Dr. Lisa Williams on Crafting a Legacy of Representation

www.thedollprenuerpodcast.com 

How did a chance viewing of a documentary transform Dr. Lisa Williams from a successful academic into a pioneering entrepreneur in the doll industry? We sit down for an informative and wonderful conversation with Dr. Lisa, the visionary CEO and founder of Positively Perfect, The Fresh Dolls and The Fresh Squad to explore how one moment of awakening ignited her drive to champion diversity and representation in children's toys. Her mission—to create dolls that reflect the beauty and diversity of real-world cultures—is reshaping the toy industry and fostering self-esteem and aspirations among young children who finally see themselves represented.

Our conversation takes you through Dr. Lisa's courageous journey to revolutionize doll design, where authenticity reigns supreme. Despite having no initial connections or funding, her determination led her to China in pursuit of manufacturers willing to embrace unique and authentic features in dolls. Her story underscores not only the power of resilience and purpose but also the importance of community and teamwork in overcoming obstacles. From authentic sculpts to inclusive designs, Dr. Lisa's dedication to diversity is creating ripples throughout the toy industry and beyond.

Beyond the world of dolls, Dr. Lisa shares how prioritizing passion and family led her to a balanced life, where self-care and professional fulfillment coexist. As she embarks on new ventures, including a skincare line and a podcast for those over 35 pursuing their passions, her story is a testament to the strength of purpose and the impact of leaving a legacy. Join us as we explore how Dr. Lisa’s work continues to empower future generations, inspiring them to embrace their uniqueness and realize their dreams.

#drlisawilliams #thefreshdolls #postivelyperfect #thefreshsquad #representation #dolls #blackdolls #animation #thedollprenuerpodcast #dollprenuerpodcast #podcasts

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone, welcome to the Dollpreneur
Podcast, where I get to chat andshare with you the amazing doll
creators and creatives fromaround the world.
I am your host and creator ofthe Dollpreneur Podcast,
georgette Taylor, and I'm soexcited to highlight the
inspiring stories from thepeople who keep the doll
community buzzing withcreativity and passion.

(00:20):
So, whether you're a long-timedoll lover or just curious,
looking for something new andcreative to listen to, join us
for engaging, powerful andinsightful conversations that
celebrate the heart and soul ofthe people within the doll
community.
So what do you say?
Let's get this show started.
Hello everybody, welcome to theDollpreneur Podcast.

(00:43):
I'm your host, georgette Taylor, and I'm so excited that you're
joining us today.
You know, one of the thingsthat I love about doing the show
is I get to fangirl all thetime, and today is no exception.
I am so honored to be joined byDr Lisa Williams.
She is the CEO, founder andtrailblazing creator of the
fashion of the fresh dolls andtrailblazing creator of the

(01:04):
fresh dolls.
She's also a champion fordiversity in the toy industry.
From her collaborations withthe Proud Family to the
incredible Wakanda Forever dolls, dr Lisa has transformed how
children see themselves throughplay and we're so excited to
dive into her journey and theamazing work that she's doing to
uplift representation in thedoll space.
Welcome, dr Lisa.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm so honored.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the show.
I'm so honored.
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
I'm so excited to talk to you.
I know we talked a few yearsago and I know you had some
things coming up you couldn'tshare at the time.
But all of those things arehappening for you and I cannot
wait to get into that.
But before we do, can you justshare a little bit about
yourself for people who arewatching the dollpreneur for the
first time and talk a littlebit about yourself and how you
decided to start getting intothe doll space?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Absolutely.
But you know, sometimes in lifeyou don't really make the
decision.
It's kind of like life makesthe decision for you.
So that's kind of my story.
I choose this.
I was actually a collegeprofessor.
I got my doctorate from theOhio State University.
I was the first African-Americanto get a PhD in my area and

(02:12):
when I graduated from Ohio Statethe Ohio State- I went on to
Penn State, where I was aprofessor there and I was the
first African-American female toreceive tenure in the College
of Business, and so I was reallyhappy there because I loved
Happy Valley.
But then the University ofArkansas made me an offer I
couldn't refuse, as thegodfather would say.
So I found myself at theUniversity of Arkansas and I had

(02:37):
not one but two multimilliondollar endowments, which made me
the highest ranking professorin the world in my area.
So, as they say, life was good.
You know, I'm traveling theworld, I'm teaching doctoral
students and MBA students andundergrads, and I'm really
really loving it.
And then one day, coming backfrom international travel, I was

(02:58):
just sitting on my couch justtrying to relax and chill, bring
it down a little bit, and Iwatched this documentary by
Anderson Cooper.
It was actually an updated dollstudy.
And in that updated doll studyhe asked this beautiful
chocolate skin little girl whatdoll does she want to play with?
The black doll or the whitedoll?
Now I knew what she was goingto play with her.

(03:18):
I knew she was going to say shewanted to play with the black
doll, because at that time wehave beautiful
African-an-americans on thecover of magazines.
We had president barack obamain the white house with his
beautiful wife and the beautifulchildren.
I just knew, all right, I'mjust I.
She's gonna pick, she wants toplay with a black doll.
well, I was sadly and trulysadly disappointed, because she
said she wanted to play with thewhite doll.

(03:39):
But, georgette, what broke myheart is why?
Because Anderson Cooper thenasked her why?
And she said because the blackdoll skin was and, as I say,
wait for it was nasty.
But then, when I broke intotears and I'm about to cry again
I was going to say that justliterally gave me goosebumps
Like oh man Nasty.

(04:01):
Nasty, not ugly, yeah, which isa strong word.
But then it got even worsebecause he then asked her do you
think your skin is nasty?
I'm about to cry about it?
And she said, yes, sometimes Icried because this is a

(04:22):
generation of our childrencoming out not knowing their
beauty and their brilliance andin some respects I think I was
lulled asleep because I had beenso successful as an academic.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
You know I was the first to graduate the first to
do that.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
So I'm thinking oh well, you know, life is good and
life is good, Life is easy andwe're all benefiting from this
prosperity, Right?

Speaker 1 (04:42):
I think it was just.
You know my experience.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Right, I think it was just.
You know my experience, Right,when I saw her it was like a
rude awakening, Like, oh my God,we have not come as far as I
thought we had Right and whenwas that?
When was that?
How long ago was that?
That was not too like I'm badwith years Georgia, but like
2009-ish Right.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Somewhere around there Not that long ago.
Honestly, that that thought ofwho you are as African-American
or any other ethnic group is notworthy, and I think that that's
so, so detrimental.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
It is so detrimental, and I just kept thinking that
if she thought that way aboutherself, then her opportunities
in life would be limited,because she wouldn't even try.
She would just say well, youknow my skin is nasty, I'm
unattractive, I'm not smart, I'mnot going to go for that
promotion.
I'm not going to go to college,I'm not.
You know, I'm not going to takeadvantage of life's
opportunities.
And that's what I kept feelingand thinking.

(05:34):
And I was sitting on that couchlike you cannot let this happen
.
You cannot let this happen.
And so, without any money, nobackground in it, no experience,
no internship, no connections,no investment, no money.
I got to keep stressing.
You can't stress that enough.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
I can't stress that enough.
There was no money.
We're going to talk about thattoo.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yes, no money, no money.
But there was such a strongpassion in our heart to make
sure that we didn't have anothergeneration of children not
knowing the truth of who theyare.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, have another generation of children not
knowing the truth of who theyare.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
So that's kind of how , that is not kind of, but that
is how the company was startedand that's still the DNA of the
company, and it's why I get upevery morning, as well as the
rest of my team, to make surethat no other child feels that
they are not beautiful and thatthey're not brilliant that
they're not brilliant.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean, I think that that's so powerful and I
think that's what's so powerfulabout what you're creating with
your company is the diversity ofrepresentation within the dolls
that you create.
They're so beautiful, they'refun, they're, you know, they're
very approachable.
You know, I mean, I just, Ijust, I really just love it.
I just love all the things thatyou're doing.
So, thank you, love all thethings that you're doing.

