and
Atlanta influences everything.
So we will be having afantastic opening here for Nova
and her friends in Atlanta whenthe moment comes, and probably
in LA as well.
After that I will not after,but in contingency to that I
(30:09):
have been exploring a lot ofother categories as far as
activities, costume, birthdaysupplies, pajamas, sheep,
luggage, just having a blast,and some very cool invention
type toys that I really can'tsay anything about, but they're
(30:29):
awesome, that's it.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Well, I'm excited.
I look for my ticket to that,yeah, so I can come and be a
part of that and just share withthe you know, the documentary
about what's happening.
So with you, because I'm sureonce people see you and hear
what you have going on, they'regoing to be definitely intrigued
.
They want to know more aboutAfro Goddess Warrior doll
(30:51):
collection and I'm just so gladto be able to share this with
everybody because I think it's alittle different.
You know, again, like I wantpeople to see the journey and,
you know, talk to people who arejust not just in the doll world
but in the toy world too,because they kind of, you know,
they kind of merge, you know,you know here and there and
understand how you know theprocess is for bringing a doll
(31:14):
to market and you can do veryvariations of what it is that
you're thinking about creating.
You know, I mean, you had afigurine, you had a vinyl doll,
now you have a plush doll andall of those are important and
all of them make statements indifferent areas of the doll
community and the toy world.
So I'm excited, I'm so excitedfor you and I'm really so, I'm
(31:37):
just so happy, I'm so happy tosee you there and happy to see
that you're sharing thesebeautiful dolls with everybody.
So can you just tell everybodywhere they can find you, where
they could see what you havecoming up and what's happening
for you?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, absolutely so.
You can always find me atAGCToysInccom and you can follow
all of our social medias withthat same handle.
So AGCToys with an S Inc I N?
C, and that will take youthrough our Instagram.
We have a Facebook group whereI share a lot of the behind the
scenes motions of the creation,so you may be interested in
(32:14):
joining that, and we have amailing list that you can join
from our website.
That'll keep you completely upto date with everything's
dropping and happening and allof the little special things
that I share.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Well, thank you so much, Andrew, for being with us
on the doll world.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Thank you so much for having me.
This has been a wonderful time.
I'm looking forward to sharingmore with you all again in the
future.
Bye.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Hello everybody.
Thank you so much for listeningto In the Doll World.
I hope you enjoyed the show.
Please don't forget to sharethe podcast with other doll
enthusiasts, such as yourself.
You can find us at Facebook,instagram and Twitter at In the
Doll World.
The show can also be downloadedon all apps with podcasts or
streamed To see videos of ourinterviews.
Please visit our In the DollWorld YouTube channel.
(32:57):
And don't forget In the DollWorld is also on Alexa.
Just ask Alexa to open DollWorld.
Did you know that you can nowleave a voicemail or give us a
review?
We would love to hear from youor suggest a guess for the show.
You can do all that by visitingwwwinthedollworldcom and, until
next week, add a little playinto your life by collecting a
(33:20):
doll, sharing a doll or giving adoll a home.
And again, thank you forlistening to In the Doll World.
Hello everybody and welcome to In the Dawn World, a
show spotlighting the passionand the people of the Dawn
community With your host,georgia Taylor, former vice
president and co-founder of BigBeautiful Dolls.
Join her as she talks tofascinating doll artists,
customizers, avid collectors,redesigners, authors and all the
people in between, as theyshare their journeys, give us
(00:27):
glimpses into their processesand will propel their passion
and drive to help keep the dollworld moving and shaking.
Welcome to the show, helloeverybody, and welcome to
another episode of In the DawnWorld.
I'm your host, georgia Taylor,and, as always, I'm so excited
to bring you some amazing newdoll creators in the Dawn World.
(00:48):
So today is no exception.
I am speaking today with AndreaFurtick.
She is the CEO and founder ofAGC Toys and she is the creator
of Afro Goddess, which is awarrior doll collection.
So excited to have her shareher journey with you because
I've seen these dolls and mether about a year and a half
(01:09):
probably about a year ago, at apitch contest that was given by
one of the chambers before myfriend Audrey and I developed
the Gwynette Women's Chamber andwe have stayed in contact and
I'm just so glad to be able toshowcase what it is that she's
doing in the Dawn community.
