Episode #134: The Power of Integrating Your Culture Into Your Toy Dreams with Keewa Nurullah
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Becoming an entrepreneur looks different for each person who chooses this path. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to it! However, one thing that can help any entrepreneurial project is putting yourself, including your background and your history, into the story and finding a meaningful motivation for your ideas. That meaning may drive your mission in interesting and new directions, like it did for today’s podcast guest.
Keewa Nurullah, today’s podcast guest, is the founder of Kido Chicago, a brick-and-mortar kids’ store that also has an online shop. Keewa started the business because she wasn’t finding the things that a “cool Chicago mom” would want to buy, so she created them! It started as a store for kids clothing that Keewa designed herself, and then branched out into books and toys.
Keewa talks about how her family’s entrepreneurial background going back to Black Wall Street and her history as a Black performance artist shaped her vision. Learn about how she designed her store, the frustrations she has encountered with the photos on product packaging, and the number one piece of advice she received when starting her business.
EPISODE CLIFF NOTES
Learn how Keewa made the jump from performing artist to entrepreneur and found what she believes to be her true calling. [00:03:40]
Find out which celebrities Keewa rubbed shoulders with during her time as a performing artist. [00:05:22]
Learn how Keewa designed her store with Black and brown kids in the area in mind. [00:10:53]
Find out the hidden inspiration behind the name Kido. [00:12:19]
Learn about the important history of Black Wall Street and how it affected Keewa’s family history with entrepreneurship. [00:15:05]
Find out the effects integration had on Black businesses and communities that still affect them today. [00:18:39]
Learn the experiences that led Keewa to want to create a store that centers Black peoples’ experiences. [00:26:27]
Find out the frustrations Keewa has with the lack of diversity in photos on product packaging. [00:29:00]
Learn the best piece of advice Keewa received when creating her business. [00:32:44]
Find out how Keewa’s favorite toy as a kid inspired the direction for Kido. [00:34:40]
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
Follow Kido Chicago on Instagram by clicking here.
Visit Kido Chicago’s website by clicking here.
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[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to making it in the toy industry episode number 134.
[00:00:05] Keewa Nurullah: Are people being seen and feeling welcome and feeling like the priority? Not just like, oh, this here's this little section over here for black history. No, you are not an afterthought, you are first thought.
[00:00:20] 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. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com. Keewa Nurullah is the founder of Kido. A children's brand focused on representation and inclusivity. She started her brand online in 2016 after a successful career in the performing arts. The Kido storefront followed in 2018 and is home to a curated collection of unique clothing, diverse books, and sustainable toys. Keewa continues a family legacy of entrepreneurship as the descendant of a black wall street business owner. So today I'm thrilled to invite Keewa to the show. Thank you for being here.
[00:01:16] Keewa Nurullah: Aw thanks for having me.
[00:01:18] Azhelle Wade: This is perfect timing for me to be interviewing you because while this interview might not go out, for a little while, I just did an exhibit at the Science Museum, Oklahoma. So I've been very much researching what happened in black wall street. So when I saw your story, I was like, oh, we gotta talk about this. First of all, though, to start I would love to just know, do you consider yourself someone who works in the toy industry?
[00:01:41] Keewa Nurullah: Oh, I do. I do.
[00:01:42] Azhelle Wade: Cool. Cause some people don't.
[00:01:44] Keewa Nurullah: Yeah. It's not what I set out to do. When I started Kido, it literally was just like with an idea to make like cute onesies and t-shirts. Really as like an alternative to the trash, I was seeing like in big box stores, that was just like, not really for my kids or for my style. I didn't start selling toys until I started the storefront. And even then it was more books than toys. And then, you know, once you have a brick and mortar, you just start listening to your customer, you start hearing what they're asking for. And yeah, in an effort to flesh out our store and really, just make the store full of all the fun things. We just started getting more and more and more toys. And so, yeah, definitely. I'm a, I'm a toy seller at this point. We, we sell a lot of them, so.
[00:02:35] Azhelle Wade: So I've gotta know. You said you started it with onesies. So what, what kind of onesies? What were the designs?