(06:46):
So, um, I know one of themissions of fresh styles was to
offer a diverse representationof beauty, right?
Um?
So when you first startedcreating them, how did you
decide on the design and theskin tones and the features of
the dolls so that they reflect,you know, uh, the the beauty
that's out there?
How did that?
How did that come about?

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Well, you know, part of it is being a part of the
diverse community, right?
So I'm African-American.
Well, you know, part of it isbeing a part of the diverse
community, right?
So I'm African-American, so I'mblessed.
No, no, you don't know that,right, you didn't figure that
out.
So it just meant that I amblessed to be in a community
where I get to see diversebeauty and I get to see children
that are gorgeous, and so I hadthe opportunity just to observe

(07:22):
, just to observe my communityand make sure that we got their
noses right, the lips and thecheeks and the skin tones and
make sure that was all perfectlyblended.
So it was representative and Iwanted children of all
ethnicities, yes, and so we dohave African-American, and
that's how we started, that'sthe core of what we do.
But we also make sure that werepresent blended ethnicities.

(07:43):
So we have, like Blasian dolls,we have which is black and
Asian, we have black and Mexican, we have Caucasian and
African-American.
We have a lot of blended skintones and blended ethnicities
represented, because I neverwant to hear another child say I
don't want to play with thatdoll because the skin is nasty
and then internalize that tothink somehow they are nasty, so

(08:06):
we focus on skin tones, hair,hair textures, hair colors and
we just want again.
We want to make sure that whena child picks up that doll, they
can connect with it, they canrelate to it and they can say,
mommy, mommy, mommy, she looksjust like me.
That is the greatest honor thatwe get as a team is when we see
a child that is just thrilledand recognize their beauty by

(08:28):
playing with our dolls.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, I think that's so powerful.
I mean I am, you know.
I mean I have children who aremixed Older son is Puerto Rican
and half Puerto Rican and mygrandbaby now is part Mexican,
part Puerto Rican, part black.
So I understand you know the,like you said, the
representation of making surethat everybody feels that
they're beautiful and thatthey're worthy.
You know, because I think thatis just so, so important and

(08:50):
there are just so many kids thatare.
They do have different types of,you know, ethnicities, you know
within their family, and youdon't want to not make them feel
wanted At the end of the day,you want them to feel wanted and
you want them to feel thatthey're important and special
and that, no matter their skintone or their hair texture, that
they're still beautiful.
Because, you're right, itimpacts so many other things in

(09:13):
your life, not just how you look, how you feel about yourself,
like you said, how you're goingto accomplish certain things.
What do you believe in aboutyourself that you can do?
You know, and it starts from anearly age.
So I want to you know again,thank you for doing all the
things that you do within,within your company, to make
sure that that is.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
That is something that is important, so yeah, I
just remember, you know, beingthe only black child in class.
And thank goodness that I wasraised in a family that told us,
my sister and I, that our blackskin was beautiful.
Our curly, kinky hair wasgorgeous.
You know, we were taught that.
So even though I was in a roomand I was the only person who

(09:51):
looked like me, I didn't feelless than and I didn't feel my
skin was nasty and I didn't feelthat I couldn't compete, and so
toys is just a parent toolkit.
It's just a part of a parent'stoolkit to help educate their
child about the truth of whothey are.
And again, being in thatclassroom by myself being the
only African American, I knowit's important to have a healthy
self-esteem, and I know whatthe limitations are when you

(10:15):
don't have that.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Right, so true, I mean and you know it's so funny
you know I deal with a lot ofwomen.
You know I'm the co-founder ofa vice president of a women's
chamber here in Gwinnett County,Georgia.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
I just love you and all the good things that you do
for the community.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
I love you too, dr Lisa.
I really do, I really do and Ijust your growth is just amazing
to me and it's so beautiful andsuch a testament to you know
what you bring to the table andwhat your passion is and and the
legacy that you're leaving foreverybody, but also for you and
your family too.
You know, I think that's I canliterally cry right now about
that, because I think that it'sjust so important.

(10:53):
You know, I know, when I, whenI, when I first started doing my
own dolls, you know there justwasn't too many people to look
up to.
And so to have you, to havesomebody to look up to and say,
to have you to have somebody tolook up to and say they've done
that and know that you'vecreated this foundation now that
other people can follow, youknow it just really makes me
want to cry.
It really does Gets me veryemotional.
It's just so important, youknow, and, like you said, dolls

(11:15):
are a conduit, you know,sometimes for children to share
their feelings and to have thosemoments To be able to see a
doll that looks like you, Ithink is so empowering and to
have those moments to be able tosee a doll that looks like you,
I think, is so empowering.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
And I just want to say, while we're saying this,
that and I stand on yourshoulders the work that you did,
you know that trailblazing workI stand on your shoulders, we
all do so.
It really is a community and Iam sure, and hoping and knowing
and seeing that there are others, that I'm standing on your
shoulders and there are othersare.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
I'm standing on your shoulders and there are others,
hopefully that are standing onmy shoulders, that are going to
continue this legacy ofproviding high quality dolls
that have built self-esteem.
Yeah, that's so true, and thankyou so much for that.
I, you know, I'm just thank you.
Because again well, thank youso much for that.
I received that and I reallytruly appreciate that, you know,
because coming out with plussize dolls back then was just
like oh, what, like?
What are y'all talking about?

Speaker 2 (12:12):
And now everybody wants them.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yes, it's so true.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
It's because they're authentic represent the shape of
women.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Right, exactly, it really did and it still does.
You know, and I'm very, I'mvery excited about that and I'm
very excited it allowed me to bein this community.
Then now I get to shareeverything that you, that you
all do, being creators in thisspace, with so many people who,
you know, never thought aboutthe dog community or a dog
creator or a toy creator.

(12:40):
And I get to do that and I'mblessed because of that, you
know, and I'm blessed that you,that you all, say yes to being
here on the show, because itjust it's something that I, like
you said, I'm just passionateabout to make sure that people
know you continue to give backand your bright light in the
world attracts so many of us toyou, and that's why, anytime you

(13:00):
ask me, it's like yes, I wantto do it you ask them, it's like
yes, I want to do it.
So true, so true, so true, drLisa, and I really do appreciate
that.
So so I know you have you had areally significant impact with
the in the in the retail spacefor Fresh Dolls.
I'm going to go back and talk alittle bit about when you were
saying how you started.
So when you started out, youwere saying that you didn't have

(13:21):
any money really to do thisbusiness right, you didn't have
any connections really to dothis business.
So what did you do to make thathappen for yourself?
Because one, the doll businessis expensive.
Yes, this industry is expensiveand I don't want her I'm not
asking her to share that todissuade anybody.
I'm asking her to share that.

(13:43):
So you understand it's not justlike let me make a doll.
You know there's so manycomponents that go into that and
the amount of money that youinvest in that.
You better doggone, bepassionate about it.
So I just want you to share alittle bit about you know that
story, cause I know when youshared it with me a while ago
it's very, it's very touching,but I know you went through a
lot to build this business.