So thank you so much, andrea,for being on In the Dawn World
with me.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's such a special opportunityand I'm really glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yes, I'm so glad to have you here and for you to be
able to share with my listenersand the people who watch the
show on YouTube, to talk aboutyour collection and why you got
that started.
I know you have a really uniquestory and share your story with
us.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So my name is Andrea Furtett and I am from Orange
Park, south Carolina, but Ireside in the beautiful streets
of Atlanta.
I have always wanted to be anartist, and so that has always
been the journey that life hastaken me on.
As I grew older and went tocollege and went to Savannah
College for Art and Design, Irealized that the college track
(02:11):
wasn't for me and life justwanted me to take a different
path.
So I left school, I went backhome to South Carolina and I
really took some time toactually study what it was to be
, I guess, a budding black womanin America, in the South today,
and so that was really a veryspecial situation for me, and so
(02:33):
I started to create all myartwork around Afrocentric
topics and theories, and I seethe world in a much more, you
know, beautiful way than a lotof other people.
And so what actually ended uphappening was one day I got a
random message from a lady I hadsold a painting to in England
(02:54):
and she loved the painting andshe said hey, girl, I really
think you should get into thetarot.
So didn't know anything abouttarot or divination practices at
that time.
However, I spent like a yearand a half just studying it card
by card, and then, from thetopics and the symbolism that I
saw and I felt were important,not just for me but for the
(03:14):
culture and for any other personwho came to use it, I created
my own tarot deck called theAfro Goddess Tarot Arkanas.
So this is the Afro GoddessTarot Arkanas.
It's a holographic edition.
This is actually the specialedition that US Games licensed
for me last year.
But the special thing about theAfro Goddess Tarot Arkanas
(03:34):
fully melanated version of thetarot that presents African
culture in a really magnificentand really beautiful kind of way
.
So here's a little glance at themagician card.
And so the magician card meansthat you have everything that
you need at all times to do thethings that you don't want to
that you need to do.
(03:55):
And so, even studying tarot, Ilearned that some, and probably
most in today's age, are AfricanAmerican community, are not
necessarily afraid, butincomplete misunderstanding of
what tarot is altogether.
So that became a real journeyto bring representation to
spiritual practice, to you knowjust what it is to grow up in a
(04:18):
path that's not so mainstream.
So, as US Games licensed thisdeck for me, it gave me an idea,
because not only did theylicense this deck, they licensed
the Afro Goddess Oracle deck aswell, and that provided me with
150 plus characters that Icould turn into a really amazing
(04:39):
story, because if you knowanything about tarot, you would
know that it is simply just astory being told about the
person.
We all live the same story.
It's called the hero's journey.
You can look up countlessarticles about that topic.
I've given speeches on it andit is a really mind blowing
phenomenon of how life isliterally the same, even in its
(05:02):
differences, for all of us.
So with these 150 charactersthat we have here, I started to
create the Afro Goddess WarriorDoll Project.
I always wanted to make dolls.
I think I handpainted likethree or four on Instagram and
it went viral and then I waslike, oh my gosh, can't hand
paint these, don't know what I'mgoing to do.
Well, the first thing westarted with was the Supreme
(05:25):
Goddess Statue.
So this is actually the Supremecard, which I added into the
tarot.
I'm kind of as an aphrocentricrepresentation of balance.
So she has balance of herthoughts, of her actions, of her
time and her material and whenyou think of all of those things
(05:46):
, it really creates a life whereyou can kind of master and
create anything that you want tohave.
So you made these, but theyweren't necessarily cost
effective.
If you're in the market ofbuilding dolls, you would know
sometimes if you're not gettingthe amount that you need like
cost too much in order tosustain the product.
But what we were able to do isprove to the market that people
(06:09):
want this product.
So then I was like, oh, let'shave a Barbie style doll.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So from her was birthed actual Nova it's the one
that I saw, by the way, just soeverybody can understand and
like.
When she came to the pitch,that was the first thing I saw
was this doll and I wasdefinitely I grew up definitely
gravitated toward that.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
This is Nova, and so we're turning her into a Barbie
style doll for our younger girlsnow, because it comes from a
realization that we really don'thave any evergreen, emotionally
intelligent, afrocentricproducts in the world.
We have a lot of black dollsbudding and that they're
(06:52):
beautiful.
