#187: Making Change Through Play with TOTY Nominated Dr. Zabina Bhasin
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Dr. Zabina Bhasin began her journey of understanding the powerful role toys play in shaping a child's identity. As a child psychiatrist, she used her expertise to observe that children were naturally drawn towards toys, books, and crafts. Yet, as a mother, she noticed a distinct gap in the market - there were no multicultural or ethnic studies toys. This realization sparked an idea, a vision to create a space where children could learn about various cultures and traditions, and feel a sense of belonging. This was the birth of In KidZ, a company that was much more than just a toy manufacturer. It was a creator of connections, a builder of bridges between cultures, and a purveyor of inclusivity. No longer would children ask insensitive questions about one another's backgrounds. Instead, through play, they would learn to appreciate and respect the beautiful diversity of the world around them.
Awards and nominations not only serve as a form of recognition but also validation of an entrepreneur's efforts. They can be instrumental in boosting morale and signaling excellence within the industry. Acknowledgment of one's work can also raise public awareness about the mission or cause the entrepreneur is passionate about. Reflecting on her own nomination for the TOTY awards, Dr. Zabina Bhasin expresses her gratitude and sense of validation. It's evident that these recognitions mean the world to her as they support her aim to make an impact in the lives of children through her culturally diverse and inclusive toys. This testament reassures listeners about the commitment and dedication behind her work.
This award-nominated change maker will be at New York Toy Fair at booth #4821. Please reach out to azhelle@inkidzco.com if you want to stop by and few the latest in In KidZ product!
EPISODE CLIFF NOTES
Listen to Dr. Zee getting started in the toy industry [00:02:08]
Learn about recognition in the toy industry [00:05:37]
Discover Dr. Zee’s journey in finding cultural ambassadors [00:09:11]
Learn about her nominations and awards [00:12:24]
Understand the importance of diversity and inclusion in toys [00:15:26]
Learn about the description of In KidZ large kits [00:16:34]
Find out where to find In KidZ products [00:19:10]
Discover Dr. Zee’s overcoming struggles in entrepreneurship [00:21:41]
Listen to what Dr. Zee considers the most meaningful win [00:25:06]
Learn about seeking mentors in the toy industry [00:29:03]
Dr. Zee’s childhood toys and games [00:30:01]
Find out how to connect with Dr. Zabina Bhasin [00:31:25]
Listen to her nominations and congratulations [00:32:12]
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
Instragram: @drzkids
Facebook: In KidZ
LinkedIn: In KidZ
VOTE for Dr. Zabina Bhasin for Social Impact https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIDjw_tNm7IugcAYTio8t9a5DZJU12GVP_sYT8icf5r2Ge9Q/viewform?pli=1
Learn more about the TOTY awards and The Toy Foundation by clicking here.
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[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to Making It in The Toy Industry, episode number 187.
[00:00:07] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: Welcome to Making It In The Toy Industry, a podcast for inventors and entrepreneurs like you. And now your host, Azhelle Wade.
[00:00:18] Azhelle Wade: Hey there, toy people. Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of The Toy Coach Podcast, making it in the toy industry.
[00:00:26] This is a weekly podcast brought to you by the toy coach.com. Our guest today is Dr. Zabina Bhasin, also known as Dr. Z, and she's a South Asian American child psychiatrist, Cornell educated diversity and inclusion expert, and a mental health expert. She is the founder of In Kids an ed tech company centered around educating children.
[00:00:48] And families about cultures and celebrations. Dr. Z's goal is to make inclusion a normal and daily part of family life. She's a mom who's on a mission to educate our children, celebrate diversity, and change the world through play her expertise and work to use to games, toys, and fun, to teach serious topics like diversity, inclusion, belonging.
[00:01:13] All of that has taken her from news to media like Good Morning America Entrepreneur Magazine, which is one of my dreams, so I'm jealous. Vogue Magazine and most recently celebrated as Forbes. Next 1000 Entrepreneurs, Dr. Z. Welcome to the show. Thank you. I'm so happy to have you here. And our topic today is to celebrate not one but two award nominations that you have for you today in the toy industry.
[00:01:45] First being the, you're nominated as the champion of diversity, A to award, and you're also nominated. In the category of Social impact, a Wonder Woman Award. Congratulations, I gotta get, get your collapse.