(14:04):
So I want you to share a littlebit about that because that's
important.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yes, well, you know, you're right, I had, as we just
said, no money, no experience,no connections, no mentoring, no
nothing.
But I had this strong passion,that little girl's story, just
it just totally transformed myworld.
And so I had this crazy passionthat I couldn't let go of and
it caused me, in hindsight, todo things that were truly crazy,

(14:29):
like like, like hopping on aplane going to China when I
can't speak the language.
Right, I'm like I got to findsomebody to make these dolls and
there are no manufacturers inthe US.
Yeah, so I literally Google dollcompanies and then hop on a
plane to go to China.
Again, I can't speak thelanguage I have no friends over

(14:50):
there, no connections just thesestrange boundaries that I'm
meeting with, and I didn't evenrealize the danger of what I'd
done until I arrived in China.
And I'm looking at the signsand I'm like, oh God, I can't
read anything, I don't.
Oh boy, I can't call anybody,I'm just here.
And then when I got to thefactories, you know, they were

(15:13):
very adamant that I was doing itthe wrong way and they were
telling me that the mostexpensive part of a doll is the
sculpt is the face, the facesculpt, and it is.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
it is the most expensive part.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
And it's also the most unique part, obviously
except when you did thebeautiful full body doll.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, I did the full, yeah, full body.
Oh, you had both.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
But as we were designing the doll with them, as
I was saying, hey, this is whatI want it to look like.
It has to be authentic, thelips have to be full, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera, they kepttelling me, no, no, not gonna
do it.
And I'm like, wait, no, it hasto be this way.
And they're like no, no, no,you've never done this before.
You don't know what you would.
Let us tell you how thisindustry works.
And they said we have acomplete room full of doll faces

(15:55):
.
Just go in there, pick one dollface that you like, we'll put
brown paint on it with a pinklip on it, and then you'll have
a black doll.
And I'm like, no, that's notauthentic.
It got actually heated.
The conversation got veryheated because I was adamant
that it had to be doneauthentically.
That was so important to mebecause that little girl's voice

(16:16):
in my head nasty.
it had to be authentic and sowhat they were just trying to do
is replicate a model thatthey've been doing for decades,
and all other companies at thattime, honestly, were doing so.
Ultimately, I said, it reallydid kind of get kind of warm and
got heated in that conferenceroom and I'm the only person in
there that's fighting for thesechildren, and that's how I felt

(16:37):
like if you don't fight for themright now, they're going to
continue to get the same thingthey've already always got.
So ultimately I said to themthis is how it's going to be.
I'm not going to use one ofyour sculpts.
I appreciate it, thank you somuch.
But we have to start from theground up and whatever cost
there is, I will have to pay itbecause it has to be authentic.
So ultimately I wore them downand they agreed to do it.

(17:03):
But the thing is, I had toreally fight and I realized that
while I was fighting there thatI was in such a vulnerable
position.
I didn't realize it, but I was,because, again, I'm in another
country, right, I myself have nofriends, no contacts.
I'm just arguing with thesepeople about what I want.
But when you're so passionate,like I said, sometimes you throw

(17:24):
caution to the wind, and I did.
I threw caution to and I'm kindof, and I'm glad that I did
Cause.
In hindsight, if I had beenvery logical and rational in my
decision-making one I probablywouldn't have done it.
I would have been like, oh mygosh, we need to do something.
Maybe I'll donate money to acause or something.
So I wouldn't have done it.
But then, when they were sofighting against me, I would
have felt so insecure because,again, I don't know how to do

(17:45):
this business, but that littlegirl was my muse, my inspiration
, and that's what kept me movingforward and even when I didn't
have money.
That's what kept me movingforward.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
And even when.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
I had to file bankruptcy.
I don't know if we'll talkabout that, but even then you
would think I would stop Right.
You think somebody would sayokay, that's it.
You tried it, you gave it yourall.
It didn't work, Move on.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
But you couldn't, couldn't, and that's what I'm
saying, like they, when peoplelistening to the show, they have
to know that if you have, ifyou don't have, your passion is
not big enough.
You're not, like you said,you're not going to make those
choices, those hard choices,because it may cost you money,
it may cost you, like I said,bankruptcy.
It may cost you your car, andyou know, you've heard those

(18:26):
stories from entertainers, youknow, who have been sleeping in
their car because they, you know, trying to find work, but
they're driven.
I mean, it's still the samepremise.
You know, when you start tobecome an entrepreneur, that is
the premise of that.
And whether you're a dollcreator or not, you're still a
dollpreneur, right?
Because at the end of the day,you're making this product, you
want to sell this product, right, you want people to see it, you

(18:49):
want it to be in the market.
So it takes a lot.
It takes a part of that partthat you're trying to be
creative with.
You know, you have to sometimesput that to the back burner too
and realize, well, now I haveto balance the books and I have
to make the money and I have todo all of these things even
though I have a passion to becreative.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
And I want to commend you because it's something that
you said was very, verypowerful.
You said your passion has to bebig enough, and that is so true
.
I believe that if we're goingto do anything and really make
an impact in others' lives aswell as our own, it has to be a
big vision.
Right, it has to be a visionthat you yourself don't know how
you're going to do it.
If you know how you're going todo every step, it's too small

(19:31):
the vision is too small.
You got to tap into somethingthat's bigger than you and trust
God, allah, the universe, tocome in and lift you up to where
you need to be.
And I'm here to tell you ithappens that way.
Don't figure out, or try tofigure out the how, because the
how will keep you stuck, the howwill keep you.
Well, I don't know how to do it.

(19:52):
Well, I don't have the money.
Well, nobody's helping me, so Ijust can't do it.
You got to move forward anyway.
When you take those steps, thenagain God, the universe, steps
in with you and lifts you up.
And all of a sudden you lookback on your life, you're like
oh my God, I created a dog Withno money, no experience, no
connection.
I did it.
How did I do it?

(20:12):
I can't tell you all of it,because some of it is, you know,
supernatural, some of it justtakes over.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, something does take over.
It's so funny because, you know, I think back a lot of time.
You know, when I started doneprojects, you know, I guess
recently or maybe just in thepast, but and and I get
frustrated and I'm like, oh mygosh, I'm not focused.
You know, I think about howfocused I was when we were doing
those dolls.
When I was doing those dolls,we were so, like you said, so
focused, like the goal was tomake sure we had this doll in

(20:41):
place, and we knew nobody either.
You know, I collected a fewdolls, but I didn't know anybody
.
You know, I didn't know how tomake them either.
And I and I pretty much didlike you said.
I just I went to the stores andI flipped the boxes around hey,
who, who did this, who did that, who did that, you know?
And I wound up finding somebodyin Maryland who did a I think it
was integrity toys, and Icalled them and we were like,

(21:02):
hey, we want to do this.
We knew Maryland was close, wecould drive there.
We lived in Jersey, we want todo this.
Dog.
You know, can you spend timewith us?
And Percy Newsome said, sure,no problem, and we drove down
there, spent all day with himand that was kind of like the
catalyst really, you know, toget us going.
But again, we had no clue.
So I totally understand that,like you, you if, if you have a

(21:23):
passion, you know, like again,you will find the way.
We certainly didn't say, well,we don't know anybody, we just
like we're going to findsomebody.
At the end of the day we'regoing to find somebody, you know
, and that's what you didcommitted and being focused and
not listening to no.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
And the biggest no's we get, by the way, is a no's
within our own head.
That's the biggest no.
Other people will give you a no, but that doesn't sting as much
as when you are constantlysaying you can't do it, you
don't know how to do it, youdon't have the money to do it.
Why are you doing it?
This is crazy.
That's the cycle you have tobreak.