They really are, but it's morethan just the outer appearance
and it's time that we show girlsthat there's, that these dolls
and the things that we're givingthem to entertain them and
teach them encompass more thandoing your hair or different
types of hair.
Like.
I love all the new products withthe afrocentric hair and
(07:16):
different types of hair, butbeing a black person is more
than just your hair.
It's the heritage, it's thethought process, it's everything
that there is to go into theculture other than just the
physical appearance.
So from here, we don't want toleave our younger babies out.
Nova turned into a plush and sotraveling through this and
(07:41):
designing it out in a reallycool and amazing way, and I have
a very unique tech approachthat we can't mention just yet,
but I'm super excited to sharethat with my hopeful new
manufacturing partners soon.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Thank you so much for sharing the process of that.
And again, I mentioned earlierthe doll was the one that I saw
and I just fell in love with her.
I thought she was so unique andso different and just so
beautiful and I was curiousabout your journey and I was
curious about where you wereheaded in creating that doll.
So I know that you went to ToyFair, so can you shed some light
(08:18):
on you know how that experiencewas for you and I guess, where
you at in the process ofcreating the vinyl doll and also
the plush dolls, because I dobelieve that those are probably
closer to production for youthan the vinyl doll.
But just share a little bitabout what your experience was
at Toy Fair.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Okay, so my experience at Toy Fair was
really, really cool.
I've actually spent severalyears as an independent
manufacturer, so if you don'tknow what that means, that means
every product that I've evercreated, from the tarot deck to
the statue bed to books, to anyof those things, I would
facilitate that creation,oversee it and have it brought
(08:58):
over from another country.
So this is actually a newexperience for me going into the
licensing world and we'rereally only doing this because
my independent productionoutgrew me and I could no longer
sustain what it took for me todo that on my own not physically
or financially in order to growit to the rate it deserved.
(09:20):
So I caught on to licensing andI actually attended the Las
Vegas Licensing Expo and that'swhere I really learned about the
process and how, at that moment, I could go back to just being
a creator and not just doing allof those right brain things,
because I'm so much of a leftbrain individual but I'm good at
(09:41):
the right brain.
But you know you have to shopout for the things you're not
great Exactly.
Yes, so now I just get to goback to being a creator.
I actually stumbled upon notnecessarily a contest, but an
open pitch competition that youhad to submit to a committee
from the Toy Association, and Isubmitted the Afro Goddess plush
(10:05):
collection for that venture andwe were selected, and so that's
how the Afro Goddess brandended up at Toy Fair in like a
little blink of an eye, becausewe actually didn't intend to go.
But then they chose us and Irearranged my schedule, my kids
schedule and always grateful formy parents who are willing to
(10:26):
help and keep them when theyneed to and we took ourselves to
Toy Fair and participated inwhat they call Creative Factor
Inventor Day.
So Creative Factor Inventor Daywas a group of about 20
individuals that had newproducts that are coming out,
that are looking formanufacturing partners, and so
what the idea of the day was?
(10:47):
It was supposed to notnecessarily, you know, be a
cheat code, but like move youahead into being able to get
these meetings with theseindividuals because they're
already in the room.
And so I had a really coolexperience and I got to meet
some really fantastic peoplethat are executives and some of
the biggest toy companies in theworld.
And now I'm chatting with themabout the large scale production
(11:11):
of the got the Effer GoddessWarrior collection, because
where I used to, you know,produce it myself on a smaller
scale, maybe 500 to 1000, andthen bring them in and sell them
one by one, and then I have topack them and ship them.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
That's taking time.
Remember that.
Yeah, remember those days.
That's the creator.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
And when I tell people like I'm the Disney you
don't know, yet I'm literallythe Disney you don't know yet.
And if I'm ever going torealize that dream, I have to
make sure I put systems in place, because I also, at the same
time, I'm a mentor in a programcalled the Blocks Entrepreneur
Reality Show.
It's actually just aired onAmazon Prime.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yes, it has.
I've been watching it.
I've been watching it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yes, I was a contestant in season seven and
I'm now a judge and now a mentor, from season 11 and on, and so
I I share with them thatprocesses as we've learned from
our I guess our little guru, wesBergman, that your processes
are what are able to progressyou, and if you're too afraid to
(12:18):
put progresses in line or letsomeone else into the business,
you're kind of going to plateauand that's where it is.