[00:02:41] Keewa Nurullah: Well, I just was kinda seeing, you know, a lot of dinosaurs and a lot of like daddy's little Slugger and like, this kinda. Listen, not to nothing against those who enjoy those, sentiments put on their children. But I just, I was just looking for something a little more like funky or urban or stylish. They're just like cool and unique. And I, and I wasn't seeing it. So I just started racking my brain thinking like, well, what would be cool? You know? And what I did know is.
[00:03:13] All I had were my friends and family, my network of people who I knew who had kids. So the things I thought of initially were kind of like more Chicago, cool kid things. And then, you know, as we kept going, it just, and especially once we started really getting online customers, it became more than that. But yeah, just thinking outside of the box of like, what would a cool Chicago mom like buy for her kid? Like not this, but what, you know.
[00:03:40] Azhelle Wade: Do you still design some of the clothes that you sell?
[00:03:43] Keewa Nurullah: Yeah. Yeah. I still come up with all the Ideas and sometimes I have to hire an illustrator or a graphic designer if I can't actually put it together, how I want it. But yeah. Yeah. I still do that part of it as well.
[00:03:57] Azhelle Wade: Oh, that's so fun. That's really cool. So I saw online that you come from four generations of entrepreneurs. But you also said this was not what you thought you were gonna be doing. So what was it that you thought you were gonna be doing?
[00:04:10] Keewa Nurullah: Well, you know, I'm a performing artist and that's something that I consider as an identity. That's something that I'll do until the day I die. You know, when you're an artist, you're an artist. So. how I describe it is that, you know, if your first chapter is childhood and adolescence, your second chapter is, your college age and twenties and figuring out who you are. And those years for me were really pursuing competitively, my performing career. And so that was a full chapter. I got crazy opportunities. I traveled, I performed, you know, with all kind of people that I admire.
[00:04:46] And so once I had children then kind of started the third chapter for me. So this is just a part of that, that I couldn't have anticipated really, it's not something that I did before, but, I've just tried to go with the flow and just kind of continue where, where life has taken me. And, and since starting Kido, it's really become very obvious that this is my purpose. This is my calling. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. and so I just, try to embrace that and make, make all of my decisions from that place.
[00:05:15] Azhelle Wade: Okay. I'm making a note to ask you, what makes this feel so purposeful, but I need to go back to your dance history. It was dance right for performing?
[00:05:23] Keewa Nurullah: I've done it all dancing, singing, acting. It was a triple threat type of career. If we can call it that.
[00:05:32] Azhelle Wade: Wait, so then I wanna know what's the coolest thing you've done in that space, in your entertainment history.
[00:05:37] Keewa Nurullah: Oh man. So many cool things but the first thing that popped to mind when you said that was as a dancer I danced in the Victoria's Secret fashion show one year.
[00:05:46] Azhelle Wade: Did get to wear the wings?
[00:05:50] Keewa Nurullah: Oh, did I? No, I don't think I got to wear wings. No, I think that was a, those were for those people, but what so cool about it was that it was Tyra Banks' last show. For her last show, Naomi Campbell walked the show because it was like a big to do. And there were just so many people I had only seen on tv, I mean like Pharrell Williams, Puffy, Russell Simmons, and all the Victoria's Secret models, Heidi Klum and, you know, all of, all of these kind of larger than lier people. And then the after party was just like bananas. It was like the New York. I was living in New York at the time. And it was like the New York that you don't really have access to. So I was just like, my God, this is how I live, this is wonderful. It was just for one that.
[00:06:37] Azhelle Wade: Give me details, cuz I live in New York. I need to know what part of New York I'm not seeing. Come on.
[00:06:42] Keewa Nurullah: Oh, I know. well, it was just, I was so young at the time. I was probably 23 maybe. And struggling, grinding, trying to make it big in New York city. And so, you know, I'm eating ramen noodles and all that, you know, book this gig. And automatically be invited to this after party. And it was just like open bar galore. It was like fire dancers and breathers, and like people coming down from the sky and I'm dancing.
[00:07:14] Azhelle Wade: Oh my God.
[00:07:19] Keewa Nurullah: It was like millions of dollar budget, just like, you know a crazy fun, probably the most fun I've had socially, maybe in my life, maybe not, but , but it just felt, felt special and it felt like, you know, access to something that people don't really get access to. And all of the dancers, we were like, you know, we were just like, nobody's, we're just, you know, backup dancers or whoever. So we were really just like, having fun, knowing that this type of thing, might not happen again, which for me didn't that was only one and I did it. Once in your life thing.