(21:58):
So I applaud you for breakingthat cycle.
And then I applaud you forreaching out for the help.
And then I have not met thefounder of Integrity Toys, but I
take my hat off to him becausehe opened the door and was able
to give you nuggets of wisdomthat you needed to create, and
we need that.
Everything is a community.
We don't do anything alone.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
So true, say that again, dr.
Lisa, please.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Some people think that that's what they do.
It is a community.
We don't do anything alone.
People are so kind, they giveme these accolades oh, you're so
great.
I'm not.
I'm not.
I am a woman that's veryspiritual and very dedicated,
and I like to believe that I'mmaking a positive change in the
world and in the lives of ourchildren.
That's my passion, but I havean incredible team of people

(22:42):
that are always there to supportand to help and have that same
passion.
So we all do it as a community.
I remember when we won doll ofthe year for Black Panther, and
so they rushed us off and rushedme off stage and they wanted me
to go take pictures with thepress and I said no, no, no, I,
I'm not moving.
I'm not moving until my teamgets here, because I did not do

(23:04):
this alone, we did it as a team.
We will take the accolades as ateam.
We will be interviewed by thepress as a team.
We will take our team photostogether.
It's really important that wereally communicate and
understand.
We can't do anything as anindividual.
It takes a village.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah, so true.
Thank you for saying that too,because I think people do lose
sight of that a lot.
You know they like you say theyget the accolades and they're
like, oh, you know, they lovethe spotlight and that's great,
you know, because I mean youstill do.
You still do some of the worktoo.
No-transcript.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Exactly Because a business is your child, isn't it
it?

Speaker 1 (23:58):
really is, it really is.
So, speaking about yourchildren again, your fresh dolls
, right?
I want to know.
I know you started out withthem and they were all girls.
When did you decide to launch,you know, the Fresh Squad dolls?

Speaker 2 (24:12):
and why?
Oh, that's a great question.
Actually, the very first lineof dolls we did was Positively
Perfect.
Oh, yes, that's right.
I'm so sorry.
The 14 inch and the 18 inch forbabies, for baby dolls, and then
, after they did so well, thenwe moved to doing the fresh
dolls, and then from the freshdolls to the fresh squad.
And so your question is abrilliant one why?
Why did I do that?
Why did I stay with PositivelyPerfect?

(24:34):
Because that was a reallysuccessful line.
And it was because I'm noticinglittle girls were growing up
and as they were growing up,they were having body image
issues, right, and they theleading doll in the market.
So therefore I'm not pretty.
So I'm like, okay, we got tostop this.
So now it was the youngchildren, now it's the older

(24:54):
girls.
So we need fresh to do theolder girls.
And then, a year or so later,after that, I started looking
around and I'm a mother of twoboys men now.
So I'm looking, I'm like Idon't see anything that
represents them.
And, in addition, every time Isaw something on the news or
someone talking about our malesin our community, it was not in

(25:16):
a positive light.
That's so true.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
And I'm like.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
these are not the men that I live with, that I know
of.
These are not my husband and myboys and my uncles and cousins.
These are not the men I knoware chivalrous and kind and
generous, and so I wanted torepresent a line of dolls that
portrayed that power that's inour community and in our male

(25:39):
community, and so that's wherethe Fresh Squad came from.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
That is so cool.
I love them too.
They're so nice.
I mean, they're very handsome.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
I paid particular attention to that.
When I was working on them, Ihad a phone.
My phone was full of attractivemen that I found attractive,
that I I mean picture afterpicture after picture.
And my husband got my phone oneday.
Why are you on this minute?
I'm like, oh wait, wait, wait,there's a reason to my madness.
But if you wouldn't have known,you were like, okay, does she

(26:08):
got some kind of addiction Causeit's like you know, four or
five hundred pictures, oh my God, that's hilarious.
But that's what it took for meto find that right combination
of the nose and the noserelative to the lips All of
that's important.
Proportionality is veryimportant, and so, as I was
looking at all these hundreds ofgorgeous men, I came with kind

(26:32):
of a theme of what I wanted themto look like.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
And so that's the first one.
Oh, that's so cool, interesting, because I was wondering how do
you come up with the faces, youknow, how do you come up with
the ideas of what they, whatthose dolls you know, especially
, like you said, the teens orthe older dolls?
How do you decide, like, how doyou want them to look?
You know, do you see somebodyand you say, oh, I think that
would be a great face for a doll, or how do they, how do they

(26:56):
come to you?

Speaker 2 (26:56):
That's exactly it.
It's all about being authentic.
Even with our names we areauthentic.
Most of the names of the dollsare people that we know, so I
know that that's an authenticname for a Latina, or the
authentic name for an.
African-American young girl,because I know someone has that
name the same with the looksright.
I am constantly on the prowl,if you will, for just looking at

(27:17):
beautiful people, beautifulchildren, and that's why the way
everyone I want to stress thatit's not like I'm picking out
particular people.
We're all beautiful.
And the other thing that Irecognize is that beauty is not
perfection, meaning sometimesour lips are not totally aligned
, maybe the upper lip is alittle more narrow than the

(27:37):
bottom lip or vice versa.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
The eyes may not even Eyes not be yeah, Right.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
But those air quote imperfection is what make us
beautiful.
So I am constantly on thelookout for the beauty and
imperfections and I want that tobe reflected in our doll line
because, again, everything isabout reflecting back to
children and adults their ownbeauty.
Yeah, so I want to make surethat the beauty is authentic.

(28:04):
Yeah, and no one has perfectface Right.
No one has a symmetrical, itjust doesn't exist.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
So neither do our dolls but I mean I like how you
like you said how you, how youthink about you know the faces
and the beauty part of that thatyou want to have come out and
not be perfect so cool.
I want to talk a little bitmore now about your expanding,
because we know about positivelyperfect and the fresh styles
and the fresh squad.
And then now you have partneredwith a couple of people you

(28:32):
know to create other dolls andto create and do licensing
things you know between Disneyand Marvel.
I think that's amazing.
How did that partnership, howdid the partnerships come about?
Did you have an idea about theProud family first and then went
to them or they approached you?
How did that happen for you?

Speaker 2 (28:49):
You know, I have never.
As we were speaking earlier,when you just take a, you take
that first step and the universe, God, will come and elevate you
.
That's really what happened.
I was just out here creatingthe dolls, that that you know
the positively perfect freshdolls, fresh squat talking about
those.
And then one day I'm in ameeting with the Disney for

(29:13):
Black Panther and the Proudfamily, and both were so dear to
my heart because I had watchedthe Proud family for years with
my children, who are now adults.
And, of course, black Panthermovie the franchise, oh my God.
The first one just changed myworld when I saw those powerful
black women.
Yes, I know, oh, I just lovedit.

(29:33):
So to have the opportunity torepresent them in doll form was
really a deep honor, and itstill is.
And so that's why me and therest of my team, we were so
dedicated in getting everylittle detail right.
If you look at their faces,it's like a mini Lupita Nyong'o.
Look just like her and that'sso cool.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
That's what I love about it, because there's so the
character.
It just looks like that person.
I mean I we know, being in thedoll space, there's so many
people who create other dollsbased on characters and you
can't look at them sometimes andsay, oh, that looks like
so-and-so like.
I like to see dolls that looklike the character.
If you're portraying acharacter, it has to have
something of that character thatmakes it you know,

(30:19):
authentically them.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
I and my team, we thought so, and so that's why we
were meticulous, not just intheir facial features and their
skin tones we made oh my God, wewent through so many different
combinations of skin tones toget theirs right, so many but
also the hair, particularly thecharacter Lupita played.
She had locks.

(30:45):
They were not braids, they werelocks.
And so once we saw that, weinstantly again, being in the
community, recognized oh, theseare not braids, these are locks.
And then it's like, okay, well,we got to go find locks.
Well, there was no locks to befound, there was none.
So then we had to create thefiber, create the technique,
create the lock technique thatshe's wearing in her doll in the
film and that has been patentedto you.

(31:06):
And it's patented.
Yes, patent is pending on it,and we also had to make sure
that her hair is ombre.
If you notice, it's not justone color, it's an ombre effect.
We had to make sure that thatwas there too.
So it was very meticulous.
Sleepless nights.
We had to go through severaldifferent hair suppliers and

(31:30):
fiber suppliers actually to getsomeone that was willing to work
with us.
Wow, because that's the wholepoint.
What we do is not something youjust go to a book and say, oh,
that's the face, that's the skintone, that's the hair.
It doesn't exist, becausethey're all unique, they're all
authentic.
We start from the ground up.
So you have to have factorypartners that are willing to
take this risk and this journeywith you.