[00:02:01] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: Congratulations. So thank you. First,
[00:02:05] Azhelle Wade: I gotta ask, how did you get started in the toy industry? And like, I know this business started subscription-based model, but when did you transfer into becoming such a big name in the
[00:02:15] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: toy world?
[00:02:17] So I got started because of my kids, 'cause I wanted to teach them about other people's cultures and traditions. You know, in kids is inclusive kids. I was trying to create a place where my children, not only their own community, but they had appreciation and belonging for other people from other people's community.
[00:02:34] I mean, the story goes back way to when I was, you know, raised in Southern California. I'm a born and raised LA girl, and using the techniques and the academia that I knew as a child psychiatrist, um, I started figuring out that children, Towards toys, towards crafts, towards books. And I said, well, what a better way to create a place where my children feel like they have belonging, not only for themselves, but creating belonging for other kids as well.
[00:03:02] Hmm. So it was more when I decided to take a step away from healthcare, which I was in for 20 years. So I'm aging myself right now, but That's okay. Um, uh, and I was raising my children and they were being asked, where are they from? And he just took me aback and I, I don't think, you know, you can blame the children or the education systems or even their parents.
[00:03:26] There's no products out there. There's no such thing as multicultural learning or ethics studies or toys. Usually we see communities within silos educating their own communities. We're not normally seeing where we're trying to put things out there that are evergreen that anybody can buy, that teaches about culture and tradition and, and mental health and emotional learning, and talking about your feelings.
[00:03:51] I think we're constantly saying like one type of product out there, so I just wanted to create it for my kids, and there was a talk of like, why isn't this in the market? And I was like, 'cause I'm not an entrepreneur, nobody teaches you that I'm a doctor and, and I just started doing it and starting and launching in 2020.
[00:04:14] You started
[00:04:15] Azhelle Wade: in launch. You started in 2020,
[00:04:17] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: right? I started in March. Oh my gosh. Oh my. So I. We launched the company and it was subscription based and it was very social media, very just website didn't really do anything and we just kept putting our effort into figuring out how we wanted to run this company.
[00:04:37] We launched with one small product, then it went to a medium-size and it went to a large kit. And then, you know, we, we saw some traction and when. We got a really, I think it was late 2020, early 2021 when we got into Good Morning America and they talked about our Black history kit and we saw that people were so impressed with what we were doing.
[00:05:00] That's when the subscription company really took off. But as as everything else in pandemic time, you see this big surge and then you see this big fall. So we recognize in mid of 2021 when we got into the Target Forward Founders Program, which was our first big retail accelerator program, and we were the first cohort, so we were the Guinea pigs for Target as well.
[00:05:24] Wow. That's when we recognize, okay, we're more than just a subscription based company. We actually can create a product line. That is a social impact business that has meaning to it. And we're not just the candy in the market. We're actually the healthy food in the market that parents and educators and teachers, they want to educate their children to create a better place for them tomorrow.
[00:05:47] 'cause we have to create a future with our kids, not for our kids anymore. And you put so much work into
[00:05:53] Azhelle Wade: this brand. So what does it feel like to finally. Be getting that recognition from the toy industry. I mean, I know what you've gotten on, you know, good Morning America and in Forbes, but they love to talk about people doing things in the toy industry.
[00:06:07] That's cool. That's, those are the interesting stories, but getting recognition in the toy industry, how
[00:06:12] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: does that feel? It feels great. 'cause I have to tell you, where is this small fish in this big pond? With so many of these big industry people, I, I mean, there are the Hasbros of the world and the Mattels of the world who I have ultimate respect for.
[00:06:29] You know, they've been around multiple years and done a great job. But the recognition within social impact and, and, and equity and um, diversity, it's much more than just talking about it within your company and creating a space for that. It's actually. And I understand they're trying to do it, but I think one of the things, some of the feeling behind what we're doing gets lost is we're not just putting product out.
[00:06:58] We're putting authentic product out. We're working with ambassadors, we're working with people who are. From these communities who have been intersected as leaders in these communities and who are telling us how we have to have authentic product out there. So on the, on the d e I product line or on the multicultural line, we use ambassadors on the mesh learning line.
[00:07:19] We use our expertise as a child psychiatrist, but we also use it with. Other psychologists and everything we're learning. We're making sure we're going to the industry folk to actually create toys and products for early education. So children between the ages of three to 11 years old, that actually is fun to play with.