[00:07:54] Azhelle Wade: Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. Anytime I go into like a club that's ridiculously huge in New York, I'm like, oh, I made it because like, I remember the first space I walked into that was bigger than the build. It looked on the inside bigger than the building or doorway I walked into. And I was like, where am I? Like, what is this? Right. So, okay. Let's go back. Cause I made that note, you said that what you're doing with Kido is really purpose driven work. Like you feel like you're you found your thing. What is it that you see or feel that makes you believe that? Because I know sometimes people have a struggle finding what is their purpose? How did you recognize it?
[00:08:33] Keewa Nurullah: I think the feeling for me is while the road of an entrepreneur is not an easy one at every stage of my path with Kido, there have been very clear signs that this is needed, or this is providing value for people or you are being celebrated At any point where I've been like, oh my God, like, should I just quit? Or like, what's why, know, like every year, multiple times a year, there are things that happen that are like, people want you to be doing this. You are supposed to be doing this, keep going. And I haven't always had that, even in my second chapter. Like I said, just all the rejection and all of the ups and downs, and with Kido, there's always been this kind of underlying thing of like, you created this and people want it, people value it. And, and it's feeding me in a way that I need. And then it's feeding other people in a way that they need. And then that's it. That's like, oh, that's, all there is. I'm not gonna fight it. I'm not gonna like, make crazy choices or decisions to. Fight something that obviously is like, I'm supposed to be doing this, you know?
[00:09:46] Azhelle Wade: Beautifully put. And so you came from a path of entrepreneurs. Did you always know you would be some kind of entrepreneur?
[00:09:55] Keewa Nurullah: No, no, I honestly didn't have a thought about it really. Until the idea for Kido, which to me is a sign of in itself, I definitely wasn't. Wasn't the type of entrepreneur that had this idea, it didn't work out. And then I was doing that and you know, like, no, like I was literally just performing, I came back to Chicago, settled down if you will, with my now husband and, had my son. And it just was like, I, I didn't know anything about children's goods or toys or children's books or, or stuff like that in depth, really, until I started Kido.
[00:10:30] Azhelle Wade: The design of your store is like really different from most, toy stores. It also seems less crowded one. and it, it all, it feels kind of like I almost wanna say like a fashion store, the layout is like very much like a fashion store, but how do you curate what goes into your store and how do you figure out the design of it? How do you go about all that?
[00:10:50] Keewa Nurullah: It's so crazy when I get complimented on the design of the store, because it's so DIY I'm not an interior designer. My house doesn't even look as good as Kido. Like it's it's Kido is just yards above what's going on in my home. And so I really just have this vision of like, okay, this is a kids store on the south side of Chicago. What are we not saying? Like, what is, what does the most bright-eyed black or brown boy or girl on the south side of Chicago? What, when they come in here, what should they see that they like never see? And so for me and my style, that's something I thought about, like you said, was space like bright, colorful, welcoming space.
[00:11:42] And then obviously the things I fill in the space with are, are drawing their eyes as well, but I just really wanted to it to just be bright and colorful. And like, when kids come into the shop just up just look that makes their eyes light up. And I had no idea if I was creating. But once I did, I saw, oh, okay people like it, you know, just like anybody else who DIYs, there were Pinterest boards and inspiration taken from this and that, you know, but in the end I just, I did what I could on my very small budget. And so the minimalism kind of that.
[00:12:20] Azhelle Wade: Yeah.
[00:12:20] Keewa Nurullah: Initially was just probably cuz that was all I could really put in the shop but now it's like.
[00:12:28] Azhelle Wade: That is what I could afford.
[00:12:29] Keewa Nurullah: that's what I could afford, you know. But yeah, so it's just like a lot of the things in Kido are really just like my personal style and my personal choices kinda put into, into this environment.
[00:12:40] Azhelle Wade: Actually, where'd the name Kido come from?
[00:12:43] Keewa Nurullah: Well, Kido. When you hear kiddos kiddo, but my nickname is, is Kiwi. And my husband's name, not nickname is Doug. So Kiwi and Doug is like Kido.