(31:50):
Have to have factory partnersthat are willing to take this
risk in this journey with you.
Thank goodness, we did find afactory partner that was willing
to basically throw out the bookof how hair texture should be,
to work with us and to take leadfrom us and my team about
creating the lock hair and thelock technology.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
And that's yeah, like you said, that's a challenge in
itself.
You know, like you said,finding a company that can get
past what they've been used todoing and finding a company
that's willing to take, you know, challenges and different
outlooks on, you know differentthings.
So I think that that was reallypowerful, that you found
somebody.
How long did it take, from theconception of somebody saying,

(32:26):
hey, you know, we want you tomake this doll, and you then
presenting them with a actuallike prototype?

Speaker 2 (32:32):
So with the first doll I ever was asked to make,
which is a positively perfectdoll the 14 inch and the 18 inch
was the first one it took, andit still does, about a year and
a half to do that.
Wow, and that doll was whattook so long.
There is getting the facefeatures in the hair, because
there we did custom faces,custom skin tones.

(32:53):
Those are one of a kind sculpts.
You're not going to find themanywhere else in the world.
So coming up with that took alot of time and you got to
remember I was a new dog.
I know Right.
So they're talking to me abouttooling and tooling times.
I'm like huh, what is that?
What's that?
What's a tool?
I just I didn't know.
So, again, I had to havefactory partners that were

(33:16):
willing to be patient with me asI learned.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
A year and a half.
So does it take you a year anda half now to create a doll?

Speaker 2 (33:23):
If I'm starting from scratch, like yep, if I'm
starting from a whole new sculpt, yes, from a whole new sculpt,
yes, it still takes that amountof time.
If I have an existing sculpt,an existing body, then all I'm
doing is changing hair, skintones and fashion.
It does not take that long atall because we have so many skin
tones in our arsenal.
I guess I'll say that now wecan kind of point to a book and

(33:44):
say, oh, let's go with this skintone for this doll.
Let's go with that skin tone forthat doll.
But that's because we pre-mix,if you will, all these skin
tones, so we have them now as acollection that we can pick, and
so that shortens the amount oftime, so you don't have to go
and recreate something.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
You already have a basis now, a base for it, and if
you want to make changes, youmake it from that base before
you have that I totallyunderstand that.
It was so funny.
You were talking about skintones and popped in my head.
When I interviewed Byron Larsand he was doing his collection
for Mattel I doll that had shortblonde hair, natural hair, and

(34:33):
his outfits were slamming I knowright, Just leave it.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Take your breath away .

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Just so beautiful.
But I remember when he wastalking on the show and he was
saying, like one of his dolls,the darker skin doll, the very
it's a really dark skin doll,and he was saying that there was
no color like that at all.
So he literally made that color, like he literally wind up
making that color from a childbecause they had no nothing that
was dark, you know.

(34:59):
And so it made me think aboutthat.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
When you were talking about mixing colors, you know,
we think, and dolls have been inexistence for decades,
generations, right, but when youthink about authentic dolls
that look like us, you are oneof the pioneers, you're one of
the early part of doing that.
So there's still so much roomand so much growth.
I mean, we talked about theskin tones, but the hair is the

(35:21):
same way.
We talked about, you know,patent pending to get the locks.
Well, whether we're doing locks, or whether we're doing curls
or braids or Afro puffs, youwould think, oh, that's easy,
just go to a magazine or go to acatalog and pick that texture.
Nah, it's not easy Because,again, our hair is not only the
curl pattern but it's the colorand then the style that you want

(35:42):
to do with it.
All of those things are stillrevolutionary.
They're not old by any stretchof the imagination.
Right, they're not my team isconstantly being innovative with
, again, skin tones and hair,hair textures, hairstyles,
because I know that in ourcommunity hair is so important,
particularly the quality of it.
I don't want a little girl toget a doll and after playing

(36:03):
with it for three or four daysthe hair just tangles up and
mats up and she can't get herfingers through it right, can't
get her through it yeah, thatdoes not promote the image of
beauty right and brilliance,which is what we do.
So we make sure that we're usingthe highest, highest quality
fiber for the hair.
All of our hair has very high,high quality, so that again they

(36:23):
can play for for a long timeright until they start cutting
it.
You know how we do as kids, wecan't help that.
But in terms of entangling andmatting up our hair will not do.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
That's funny.
You're cutting it.
You know how we do.
You know how we do.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
You know how we do as kids.
We get the scissors.
First thing you want to do isgo cutting.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
I know right, but which is so funny, because you
want to dab it long hair, butthen you want to cut it up.
It's hilarious, you know.
But you taking time tounderstand the textures and the
quality of hair, you know, itgives them opportunity to be
able to just play with the hairany way that they want to.
It comes out well, it's nottangled up.
They don't have to throw awaythe doll because the hair is so

(37:02):
badly done and so cheaply done,because sometimes that happens
too.
You put a lot of thought intothat and that's a beautiful
thing, because it is againanother part of you, of your
representation of the beauty ofwho we are.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
You just words right out of my mouth.
I was going to say and everycompany has to be profitable.
So I'm not trying to say thatwe're not concerned with profits
because in order to stay inbusiness and provide, a service
we do have to be profitable, butwe do not make decisions where
money is over, overriding thebenefit of our children.
So the hair that we use ispremium hair.
It is very expensive hair, butwe do it and we and we make more
less money on our dolls thanany of the other manufacturers

(37:42):
because we're putting in betterquality hair.
But to me it's worth it becausewhen that little girl or boy is
playing with that hair andagain they can glide their
fingers through it, they cantwist it up, they can braid it
up, they can wash it and restyleit.
Now they understand the valueand the beauty of their unique
hair texture.
So it's worth us paying morefor that, so that they have that

(38:03):
self-esteem and self-love.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
Exactly.
But that's your passion, that'syour mission.
You know what I'm saying.
If it wasn't, then yeah, you'dbe like I put whatever hair I
want to do on it and it doesn'tmatter.
But that's not your passion andthat's not your mission.
Like you said, you use moregood quality stuff and maybe,
yes, the profit may not be whatit could be if you use cheaper
stuff, but that's not whatyou're, that's not you, that's
not what you do.
Exactly, I'll tell you a storyreal quick.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
So when I first started the first line that I
did the Positively Perfect DollsI still was putting in quality
hair.
Again, I was still learning, soI didn't know all the different
textures of quality of hairback then.
I didn't, but I knew that Ineeded it to be luscious and
curly and beautiful, and so Iput time into that.
Long story short, I flew overto China a few times to make

(38:50):
sure the dolls were exactly as Iwanted them the sculpts, the
skin tone, the fashions, thehair, the ribbons, everything.
And so I saw them.
The factory assured meeverything was fine.
I said, oh yay go ahead andship.
So we were shipping to a majorretailer and I got a call from
the buyer a couple of days afterthey had shipped and he says Dr
Lisa, and it's kind of likewhen your mama calls your name,

(39:13):
you know if you've donesomething wrong just by the tone
in their voice.
So I can tell by the tone in hisvoice there was a problem.
Yes, it tells me that basicallythe dolls left the port of
China with a ribbon for theirAfropa In route and in transit
to the US.
The dolls shake right, theyshape in the ship and when they

(39:36):
shook, the ribbon came loose andthe hair fell and the factory,
in effort to cut costs, left thedolls bald, so there was only
hair around the perimeter andwhen that ribbon fell down, they
left the dog bald.
They left the dog bald BecauseI don't want to see it right by
the time it got to the customer.