[00:07:35] So getting that recognition is like, okay, you see us now, you see what work we're doing and it's not just a toy. You know, it's more than a toy and they're seeing that and I appreciate that. I just hope they keep supporting us in that. That's really what we feel. Yeah,
[00:07:52] Azhelle Wade: it, it's, you think it feels like is a tie changing, but even similar to the pandemic rush we saw, we don't know if this is gonna to be like a lasting change.
[00:08:02] That's what we're, we're paying attention to and
[00:08:05] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: looking at. Yeah. If we're a lasting change, yeah. We're not going anywhere. Yes, there's gonna be a place like, you know, when, when we're creating the products we're creating, which are about to come out with, you know, Sesame Street, you know, we know there are other industry folks saying, oh, well we could do something like that.
[00:08:26] There is a place for it. And I'm not denying that because we're definitely gonna do different things that they, everyone in the industry has done. But we're doing it very towards our authentic knowledge and using people who have the background in what we're doing. It's not just a creative team. How, you know, how do you,
[00:08:45] Azhelle Wade: oh, how do you go about finding your
[00:08:47] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: ambassadors?
[00:08:48] So I. It was family and friends. Oh, yeah, yeah, right. Um, but now it's really talking to people in the work that I do, in, you know, as a thought leader and change maker in the d e I space, in the racial equity space, in the social impact space. I have actually a community of people now who I can go to as we're building these cultural ambassadors.
[00:09:11] You know, I, I've worked with multiple people at Aspen. I've worked with multiple people in the education sector. I work with multiple people in the social equity sector. Space health equity space. So I now have built a community around me where if I can go to someone and say, I need the leading expert in this, or somebody, you know in that, you know it, it's interesting, we have educators as we build out our cultural kits, which is like our American black history or our American Jewish, or we're gonna be doing next year, you know, multiples of the American culture and there are people actually coming to us.
[00:09:40] Who are experts, like in Pacific Islanders or in, um, in Latin. The Latin community, in multiple Latin communities, like in the Venezuelan community in the Mexican. And these are people who are like, we wanna be your experts. And what I love is they want to jointly do this with us because it's for our babies.
[00:09:55] It's for our babies, and they know that's the most important part. So that's how we've actually now started working towards that. And my creative team is amazing when they actually sit down with them and ask them the questions they need to. And I wanna
[00:10:08] Azhelle Wade: clarify, you're American Jewish kids, your black history kids, they're not specifically just for someone within that culture to appreciate their culture
[00:10:18] They're designed to teach other people about cultures that they are not a
[00:10:23] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: part of, right? Every single one of our kits is about teaching people outside of the community they come from, or that kit represents about that community, right? We're an everlasting kit. Our kits are not like for a month or a time zone or a a a month of celebrating somebody.
[00:10:44] It is for all the time. That's why we do the work we do. 'cause we're called inclusive learning. We're not for celebrating black history during just the month of February. It is celebrating black history all the time, and that's what we're trying to teach our babies. It's called Inner Community Change and bringing communities together.
[00:11:03] And
[00:11:03] Azhelle Wade: the vision is like your kids being asked what you know, where are you from? The vision is had in kids, been around, you know, for those kids to grow up with. What would've been your kids' experience in that world, in this new, in kids world,
[00:11:19] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: you know? Yeah. So, The vision that that, you know, and the dream that I have is, is nobody gets asked that again.
[00:11:26] It's, they know what community they come from or they'll ask, you know, I've actually heard is your heritage this? 'cause I was learning about this. Hmm. But the other prevention I'd love to see is, which there are multiple peoples written on within psychiatry and psychology, is if you teach a child early enough something, which is anything.
[00:11:44] You can prevent something from happening. So for my experiences, when children are taught early enough about each other and creating appreciation and belonging, when they get the middle school, you'll see a drop in bullying. You'll see a drop in making fun of there, in the cafeteria, you'll see a drop in the fact that they're being made fun of and there's those memes.
[00:12:02] So nobody's gonna go up to a South Asian kid and say, are you from seven 11? Like, that's not gonna happen anymore. Mm.
[00:12:10] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. Yeah. That's so that's
[00:12:11] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: the world. Yeah, that's the world, right? Yeah. So that's the vision and that's the dream, and that's the in kids world.
[00:12:18] Azhelle Wade: Love it. Okay. We gotta talk more about your awards.
[00:12:21] Okay. So, um, so have you ever been nominated for a toy award before?