So there was a decision day Iguess that had to happen, and
licensing became it.
New York Toy Fair has opened atremendous amount of doors for
me, so I'm extremely grateful tothe Toy Association and that
committee that selected me to bea part of that, and we were
(12:40):
actually featured in the toybook, which is really exciting.
Yes, congratulations, thank you,Thank you, and that's a really
commemorial and wonderfulexperience.
I'm really excited that thatactually happened.
So I'm just at this way we'rejust riding the wave, me and my
(13:01):
wonderful agent, marlene QSstuff, us licensing, and so now
that's my, my very godmother.
And you know we're just rockingout together.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
You have to have those people, you know you have
to have those people to help youunderstand.
You know how you need to grow inthat industry and I think what
you were saying was absolutelyright Like when you don't have
systems in place or you don'teven understand what systems you
need in place, you know, toreach that growth that you need.
It is really detrimental toyour business and, being a
(13:33):
solopreneur, we always want totake on all the jobs because
this is these, our babies.
You know whether it's a doll ora product or, you know, a
service, it's our baby and wewant to.
We want to feel like we'reprotecting it, but sometimes we
over protect and it doesn'tallow anything to really grow.
And so I think the you know theadvice that was given.
(13:55):
Obviously he's an amazingentrepreneur and he knows what
he's talking about.
He's been in business a longtime.
But to share that with you andfor you to receive that and take
that in and then say how can Iplace my company to grow the way
I want it to grow by, you know,allowing other people to be a
part of that, I think it'sreally kudos to you for
(14:16):
listening to that.
But I think you know, I knowyou personally, so I know you
have a lot of drive and a lot ofheart and you're going to go
after what you want, and so Iknow you made the right decision
to do that, because that'sreally kind of who you are,
because you really want yourbrand to succeed and and you
know, as a solopreneur, it'sreally hard to say, hey, come on
(14:40):
in and help me with thissometimes.
Sometimes it's hard to ask forhelp.
You're in a great positionwhere you have a lot of people
who want to give you help, andso you have to discern a lot of
that too.
I think you're doing an amazingjob.
I mean, you're just in the lastyear, you have grown so much.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, you really have.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
It's also been a little bit of a quite honestly
destiny at play.
To be completely fair, allthese decisions, I did not sit
down and map out Right?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yes, some.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
of the things just happened you know, for instance
in the creation.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
But you were ready at some point, right?
It's always that thing of whenyou know when you're ready, the
teacher appears right.
If you weren't ready andlooking for those things,
sometimes you, even if theteacher shows up, you're not
aware of it, but you're aware,yeah, because you already some
of your goals were in place.
You already kind of had avision of what.
You know what I mean.
I have this doll, I want tocreate this, I want to make sure
(15:33):
that it's seen by everybody.
And you went and you did.
You did the work in the front,you did the figurine, you did
the.
You know what I mean.
You did those things to putyourself in that place, and I
think that's important too.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, and you know that's that's actually a really
good point.
So when I made the figurine inthe back of my mind I knew I
wanted to make a doll, and Ithink at the time I had reached
out to a company that I thoughtcould possibly do it for me and
the price she quoted me was justridiculous.
And so that's how I actuallyended up making the figurines.
And I was talking with a friendthe other day and we were
(16:07):
talking about, you know, justshowing the universe that you're
willing, yes, that you'rewilling to try, that you're
willing to do it small, thatyou're willing to keep going if
you fall down, like all of thosethings, and just it naturally
just kind of ended up here, eventhough I did do some action in
the process, but the universeabsolutely met me halfway.
(16:28):
Very grateful, we're grateful.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Because you know, it's just a different twist.
The fact that they're theresharing those stories just
allows more people to understandwhat Tarot reading is about.
All of those things helpspeople to find out a little bit
more about who they are.
I think that's really, reallypowerful.
So that's one of the thingsthat drew me to the dolls.
I just think what you're doingis really powerful.
(16:51):
It gives people a differentperspective on who they are in
this world, and I think yourdolls can share that with young
girls and adults.
It's really cool.
And so I know you were talkingabout the difference between
making the figurine and anddoing a production of vinyl
dolls as opposed to a plus style.
I've been talking to dollcreators for many years.
(17:12):
I'm in my own doll creator andI know that manufacturing vinyl
is very expensive.