(39:56):
It would only be when a childsaw it, and a child may or may
not think that's a big deal, youknow, once they get in their
hands right, yes, but theydidn't pay attention or didn't
factor in that the shipping ofthe ship right Was going to
cause that hair to fall.
And then that's when I got thebig test, because this retailer,
major retailer, called and saidthis is what happening.
What do you want us to do?

(40:17):
We can discount them, is whatthey told us.
We can sell them at us.
You know, on a sale.
We can put them on the shelfbecause you know we could try to
work with it or you could sendsomeone here and try to correct
it and I told them not themission of the company.
That's not the message I want tocommunicate to our little girls
and that they should send themback, discard them, throw them

(40:37):
away.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Don't donate them.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
Literally throw them away.
Right, because I didn't wantany little girl to say, oh, we
don't deserve better.
Right, that's the whole reasonI started this company so that
they knew they did deservebetter.
And so it cost me significantlybecause I keep saying I had no
money, so whose money was Iusing?

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Yours.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Exactly, and I was using money again.
You asked me how did I do it?
And that particular example Iwas using money out of equity
out of credit cards, friends andfamily, and equity out of my
home.
That's what I was doing.
So when I made that decision tohave him to just throw all
those dolls away, that wasn't aneasy decision because it means
financially I now couldn't paymy mortgage, my family back or

(41:24):
my credit card.
So it was a really dark time.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Wow.
Well, like you said, you knowthere was something in your soul
that just said you had to do it.
There's just no way that youcould, Because you know, at the
end of the day, you wanted yourcompany to represent what you
wanted your company to represent, and it wasn't going to do it
any other way.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Really, and you know it gets to a point where you
have to go within your soul andknow what is your life really
about?
Right, and for me, the legacy Iwant to leave is you can live
your, you can do whatever youwant to do.
Again, you may not have money,you may not have endorsements,
you may not have support, youmay not have the education in
this particular field that youwant to go into, but if you've

(42:02):
got passion, faith and you'rewilling to take that risk, life
really will open up for you.
So I am that example that ithappens even through
bankruptcies, through badbusiness deals, through bad
business partners, et cetera,you can still thrive and survive
.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Yeah, you get.
You have to believe in that.
You really do have to dig downdeep and believe in that because
, there are times when it's justlike I'm just going to give up,
I mean because it feels so mucheasier.
But you know, on the back endof that it's really not, it's
really nothing.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Because it makes life a little harder, I think
because you're always going tosay I didn't, I should have, I
should.
And that's what I didn't want.
On my deathbed we all have thatexperience, right I want to say
I did the best I could and Ilived my life to the fullest.
Not that I was so afraid ofliving that I was, in a way,
dead before I died, you know,because if you're not living

(42:57):
from your heart and living fromyour passion, there is a little
bit of you that dies.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
It dies?
Yeah, it really does.
It really does you play it safe?

Speaker 2 (43:06):
So there's money in the bank and you're not worried
about the house or whatever.
But you're not worried aboutthe house or whatever, but
you're not alive and you're notliving, and so what's you know?
And again, I'm not tellingeverybody to go out and start a
business and go bankrupt.
I am not.
Let me be really clear.
I am not telling you to do that, but what I am saying is take
what perceived to be a risk.
Follow your heart and yourpassion.

(43:26):
You will be surprised howthings line up for your favor.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
I've got to talk about the fact that you not only
expanded into, you know,creating characters and things
like that, now you're intoanimation.
I mean, look, I want to be likeyou when I grow up, dr Lisa,
just so you know.
So you're into animation.
How did that start?

Speaker 2 (43:46):
The animation.
It goes back to what we've beenkind of the thread that's been
running through our conversation, and that is you take a, you
take a leap forward or a stepforward, and the universe, god
will, allah will come to yourrescue.
That's what happened.
I didn't even really know Iwanted an animated series.
I knew that I loved animationas an adult and as a child, and

(44:08):
my sister and I would run downin our pajamas on Saturday to
watch the Jackson 5.
So I knew the value and theimportance of doing animation
for characters.
But again, I didn't have themoney.
I didn't have the experience, Idon't know how to do animation,
I know nothing about that, butas life would have it, I met
this amazing person, carl Reed,and his company, composition

(44:30):
Media, and they are Oscarwinning animators.
They won the Oscar for HairLove.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
Incredibly talented.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yeah, matthew Cherry, his short film.
They created that for him andthey won the Oscar, so they're
top notch and the fact that theywanted to work with us, I'm
like you gotta be kidding.
The answer is yes, let's do it.
Let's do it.
So we have, and it's beennothing but a delight to work
with him, and that's the goodthing about working with

(44:59):
partners.
I want to offer this piece ofadvice too Things may look good
on paper, but really askyourself is this someone you
want to have dinner with, youwant to have a conversation with
?
You want to just hang out, havea cup of tea and chat?
If the answer is no, don'tpartner with them.
Okay, that's good advice.
I can tell you that from badexperience, because you know you

(45:19):
start looking at balance sheetlike oh, I can make so much
money, we can do so much withthis other partner, but again,
if there's something about thetwo of you that isn't in
alignment, maybe they'reunethical, I don't know.
But whatever it is, if youcan't collaborate together, the
partnership is going to bedisastrous.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
Well, I'm glad you collaborated with them to create
Fresh Beats.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
They are so amazing.
They me, carl, and what histeam has done, and I'm addicted
to it too.
The music that comes with it.
And then the last episode isyour favorite episode, and it
was my debut as an animatedcharacter.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Now you're animated as a cartoon character.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
It was fun.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
Super fun to do.
That is so cool.
Yeah, the universe conspires,you know what I mean to do
things for us sometimes that wewould not even had a vision for
or even thought was possible.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
I don't even I didn't even have it on my wish list
like oh, animation, I'd like tohave that, lord.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
No, I didn't even know that was something that was
possible so, out of all ofthose things that you do, um,
how do you balance life ingeneral?
Because you, you know you weretalking about some of the other
things that you have going onand I said to you, oh my gosh,
like how do you find the energyfor that?
I know it takes a team, but youstill have to figure out your

(46:42):
own life in all of that too.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
It's a great question .

Speaker 1 (46:45):
How does that work for you really?

Speaker 2 (46:46):
It still goes back to passion and priority.
So passion, of course, ismaking sure the next generation
is better than this currentgeneration.
So that's, that's the passion.
Then priority, of course, is myfamily and my health and my own
, as you say, self-care.
Now, in total honesty, as I'vealways been in this interview,

(47:07):
I've not always done that well.
I'm not.
I'm not always balanced it well.
I'm not always done that well,I'm not.
I'm not always balanced it well.
And usually I take care of thecompany, the children, the
husband, the family, all of thatI do.
But guess who you didn't hearmentioned in all of those people
?
You, I didn't take care of me.
I got sick, and that's when Ilearned the value of self-care.