[00:12:27] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: No, not at all. This is our first time, you know, we're always, we get you 2023. Yeah. Three award
[00:12:34] Azhelle Wade: or two. I'm sorry, I I just manifested a new one. No, two awards.
[00:12:37] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: 2023. Here we go. Right, right. Yeah. The toy will know. I mean, this year I got the a hundred, um, women to know by JP Morgan Cheese, so it's always been consistent Oh, nice.
[00:12:48] In my space. Right. As a thought leader, but to be recognized in the toy industry as someone, as a champion. Never. This is, this has blown my mind. Like there are two nominations in the same year.
[00:13:00] Azhelle Wade: What would it mean to you if you won any e any one of these awards in the toy industry?
[00:13:08] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: Um, gratitude. Yeah.
[00:13:11] Because we're walking into a space that they know is difficult and they're recognizing us as someone who's so young in the community and is like, we wanna put you on a platform because we know you're gonna do good work. And, and I have to say, there've been multiple large industry folk who have been very supportive and very helpful as well.
[00:13:34] Mm-hmm.
[00:13:35] Azhelle Wade: Mm-hmm. I feel like you're, I know you and I feel like you're also gonna feel a very much a sense of duty, like, okay, we have this platform, let's. What are we doing guys? What are we doing? If you don't know, I'm working with Dr. Z now, so she's gonna be like, we won, now we're put it on the cell sheets.
[00:13:53] It's
[00:13:53] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: gonna be like, you know? Yeah. So have to, I have to say something ever since I've created a team. Which has been a long time coming and I can't do this alone anymore 'cause it's not an I, it's a we in Kids is not just me in kids is beyond me in kids, is about bringing in the right team. And, and I'm going to say this, my team itself is diverse and global.
[00:14:19] We don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk. Mm-hmm. I mean, mm-hmm. We have creatives that are in multiple countries around the globe. Yep. But yes, my craziness is one thing that I have to calm down on. No, you're great. Oh my gosh. No. Very honest with me. And say, no, we can't do this. Oh my God. You gotta slow down.
[00:14:39] It's ambition. It's ambition. Okay. It's ambition. Winning these awards more than, you know, just the sales portion to it or the marketing portion to it. It gives us this place of cloud to know that we're the experts in this and that we are recognized as the experts to build out inclusive product lines.
[00:15:00] It's not just diverse product lines and, and, and, yeah, industry uses their diverse Well, that's great and, and you should be, But even if it's a diverse product, you should be making sure it's not bought by just those community members. It should be bought by all communities because that's when you're craz creating inclusive product lines that everybody can do.
[00:15:26] So it's diverse, it's inclusive, it's creating appreciation, and it's creating belonging. So that gives us that ability to say, okay guys, we are these experts now. Let's make sure that we're showing them and creating the products that, that the world is expecting of us. No, that's
[00:15:42] Azhelle Wade: great. I, I think that's beautiful.
[00:15:44] I'm gonna probably put that quote at the beginning of this episode. Uh, that's great. So I, I wanna just tell people, if you want to vote for Dr. Z as social impact for women and toys, you have to be a member of Women and toys. But you can go to the toy coach.com/ 1 8 7 and I'll put the links there. Also for the Todi Award Champion of Diversity.
[00:16:05] If you wanna vote for that, it's a special link of form. You can also find that link@thetoycoach.com slash 1 8 7. So I wanna make sure that you vote for Dr. Z in those categories. And now I wanna go back and find out more about the product itself. The in kids, large kids, how do you play with them?
[00:16:23] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: What are they?
[00:16:26] So the larger kits have multiple pieces in them, and we have country kits, we have traditional kits, and we have culture kits. Uh, next year you will see mesh kits, which are social emotional learning kits, where the, um, product line is called, it's cool to talk about your feelings. And each of these large kits has activity books in them.
[00:16:48] For reading book and the activity books will follow what the product is. So if it's a country, we're talking about the country with our amazing owl Hootie, who is following another individual and talking through that. Um, or it's a tradition or a culture or, or now it's gonna be social emotional learning.
[00:17:05] But then with the activity book, we have multiple crafts in there. So there's two or threes that the child can do alone or can do with a parent. So one, the things I make sure we tell everybody is, Just because we're, this is for kids. Remember, we as parents are learning at the same time because nobody taught this to us.
[00:17:21] Mm-hmm. So now we have two that we're actually teaching, which is the parent and the child. So along with the craft, we have games. So one of the things I love about the country kids is, um, we've heard multiple customers tell us that their kids have said, look, mom, this is what a kid in Australia plays with.