It has been expensive 20 yearsago when we started Pick
beautiful dolls.
It is just as expensive now,and I think that holds a lot of
a lot of people back that don'thave that kind of income to just
invest.
I mean, you know it could costyou almost a house really to
(17:32):
create a vinyl doll.
So talk a little bit aboutSticker Shock that you found
from trying to create a vinyldoll, and is that something that
you think holds back a lot ofcreators?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's definitely a barrier and I even want to say
for our you know, black andpeople of color creators,
because we don't have thecapital to inject into a project
like that.
So my very first project, Iactually got started on
Kickstarter.
The Apropos Terrarcanas ran andneeded like $6,000.
(18:05):
It made about seven.
I paid for the project and Icontinuously rolled that money
around and I ended up being ableto create a bunch of other
products.
Now the where you say StickerShock, going from publication
into the vinyl doll project,absolutely had a Sticker Shock
because those rounds of 500decks that I would buy would
(18:28):
cost me.
It started out costing me about$5,000.
And then that crept up too.
But asking them to make thatthere's not just the cost of the
product or the doll itself.
There is the setup fee, whichis for them to do the 3D
rendering of what is going to bedone and don't need it changed
(18:49):
more than twice.
There is the molding fee andthat is different between the
head and the body.
So those are two differentprices.
So the body that I had designedfor Nova was a more authentic
African body.
It was larger but not toovoluptuous, but still a healthy,
(19:12):
bigger, strong woman, and thatbody was going to cost.
I want to say she asked me for$12,000 just for the body.
I had five different dolls.
We would use the same body anddo five different heads, and the
heads were $2,000 on the mold.
So now, after you paid all themold costs and the set of costs,
(19:34):
you get into the price of theactual product.
That includes that vinyl doll,the clothing, the hair,
depending upon what style or ifthey have the hair available,
which they probably won'tbecause this is a newer genre of
Afrocentric product.
They would not necessarily havethe hair that I requested, so
(19:55):
they'd have to find it.
Then there's the littleaccessories, because we had a
sword and a wand and cups thatwent with her.
Each of those have a cost.
There's the box, what they callthe bolster, which is the thing
that holds the doll in andmakes it look cute.
That has a cost.
There is the mysteriousshipping cost.
(20:16):
That always fluctuates and it'squite extensive depending upon
who you use and your method ofchoice.
You can put it on a boat or youcan put it on a plane, but
those prices are very, verydifferent, as are what happens
in those processes and the leastof time it takes for you to get
(20:38):
it.
So there's so many variables indoing that.
It really does take a team ofpeople and, quite honestly, I'm
extremely impressed with myselfthat I did it as long as I could
, and so now I am also impressedwith myself that I have figured
out the smarter route for asolo entrepreneur, without a
(20:58):
team, to get licensing Right,and licensing allows basically
not necessarily a team of peopleto work for me, but we partner.
I come through with ideas andplans and they execute them in a
way that I know is going to bemarket ready and they'll
probably already have the shelfspace in the stores that I'm
(21:19):
about to try to fight for.
So I'm super excited to getinto this journey with licensing
, and the sticker shock on thatactually was a blessing in
disguise, because at that timein my career when I was making
that, I didn't know exactly thatI could go.
I didn't know the route of ohgo, get a second mortgage on
(21:41):
your house, do all of this orget the type of loan.
I was literally flipping itaround and paying it my own way
and that's wonderful, but had Iactually had that capital, I
don't know that it would havebeen the smartest decision Right
.
Who injected all into creatingthose dolls at that moment?
And then what?
And so, then, how would theanimation get made?
(22:03):
How would marketing be paid for?
And so, being, I guess,obedient to Destiny's hand, and
waiting for the moment, thatseemed like it fit good and it
worked correctly.
Licensing fell in my lap, and Ihaven't looked back since.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
That's really, that's really, really, really exciting
that licensing is coming yourway, because I think it does to
allow you to be the creator thatyou are and you know you can
step back from having not thatyou're not making those other
decisions, but those otherdecisions are handled by other
people.
You share what it is that youwant to have and then they
(22:40):
figure out how to make that workfor you right, as opposed to
you trying to spend all thattime doing all of that.