(47:27):
We can't keep giving, giving,giving, giving, giving without
pouring back into ourselves restand peace and solitude.
You have to have that.
It's not a luxury, and I usedto think work, work, work, work,
work.
And if I took off a few hoursto take a nap, oh well, then
you're being lazy, you should bekeeping up, you ain't that

(47:48):
tired.
Get up, keep moving.
But I recognized that that wasnot in my best interest.
And for me to be here longperiod to continue to provide
the dolls, the toys for thelittle girls and boys and to be
a parent and to be a spouse, Ihave to take care of myself.
It was a long lesson and a hardlesson that I had to get to

(48:08):
take time for you.
So now my day is very differentthan how it used to be.
There was a time I literallywould hop up in the morning,
start to working right away.
Sometimes I wouldn't Georgia,sometimes I wouldn't get out of
my pajamas and I wouldn't getout.
To be it.
I'm like, look, I don't rollover, I got the laptop on my lap
.
That's how I did it, and I willwork to the evening hours and
the weekends, with just moretime to work without being

(48:30):
interrupted by me.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
Oh, my gosh, wow, and it eventually took a toll.
Yeah, without a doubt it willshut me down.
Yes, and it did.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
So now I understand the value of self-care.
So now when I wake in themorning, the first thing I do is
my prayers and meditation.
Then, if I have a really good,if I get up early enough, I
literally go to a two hoursilent meditation where I sit in
complete silence, just completesilence, just letting God speak
to me for direction.
Then after I leave there, I goand I work out for like an hour,

(49:03):
maybe two hours.
Then I come back, take a quickshower and start my day.
Now, if you had talked to me ayear or two ago, I would have
said the getting up meditatingfor two hours, the going to the
gym for an hour or two, that's awaste of time.
You can cut that out.
Get straight to the men'smeeting.
But again, that's things likeyour blood pressure starts

(49:25):
rising, your heart starts doingcrazy floppy things and the
doctor's looking at you a littleside eye about your heart.
You're like okay, I think Ineed to change some things here
yes, yes, you don't want to betaking like 50 pills.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
You know like you don't want to be doing that,
exactly, exactly, wow, I can't.
You said ask me a year ago.
I'd have been like that's awaste of time you can pray
during the day, between meetings.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
you pray, but you need to get to work.
That is literally how I talk tomyself, and I believe that that
was the way to success.
It had fueled me for so longright, not only as a doll
entrepreneur, but gettingthrough my PhD, getting the
first position, getting promotedto the highest ranking

(50:10):
professor.
I worked myself into oblivion,really.
I just kept working, workingand I thought that was the
formula.
Wow, and everybody tells youthat work until you drop is the
formula for success yes, I amhere to tell you work until you
drop means you will drop I waslucky that when I dropped, I
could be picked up, butsometimes if you work yourself

(50:31):
too, hard, you drop, and youknow that's true, and then
there's no work.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
So there you go.
After all that, you know what Imean.
So your journey from yousitting down seeing that story
to where you're at now.
What is the one thing thatmakes you the most happiest
about that journey?

Speaker 2 (50:52):
That's an easy one.
I'm about to cry about it.
That's easy.
It's not what you might thinkMeaning.
While I am so appreciative ofthe Toy of the Year Award, I'm
appreciative of being a WonderWoman Award, I'm appreciative of
being a momentum maker out ofall the being on you know, the
Tamron Hall Show, meeting GayleKing, giving Gayle and Oprah,

(51:13):
all of that were wonderful,life-changing events that I will
be forever grateful for.
But still and that's why I'mabout to cry, but still, the
thing that gives me the most joyis when I see a little girl or
a little boy playing with ourdoll, loving that doll and
telling their mom, aunt, grandmahow much they love that doll
and it looks like them.

(51:33):
When I get stories that peopletell me that my daughter would
not leave her doll, she takesher doll to Sunday school and to
regular school.
That one parent told me thather daughter took the doll to
school and they're not allowedto bring toys to school.
She was so addicted to her dollthat she wouldn't be separated
from girl to school, had to makea rule change, allow her to uh,

(51:56):
to bring her dolls to class.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
those are the, those are the things that just yeah,
yeah, just feel your soul, and Ithink that's great, I think
that's beautiful.
You and your team have doneamazing and beautiful work in
the doll space and in the toyspace and in the industry, and
I'm proud to know you.
I'm blessed to know you as aperson.

(52:21):
I'm blessed to know you as aperson.
I'm blessed to know you as abeautiful dollpreneur doing
amazing things out there andcreating dolls that are there to
represent the beauty in all ofus, and I just want to thank you
so much for what you do andwhat your team does, and they
bring amazing things to yourcompany.
And I want to thank them toobecause, like you said, without
them and without you workingtogether, you know, you just

(52:43):
really wouldn't be where you'reat, and I think it's a testament
to the passion that you sharewith them and the passion that
they have for helping you tobring your you know, your ideas
to life.
So, yeah, thank you so much forbeing in the doll world, thank
you so much for being an amazingdollpreneur that you are.
Really do appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
Oh, that means the world to me.
I thank you and I will shareall of that with the team.
They are an amazing team andyou know they're so good that
people think that we have thesame size of, like the major
doll companies, right, like Ilove and respect every doll
company that's out there.
But we are not Mattel, right,and we are not MGA right.

(53:24):
We, we are not.
We are nowhere near the size ofthose companies.
Yes, you see our product on theshelf, the same shelf and the
same retailers.
So sometimes people think, oh,they're a big company.
I think we're, by count, Ithink there's maybe seven of us
or eight of us, and that is it.
So the same number of the samefunctions that have to been done

(53:45):
by Mattel is the same things wehave to do Safety standards,
packaging, marketing, meetingwith buyers, meeting with, with
factories flying across theworld.
All of that insurance,liability, all of that that
Mattel has to do.
We have to do it too, butinstead of of having hundreds of
thousand employees locatedaround the world, we do it with

(54:06):
seven or eight people on alimited budget.
But we're so passionate about.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
Wow, that is so crazy .
Just to think, seven to eightpeople, that is like it's a lot
of work and that's what I, youknow, I really, and that's why I
love people coming on the showtalking about what they do,
because I, I want people to knowthat yes is, it's a passion and
you can create a doll, and butthe amount of work that goes
into that, you know it's notjust, oh, let me put a doll on

(54:33):
the shelf.
So many things go into thatbecause you know people will be
like oh, you should make thisdoll, well, you should make this
doll look like this, you should.
And it's just like, well, itjust doesn't work like that.
So many things.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
Well, I tell you, georgia, that's because you did
it so well, you made it lookeasy, but it's not easy.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
It's not easy, you know, like you said, just
thinking of the face and thehair.
Well, you know, the makeup,the's, yeah, it's a whole thing.
It really is a whole thing.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
It's a thing, it's a thing, it really is a thing.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Please share with everybody where they can find
all your amazing dolls and allthe things that are happening
for you and your company.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
Well, you can go to our website, the Fresh Dolls.
You can also follow us onInstagram, the Fresh Dolls, or
Fresh Dolls.
We're also on Facebook and youcan watch our animation or
cartoon series on YouTube andall the music.
I wanted to make sure thatevery song was inspirational and
positive, and it is.

(55:32):
If you listen to the lyrics,it's all inspirational and kids
feel that, and you can also seewhen you watch kids listen to
their dance and their movement.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
Because the music is so infectious.
Yeah, that's so cool.
I love it.
Okay, one last word.
What do you would like to sharewith the up and coming
dollpreneur you know that says,oh, I really want to create a
doll.
What would be one thing thatyou could share with them about
becoming a dollpreneur?