[00:17:37] I mean, it's so cute because you're like, yeah, the whole point of it that you're connecting yourself with children around the globe, you know? And so that was the really great feeling to say, okay, they get it. Like it's not even us. They get it. The kids get it. And so there's multiple games in there that, you know, you would see if there's a tradition kit, then you are learning about the tradition.
[00:17:55] You're learning how to create any processes, like our Naru kit has the Huff Scene table, or if you have D MUTOs, you're gonna create, you know, anything that's used in the D MUTOs tradition. And then we have other individual pieces of, there so's there's, there's flashcards, which is my favorite thing.
[00:18:11] 'cause the memory match. Flashcard not only teach language, they teach about the tradition and it's a game for the children who doesn't like memory. Mm-hmm. I mean, we as adults self play memory. So, um, it's that important. So there's about seven to 10 or 11 items in the large kits, and it's a storyline that follows of what we're teaching.
[00:18:28] The smaller kits, um, are, have the similar things, but they would just have the activity book, some piece of a game or craft and a crayon. But they're also very educational because it comes at two different price points and where are they sold?
[00:18:40] Azhelle Wade: Where can we find in
[00:18:41] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: kid's product? So you can find 'em on all the major retailers.com.
[00:18:45] So you can find it@target.com kohls.com. You can find it@nordstrom.com. Also, you can find it at macy's toys arrest.com or just macy's dot com and maza net. But in store, if you really wanna go get that experience, you can go find it right now at any Kohls. Well, actually I think it's about 892 Kohl's, but that's multiply across the country.
[00:19:05] You can go. Um, I still get pictures and dms. Look at what I saw at Kohl's. I'm like, oh my God, I don't even remember all the stores. But yes, you can find it. Kohl's, um, you could definitely go on kohls.com and I'll tell you if the store has it in store as well. And the experience of just going to the store and seeing what we're all about is.
[00:19:23] Is just so much fun for a child. Also, you could also go to in kids co.com to buy it on website. That is important
[00:19:28] Azhelle Wade: also in kids co.com. Buy it on the website direct to consumer sales. Everyone loves those too.
[00:19:34] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: Yeah, and I was, I was gonna
[00:19:36] Azhelle Wade: ask about your feedback. You've already shared some great feedback where kids are recognizing toys that other kids from different cultures are playing with.
[00:19:43] Now I've heard, we've heard all your successes. For those that are listening, it might be feeling like, oh man, I had a toy idea, but I don't know. She sounds really amazing. I don't know if I could live up to this. Can we talk a little bit about some struggle? Was there ever a point in your journey where you just thought, I can't do this.
[00:20:01] I, I, I failed, I messed up, or it's too hard, and you were like, I don't think I'm gonna make it. And if so, how did you overcome it? Because obviously you did. You're here today.
[00:20:13] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: So this is a great question. It's a, because there's been a struggle at every single point. Like, I can't lie, I mean, I literally talk to someone in the industry and they're like, well, well why are you doing like this?
[00:20:29] Why are your margins like this and why are your cos like, I'm like, oh my God, I'm not doing it right again. Like I, I feel like I.
[00:20:41] Which, like when you feel like you have that success and then you hear something else and you're like, oh my God, are you serious? Like, are this is happening? So I am now at a place where I have multiple people on my team who are amazing. Um, and Gel is one of them. And I, and, and I adore everybody.
[00:20:59] Everybody works together very well. With my craziness. I always say that. Um, it's a happy, crazy guys, they all know this. Yeah, no, she's fine. Um, yeah, so we're launched and we literally find out some things in the backend that just should have not happened, and we sit with our C F O and we sit with multiple people on our team, and I'm like, I don't understand how this happened.
[00:21:26] It. I called up my chief project officer and I talked to her and I said, every time I feel like something great is happening, something's always messing up. And she said, that's life. And she said, see, we're gonna see that at every step. If it's not something messing up in the company, it's somebody going after you because of the, you know, the society we live in.
[00:21:48] If it's not that, it's gonna be somebody telling us our, our education material's wrong. But she said to me, she said, you just have to keep going. You have a vision, you have a dream, you have a, a program that you wanted to put out there. And this is not again, about you. This is about the babies and this is beyond you.