So you know, and you are acreator, so that's what you want
to spend time on and I thinkthat's what gets a lot of
entrepreneurs, especially in thedoll world, caught up, because
they are creators and when theyhave to flip that script and
become you know the marketingteam, right, the PR team, you
(23:05):
know all of these other peoplethat they have to be to move
their product forward.
Sometimes it becomes a littlebit difficult for them because
you know they are the creators,they have this vision, but they
cannot see how to make it happenfor them on the other end,
because they just the thoughtprocess is different, you know,
in creating that.
So having a team, I think, isreally really helpful and I'm
(23:29):
glad that you were able to finda team, that they found you, you
know, and that they seesomething in what it is that you
have to bring to market.
So I'm excited for you and I'mexcited to see what's happening.
So, on that note, what advicereally would you give of
entrepreneurs or creators?
Right, that's looking to make asignificant impact in the toy
(23:50):
industry, especially in the dollworld.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
You know, with what you have already gone through,
my advice to other creatorslooking to enter the doll or toy
industry is quite honestly, behonest with yourself about your
capabilities.
We all have really big dreams,we.
If you can't break it down intoan actionable plan and actually
(24:13):
delve out thoseresponsibilities to other people
, the reality is it's often notgoing to go as far as you
foresee, because you'reliterally just one person, and
that was a hard lesson for me.
It really was, and so I've gotit now and I scream from the
rooftop every chance I get.
You cannot do it all.
(24:33):
Your job is to create, to makebeautiful things, to come up
with amazing ideas, and it takestime and energy just to think
these things up.
You know, sometimes I can justI have dropped my children off
to school, come back home, makecoffee and just kind of sat at
the table for hours, and beforeI knew it, hours have passed.
And it's not that I'm not doinganything, I'm thinking what am
(24:54):
I going to do next?
What's going to make this work?
How can I make this productbetter?
How am I going to market thisLike?
Even not doing thoseresponsibilities, I have to come
up with a plan for it to becarried out, and so, trying to
come up with the plan.
Carry out the plan see if theplan works.
Adjust the plan, relaunch theplan.
(25:16):
All of that is so much on oneperson.
It'll just drag you down andit'll kill your creative edge.
So the best advice I can giveis to understand what your power
is.
Find someone that can give you80 percent of you.
You'll never find 100 percentof you, but if they can give you
80 percent of you, that will beable to be directed into
(25:41):
something you would find nearperfect.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Wow, that's great advice.
That's so great advice becauseit is true, it will drag you
down, it will wear you out.
Been there.
Yeah, it'll stop you from doingthe thing that you really want
to do.
You can get discouraged becauseit is like you said it's not,
it's not.
Oh, I'm going to create thisand this is going to happen.
(26:05):
It is a process.
For any of that to happen, youjust have to be able to switch
different parts of you.
Sometimes, like you said, ifyou really don't have the power
in that area, then you reallyneed to find somebody else who
does, because otherwise, by thetime you spend all your time
trying to do things that you'renot really sure about, you waste
(26:28):
the time on the things that youcan do.
So thank you for sharing that.
I really appreciate that.
So, when you were talking aboutcoming home and taking the kids
to school and things like that,I know you have young kids.
I know you're out there makingit happen for them as well.
What do they feel about whatyou're doing, as you're building
(26:48):
a legacy this is a legacydriven business and how do they
feel about the jobs that you'recreating and what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
So I have very honest kids and these, this is my
little focus group.
This is my little focus group.
So what's interesting is NoblePlush has been made twice and
the first time Noble Plush wasmade she had a wider smile and
my younger daughter thought shelooked kind of strange and so,
(27:15):
after I revamped her, gave herthis smaller like cuter lip, and
all five of them came in withthese same like small cute lips
and she put them all up onto thetable and I called her
downstairs and she said can Ihave them?
And that's when I knew itworked.
So they're wonderful, they'regreat.
(27:41):
They listen to my plans.
My older daughter is more of thehelp me with the story Because
she's like that doesn't makesense, so what about this?
And then because she's 13, soshe's looking at everything with
a very critical eye.
So they're my focus group, myvisual focus group, my storyline
focus group, and I really likehaving them be able to be
(28:02):
involved in the creation of thisproject.
And I've even realized, justmeeting some of the other
creators in the toy industry, alot of those children that are
on the boxes in the store.
Those are their actual children.
They're actual kids thatthey're taking pictures of them
playing with these products athome and they're using that.
