For the first time ever, The Toy Coach is releasing a holiday gift guide featuring her top toy picks for the holiday season. The focus of today’s episode is to share a preview of this gift guide AND to educate you on what you need to get featured in any toy gift guide in 2023. This episode begins with a countdown of the top 12 toys you should gift this holiday and ends with a mini toy lesson on the top 5 things you MUST submit to publications if you want your product featured in Holiday Gift guides next year.

The Toy Coach’s holiday gift guide episode highlights toy creators who were consumers first and felt inspired by the kids in their lives to make an impact by creating the toys they wanted to see on the shelf.

To check out the gift guide described in today's episode visit, www.thetoycoach.com/guide where you can download the guide or order a physical copy.

It is a myth that toys are shallow or don’t make an impact on kids. Today’s guest was inspired to leave a tenured position as the top professor in her field to create a meaningful line of dolls. Dr. Lisa Williams started off her career as the first black person to receive a doctorate in logistics from The Ohio State University. While working as a professor, she saw a little girl interviewed in a study about dolls and race that changed her life forever. After seeing the interview, Dr. Lisa Williams was inspired to create a line of racially diverse dolls with custom-blended skin tones. Today, her brands The Fresh Dolls, The Fresh Squad, Positively Perfect, and the new Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dolls, are featured in Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s and more. In today’s episode, you will learn which role models inspired Dr. Lisa Williams, the unique way she created the custom skin tones for her dolls, how she found her way in the toy industry with a background in academia, and more.

Today’s episode is the first-ever live broadcast of an episode of Making it In the Toy Industry. Today’s guest, Marjorie Spitalnik gives a raw view into all the ups and downs of being a toy industry entrepreneur, how it can affect your mental health, and how to keep going with your ideas even when it seems like things haven’t gone your way. Marjorie is the founder and CEO of Little Rebels, a popular plush doll collection featuring historic female figures. However, Marjorie’s journey to success in the toy industry was full of twists and turns that affected her mental health. Marjorie tells listeners how she dealt with imposter syndrome, and the unique type of therapy that got her to move out of a depressive episode and into success with Little Rebels.

Kids play with a lot of toys so it only makes sense that they would come up with some incredible toy ideas. Mia Monzideliz came up with the idea for the Power Pony at only 5 years old. Now, at 11 years old, she is bringing her insights as a seasoned kid-preneur to today’s episode. The idea was born when she got the idea to put a large stuffed pony on a hoverboard. Now the Power Pony is a successful product that is only available on the company’s website. With the help of her parents, Mia created the business from the ground up, helping with every aspect of toy development. In today’s episode you will learn all about her perspective as a young entrepreneur, and her wise advice for anyone in the toy industry.

Finally, this beloved toy and game innovation conference returns in person. The People of Play Innovation Conference is the largest global innovation conference in the toy and game world, welcoming over 50 companies from across 17 countries to review pitches from students, new inventors, and professional inventors. If you’re new to the toy industry and you’ve heard rumblings about POP week or the Innovation conference, and you weren’t quite sure what either were…then this episode is just what you’ve been waiting for. In today’s podcast episode, we dive into the details of how to register and why you should join the POP Inventor & Innovation conference.