[00:22:09] This is about the future of our children, and I think that for me, just keeps me going. Look, I have no idea what an entrepreneur was. Let me tell you guys something. In medicine, they don't teach you at Excel, they don't teach you how to put numbers together. They don't teach, teaches you.
[00:22:34] And, and, and you just get right back up if you believe in what you're doing and you, you just go and figure out how to fix it. And then you have people around you who don't let you fall and keep telling you, okay, this is how we should try it. This is not a great idea. You don't want Yes people, you want people who are gonna challenge you.
[00:22:55] And, and also, I will tell you, if you wanna launch a business and you bring a team in, make sure they're smarter than you, because I wanna make sure I'm not the smartest person in the room. I wanna learn from everyone because everyone's an expert in their own field, right? I, I don't know what, you know, I don't know, you know what, what some of my team members know, but that's why they're there.
[00:23:18] Yeah. The leader to make sure we're all working in the right structure, but everyone has to help me too. You know? And that and, and I think that for me, consistently also, when I didn't have a team, it was hard.
[00:23:32] Azhelle Wade: It seems like refocusing in that moment of struggle on the real purpose, why you originally made the company is what helped drive, drove, drive you forward.
[00:23:42] Yeah, and
[00:23:43] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: I
[00:23:43] Azhelle Wade: also, it kind of. You know, it kind of re strengthens the use of awards to me now too, because I hadn't really thought of it in this context, but entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster in the down moments. How lovely is it to get an award nomination, just to remind you, you're doing good because like, you know, so you need that, you know, you, you need a little boost every once in a while, so.
[00:24:08] I don't know. This is just a shout out. Raise the roof for rewards. 'cause we do need those. We need that pat on the back. Especially when we're entrepreneurs, we don't have a boss. You know, we need that. We need that pat on the back like, you're doing a good job. Keep on going. You know, like
[00:24:22] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: That's great.
[00:24:23] Yeah. I totally agree with you. I think, I think one of the things that's coming back to my purpose and why I am doing this mm-hmm. And why I put my foot forward to do this, um, In a million years, if you told my younger self that I was gonna run a toy company mm-hmm. And I was gonna be speaker and a thought leader and a change maker, I would've said, you've lost your mind because Right.
[00:24:45] I'm a doctor and I am a therapist and I run hospitals and like that's my wheelhouse. But you know, the universe brings you what it brings you. Mm-hmm. Do you remember your very first big win on this journey? There have been multiple. Your first big
[00:25:06] Azhelle Wade: one where you were like, whoa, maybe I should do this forever.
[00:25:12] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: Okay. I wanna say big. Oh. You know, it's not an industry thing, to be very honest with you. Yeah. Okay. It was my daughter. Oh. And as a mother, as I've been building this. You, I stopped working in healthcare to be with my kids,
[00:25:35] you know, and, um, as a mom, you miss out on things now and my kids are not old. They're six and seven. And I've had multiple nights and days where I've told friends and my husband and I'm like, why am I doing this? I'm missing this. And, and I think there was a point something was happening and I was sitting there and I was upset.
[00:25:57] And my daughter said to me, she said, mom, you're making a change for kids. You are making a change for the world, so you have to keep doing this. What? And I think that for me, was my win. Because she saw as a woman, a woman of color, a woman of, you know, immigrant parents, a woman who has actually gone through multiple things in her life that the work I'm doing is for her future and the future of kids.
[00:26:28] And she saw that, and that was my win. You know, all the accolades in the world, all the, all the retailers, all the things I can do, they're great. When a child tells you, you're doing this for me and for my betterment and for children around the world, that was my win. Oh, that's so sweet. Oh, that was beautiful.
[00:26:56] Azhelle Wade: Thank you for sharing. Okay, I gotta go to my closing questions for you, Dr. Z. First up, what would be the best piece of, of advice you have for someone
[00:27:08] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: just starting out? Go to everyone you can for advice before you start.
[00:27:18] Don't be stubborn. Listen to them. Okay? That's good. That's fair. I wish I did it.
[00:27:28] I don't know. I, I, I'm not sure 'cause like sometimes people
[00:27:31] Azhelle Wade: ask me things like, how did you start your business? Or How did you start your podcast? And I'd be like, honestly, if I knew what I know now, I probably wouldn't have done it. So like ignorance is B
[00:27:45] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: percent. Right? I, I would not have even had a clue. Clue that, that this is where I was gonna go. Like, you know? Yeah. Everyone's like, oh, how many years are you gonna do this and then sell? I'm like, I'm not selling this. Whatcha talking about if someone asked me that five years ago, I'd be like, I dunno what you're talking about.