(28:23):
It's not necessarily a photoshoot with these children models
that they picked.
Those are their actual children.
So I actually can't wait to beable to use my actual children
box and it can grow up and belike, yeah, that was me on that
box.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
That's going to be really, really special.
I'm really so excited for youand so proud of you.
I mean being in this spacebecause, you know, I think the
more of us that are in thisspace, the better opportunity it
is for us to be able to reachout and say, hey, this is what I
need.
Or, you know, I know that thisperson did that.
I can do that too, and that'sagain.
It all boils down right torepresentation of who we are as
(29:02):
people.
You know what we look like aspeople, you know where we come
from as people, and the more wehave represented in the Dolls
page, the more holistic it'll be.
So I'm just excited to seewhere you're going.
And so, speaking of that, canyou just provide us a little
glimpse of the future?
Maybe some other excitingproducts you have coming up?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
OK.
So the future of AGC toys atthe moment is very bright, and I
can't tell you exactly how, butyou'll be able to see her in a
very amazing way of quarterforward next year in a large
retail store the very vague PapaChampagne bottle kind of answer
.
Now you know, we having arelease here in Atlanta, even
(29:47):
though it's not necessarily atoy city, it is our city and
Atlanta influences everything.
So we will be having afantastic opening here for Nova
and her friends in Atlanta whenthe moment comes, and probably
in LA as well.
After that I will not after,but in contingency to that I
(30:09):
have been exploring a lot ofother categories as far as
activities, costume, birthdaysupplies, pajamas, sheep,
luggage, just having a blast,and some very cool invention
type toys that I really can'tsay anything about, but they're
(30:29):
awesome, that's it.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Well, I'm excited.
I look for my ticket to that,yeah, so I can come and be a
part of that and just share withthe you know, the documentary
about what's happening.
So with you, because I'm sureonce people see you and hear
what you have going on, they'regoing to be definitely intrigued
.
They want to know more aboutAfro Goddess Warrior doll
(30:51):
collection and I'm just so gladto be able to share this with
everybody because I think it's alittle different.
You know, again, like I wantpeople to see the journey and,
you know, talk to people who arejust not just in the doll world
but in the toy world too,because they kind of, you know,
they kind of merge, you know,you know here and there and
understand how you know theprocess is for bringing a doll
(31:14):
to market and you can do veryvariations of what it is that
you're thinking about creating.
You know, I mean, you had afigurine, you had a vinyl doll,
now you have a plush doll andall of those are important and
all of them make statements indifferent areas of the doll
community and the toy world.
So I'm excited, I'm so excitedfor you and I'm really so, I'm
(31:37):
just so happy, I'm so happy tosee you there and happy to see
that you're sharing thesebeautiful dolls with everybody.
So can you just tell everybodywhere they can find you, where
they could see what you havecoming up and what's happening
for you?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, absolutely so.
You can always find me atAGCToysInccom and you can follow
all of our social medias withthat same handle.
So AGCToys with an S Inc I N?
C, and that will take youthrough our Instagram.
We have a Facebook group whereI share a lot of the behind the
scenes motions of the creation,so you may be interested in
(32:14):
joining that, and we have amailing list that you can join
from our website.
That'll keep you completely upto date with everything's
dropping and happening and allof the little special things
that I share.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Well, thank you so much, Andrew, for being with us
on the doll world.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Thank you so much for having me.
This has been a wonderful time.
I'm looking forward to sharingmore with you all again in the
future.
Bye.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Hello everybody.
Thank you so much for listeningto In the Doll World.
I hope you enjoyed the show.
Please don't forget to sharethe podcast with other doll
enthusiasts, such as yourself.
You can find us at Facebook,instagram and Twitter at In the
Doll World.
The show can also be downloadedon all apps with podcasts or
streamed To see videos of ourinterviews.
Please visit our In the DollWorld YouTube channel.
(32:57):
And don't forget In the DollWorld is also on Alexa.
Just ask Alexa to open DollWorld.
Did you know that you can nowleave a voicemail or give us a
review?
We would love to hear from youor suggest a guess for the show.
You can do all that by visitingwwwinthedollworldcom and, until
next week, add a little playinto your life by collecting a
(33:20):
doll, sharing a doll or giving adoll a home.
And again, thank you forlistening to In the Doll World.
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