Speaker 2 (55:56):
Beautiful question, number.
One thing I would ask them why?
Why do you want to do it?
And if it's anything less thanI want to make the world a
better place, I want to empowerchildren, if it's any well, I
want to make a lot of money, orI want to be known for this, or
I want some fame or any of thosethings.
Do something else, Because it'sso hard it is so incredibly hard

(56:19):
to do it, that you have to doit for a higher calling.
Like I said, you have to do itbeyond what you think you're
capable of doing.
So once they articulate why andthe why is not about them, the
why is about someone else.
It's about community, it'sabout children, it's about
empowerment, it's aboutself-love, whatever your why is
then follow that and to what youjust said, georgette, there are

(56:40):
going to be mornings that areso hard You're not going to want
to get out of bed.
I know there are days I've goneto sleep at night and said,
lord, I'm done, I've given all Igot, I'm tired, I have no money
, I have no more avenues, butwhat I can do, I can't go to no
knock on, no out on exhaustedfriends, I'm done.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
And I go to bed with that truth.
I mean, that is my truth, I'mdone.
It's over Tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
I'm going to call the major retailers and say, hey,
we're not shipping.
So but then, and this happened,I'm telling this as a true
story and I told my mom, Icalled my mom who's now?
95.
I said oh I quit, I'm done, Ican't do it anymore.
I've given all I can't, I can'tgive it.
And she said go to sleep andsleep on it and see what God
tells you in the morning.
And I'm like, ok, I can, but mymom show, I'm clear, I'm very

(57:27):
clear, I'm done.
And that morning I woke up anda friend called me and said you
know, I think because I had toldanother friend like hey, how do
I?
Because here's my thought I wasout of the business, I was
clear, I was done, I was hangingup my hat.
But I didn't want to make itbad for the next entrepreneur
coming behind me.
So I called this friend of minewho has connection with a major
retailer he actually used towork with one and I said to him

(57:50):
I'm out, I'm done, but I don'twant to make it bad so that when
the next person comes toWalmart or Target or Macy's,
that they'll say, oh, we don'twant to work with you because we
worked with Dr Lisa five yearsago and she didn't deliver and I
didn't want to leave thatlegacy for the next company
coming behind me.
So that morning when I woke uphe called and he says I have a
solution for you and I met a newfactory and we kept moving, and

(58:11):
we continue to this day.
So those are the things thathappens.
I talk about passion, which isimportant.
You also have to surrender Atsome point.
You do all you can do and thenyou literally say, lord, it's
yours Again.
Lord, allah, god, whatever youknow, universe, whatever you
call it, I'm done, I give thisto you, I've given it my all,

(58:33):
I'm completely done here.
When you do that and literally,your mind, your heart, you walk
the way, not that you've givenup on your passion, but you're
just like I can't.
I've done it all and there'snothing else for me to do, for
me to do.
It's amazing, then, what theuniverse comes and what you
think were scraps and what youthought were dead ends.
God comes and extends that roadto that dead end and takes
those scraps and make a lusciousmeal out of it, because we're

(58:55):
talking about infinite power.
So true and I also want to addthis piece of advice also is for
the entrepreneur, or anyentrepreneur that has a passion
to do something, like I said,know your why that's important
and then follow your passion andthen know the power of faith
and surrender that is incrediblyimportant and also lean on that

(59:16):
meaning, lean on your surrender, lean on that infinite power.
Don't lean on your ownmentality, your own ability to
think it through, because you'regoing to have problems that you
cannot figure out.
It's not meant for you tofigure out.
It's meant for you to let goand surrender and then again it
gets uplifted into a powerfulplace that you didn't know.
I think sometimes what so manyof us do that I've watched is

(59:38):
that we're still, we're out herein a passion, is that we're
still we're out here in apassion, but we're looking for
somebody out here to help us.
Like, oh, maybe that company ormaybe this person, or maybe the
person you're looking for isyou.
There is no one that's going torescue you.
I wish I could tell you oh,just find that right person.
They're going to.
No, they're not.
But what will happen?

(01:00:00):
As you keep moving along, youwill grow and expand and attract
the people that are going totake you to the next level.
But you're never going to find asavior.
That person doesn't exist.
That person is you.
But there will be people comealong the way that will support
you in your vision and in yourdream and in your passion.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Nothing else to say, Dr Lisa.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Thank you for allowing people like myself to
speak and to speak our truth andto have this platform.
It is so important and I justwant to say that because of what
you are doing and you're givingpeople a voice and a way to
empower others and, as I said, Istand on your shoulders in
regards to that.
I stand on your shoulders inanother area, too, because I am

(01:00:46):
starting a podcast, not in thedog community, but I am starting
a podcast for those who have apassion about doing something
and don't know how to do it.
It's like you have a passion,but what do you do with that?
And, in addition, what ifyou're over 35?
So people are telling you ohyou're too old to start a new
path.
You know, listen, you got amortgage, you got a kid, you got

(01:01:07):
a husband or a spouse.
Just keep doing what you'redoing.
Maybe when the kids grow up andgo to college, then you can
start living your dream.
What I want to share on mypodcast is that's not true, that
you can live your dreams andlive your passion at any age,
and actually post 30, post 35 isthe ideal time to do your
second career.
I didn't start doing the dollsuntil I was well over 35.

(01:01:29):
That's when I started, and nowI'm doing a podcast.
You asked me about self-care.
I am starting a skincare line,again for mature people of color
.
Yes, because I know thatself-care is so important and,
as I said before, I didn't takecare of myself.

(01:01:51):
Now I do a lot of things.
I exercise and, like I said, Ido a lot of meditation, but I'm
also very concerned about healthand diet and my skin, and so I
have created a skincare linecalled Fresh Traditions.
Notice the fresh, so cool.
The reason why it's calledFresh Tradition is because it's
really based on the traditionsthat my mother, grandmother and

(01:02:11):
aunt passed down to me, and so Itook all of those traditions
that they gave, all theself-care that they told me to
do for my skin, and I added afresh, scientific approach to it
, and that's why it's calledFresh Tradition.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Nice.
Oh, I love the title.
That is so great.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
I'm having so much fun with it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
I really am, I'm so excited.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
I'm just having so much fun.
I have to send you some.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Yes, please do.
My mailbox is open, my mailboxis receiving.
Yeah, so I mean but that's whatI'm saying you open up yourself
to become so much morewell-rounded from all the things
that you have learned, and nowyou're at a space now where you
want to share all those things,so you can kind of walk hand in
hand with people to help themalong in different areas of

(01:02:57):
their life, between what you doin the doll space, with your new
podcast, and also with yourskincare, so, and you're
passionate about all of them,and that's a beautiful thing,
it's all about leaving the worlda better place.
It really is.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
At a certain point in your life, a certain age in
your life, you think, okay, I'vehad a good life, god has
blessed me.
Now I want to give back.
I don't want this to be as hardfor the next generation coming
forward as it was for me.
It shouldn't be right.
I should lay down, like you didfor me.
Being a pioneer in the dollindustry, you laid the
foundation.
So then when I came, I againstood on your shoulders.

(01:03:33):
Were those coming after you andme?
They should be standing on ourshoulders.
They shouldn't have the samechallenges, hardships that we
did, because we should lay thatpathway a little smoother for
them.
So now I am measuring mysuccess on my legacy Like am I
making the world a better placefor the next generation?
Generation of children,generation of entrepreneurs.

(01:03:55):
Am I making it?
And that's when I will decidethe success of my life.
It will not be based upon howmany millions the company made.
It will not be based on thekind of car that I drive?
It just will not.
It will be made.
Did you make a difference inthis life experience?
Did you help somebody?
Did you leave a legacy thatsomebody else can now pick up
and move forward?
If the answer to thosequestions is yes, then I've had

(01:04:18):
a life well lived.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
Yeah, I love the fact that you said you'll decide
your legacy.
That's just so powerful.
Again, putting the power inyour own hands to create the
thing that you really want tocreate.
So no matter what the obstaclesare, and you are a true
testament to that.
So thank you so much for that.
Thank you Appreciate that.
Thank you for being on theDauphinor podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
I appreciate your time Absolutely my pleasure and
my joy.
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
You're so welcome love.
Thank you, guys, so much forlistening.
Until next week, have a dollfabulous day.
Bye, guys.
Thank you so much for joiningus at the Dollpreneur podcast.
We really hope you enjoyed theepisode and feel inspired by our
amazing guests, as well aslearn something new about the
creative people within the dollcommunity.
So don't forget to visit ourwebsite at

(01:05:06):
wwwthedollpreneurpodcastcom formore content and please, we
would love for you to stayconnected to us, so please
subscribe to the DollpreneurPodcast newsletter, youtube
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Thank you again for listeningto the Dollpreneur Podcast and

(01:05:28):
until next time, have a dollfabulous day.