[00:28:00] I would never do that. Right. Yeah. It's like, yeah, I agree. I agree. I think, but the advice is, it's different. It's, it's, you know, because we're in the position now, I think if I had like sat down and really thought through what I wanted to do and how to build a business and maybe done more research, mm-hmm.
[00:28:18] Because I had a passion and I was driven by it, which I'm still driven by it, but I was like, no, I'm just gonna do this. And, and I have to say, if anyone knows me in my life, they know me. I'm as idea queen. I mean, you could say that. Yeah. Yeah. And my husband constantly heard my ideas all the time, but I think when I told him about this, he was like, oh yeah, we gotta do this.
[00:28:42] Oh, so he's to blame. Well, I mean, you don't need to tell you, you know me better than anybody to tell you. I mean, you also know my husband, so I'm just kidding. Rock. Just kidding. Um, but I think that was the thing is like he said, do it and I just kind of just went into it. Yeah. I, I feel like I should have, like, you know, but I, in the industry, so who would, I've gone to.
[00:29:10] But there is an ability out there right now. There's so many women who are in this industry that if you wanna be in the toy industry, there are multiple mentors out there.
[00:29:19] Azhelle Wade: I agree. Yes. You can def definitely. Yeah. You should ask for advice. Yeah. Don't get scared though.
[00:29:24] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: Don't get scared. That's so easy for us as women that constantly we say that.
[00:29:29] Who do I ask? Where do I go to? Hey LinkedIn, me, email me. Text me. I mean, if you know me, just do it. I will give you advice, but if I don't have the right advice, I'll send you to the right person. Don't be scared. I, I will say I was scared. I was scared. I mean, now I'm not. I was, yeah, don't be scared. My
[00:29:48] Azhelle Wade: final question for you today is what toy or game blew your mind
[00:29:53] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: as a kid?
[00:29:56] So I had a lot of brothers, so many. I have three brothers, so Oh, okay. But I have cousins who lived with us, and they were all boys. So it was a very boy oriented house. You know, I didn't really have that many dolls, or I had a lot of stuffed toys. I, I have to say my favorite, it wasn't really a toy, it was basketball.
[00:30:18] I mean, I played basketball with joy. That really, I mean, yeah. You know, I, I found myself playing my name came from my basketball coach. That's the story. Dr. Z was because of my basketball coach. Wow. He didn't know I was gonna be a physician, but it was more because I was a power foreign and center. It was basketball.
[00:30:39] I mean, I, I don't, uh, you know, I, I, to this day, I love board games. I could play 'em all day long. Um, now we have that little digital board game that my kids love, you know, but we played Monopoly a lot. We played, I I, I did have a lot of stuff, toys. Those were kind of my, my escape from my brothers. Yeah. But my favorite, and I guess my toy was my basketball.
[00:31:04] Wow.
[00:31:05] Azhelle Wade: That's so, oh, that's so wholesome. You're wholesome.
[00:31:09] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: This is just, I dunno about that, but it's wholesome. Oh, okay. Where, where can people
[00:31:17] Azhelle Wade: connect with you if they do wanna drop you a line for some advice or they just wanna check out your product and your work? Maybe your,
[00:31:23] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: your talks. Yeah, so in kids co.com, which is I N K I D Z Cove for our products, um, my talks, um, my LinkedIn page has multiple things that has on it.
[00:31:35] So you could look for Dr. Zaina ine, um, I think it's also Dr. Z, um, MD is all of our social handles. Um, you could also look at in Kids Co, where you will see, um, a lot of the work that we're doing as a company as well, because now we're falling into education and we're gonna be in the schools. We also have a sports vertical where we're gonna be working with multiple, um, sports teams to talk about, um, cultural diversity and emotional wellness.
[00:32:03] And then soon to come a full fledge tech multimedia channel. Thank you so
[00:32:09] Azhelle Wade: much for being on the show today, Dr. Z. Best of luck with your two nominations for Social Impact and champion of diversity and inclusion. Congratulations, and I'm wishing you all the
[00:32:21] Dr. Zabina Bhasin: best. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening to Making It in The Toy Industry Podcast with Wade.
[00:32:31] Head over to the toy coach.com for more information, tips, and advice.
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