[00:12:53] Azhelle Wade: Oh, that's cute. Okay. So it's cute. My dad always called me, kiddo still calls me kiddo. I I'm too old for that, but he still calls me kiddo. Okay. When you first, I wanna take you back to like, when you first opened the doors for Kido, do you remember that first day?
[00:13:11] Keewa Nurullah: I do remember. I do remember our grand opening. I remember feeling excited for people to finally see what, what I've been working on. But I also remember feeling very insecure because we have a large space and I knew that what I had wasn't really filling the space yet. I had to kind of get there. So I just was, I was excited to finally have a home for Kido instead of having to go all over town, selling at markets and festivals and vending, you know, all kind of wherever. I was happy to just be kind of settled and people could now come to us. But on that first day, I do remember being excited and a little insecure, or just like not knowing if, it looked a certain way to people you.
[00:13:55] Azhelle Wade: So you were quoted on CNN business and when people come into the shop and stir up those conversations, it's not just purely transactional for me. You never know how people will end up being in instrumental in your life. And you said that quote, in partial reference to what happened to your great grandfather back on black wall street. I'm just, okay. I wanna talk about this because as a black woman in the world, I don't often see people that know their black history of their family. And I don't know much about my, my family's history. First of all, the fact that it was your great grandfather highlights to me and hopefully to people listening that all of this stuff was not that long.
[00:14:32] Keewa Nurullah: Mm-hmm
[00:14:33] Azhelle Wade: it was now, 101 years ago that this massacre happened. I mean, in a nutshell, what I remember from reading the articles I've read, there was essentially this like bustling town of, thriving black stores and, and communities of people and they got burned to the ground people lost their lives. Not only just their physical lives, but like their livelihood. All of their businesses. And then your family was part of that. Discovering that history or knowing about that history as you're growing up, did it like empower you to wanna make something of yourself or did it make you feel nervous that everything's temporary? How did that affect? How you go into entrepreneurship?
[00:15:10] Keewa Nurullah: I tell people this all the time in that the unique thing about. The developing history of black wall street is that there's still a lot that we don't know. But specifically when I was growing up, I didn't know that black wall street was as special as it was because no one else knew about it. So if I'm a kid in grade school or whatever, and we don't learn about in school. None of my friends know about it. It's never a topic of conversation. I go to high school. I never learn about it. I go to college. I never learn about it. if you have a diamond and you've never heard of a diamond before and you see, okay, it looks a little different than other rocks, but. It's not the same thing, but that's really. I didn't know the importance of my family's history, despite knowing what happened.
[00:15:57] I didn't know of the importance in American history until everyone else started to learn about it and say like, oh wait, this was actually special in respect to everything else going on in the country at that time later in time before that time, you know? So it really took perspective. It really took, you know, historians and people finding out more information about that time. And the people of that time, finding photos, finding video footage, even of that time, for me to realize like, oh wait, like my grandfather maybe talked about it in this way, but it was a huge deal, you know? So, so that was my experience growing up. It really didn't factor in because I really didn't know that it.
[00:16:44] As important as it really was. and there were other towns like that, you know, there were other bustling black communities around the country, you know, whether it's Rosewood, whether it's, black wall street, because it housed the biggest black bank in the country was bigger than maybe some other communities like. But there were other communities like it, we weren't integrated into, into white societies, so we had to form our own societies. And so there were other communities where there were, affluent black people. There were black entrepreneurs. Because we were kinda relegated to our, places.
[00:17:18] Azhelle Wade: What's crazy about that for me is I feel today, often there is, I wouldn't say contention, but like maybe a lot of competition between black people. and there's also like you have this idea that we, we are given. We're actually, we're given this idea that like, we don't work well together. And I feel like it was formed from kind of the past, like they broke us up and then we all just thought that this is how things always were. . But now I feel like for me learning about black wall street, no, we can work and thrive as a community. We just didn't know it. We don't know it now because it was destroyed so long ago. And then everyone just kind of scattered and we assume that we can't. I don't know, that's just, maybe that's just me,
[00:18:03] Keewa Nurullah: I think you're right. I think that, there were a lot of good things that came after integration, but there were a lot of things that were taken away. And one of the things that was taken away was. black people really, depending on ourselves and kind of working together to kind of create our, our own destiny. After integration, you know, we were just so busy trying to be the first or be the token, or prove our spot in a white setting that it took away from the collective of black people working together.
[00:18:37] They say in black wall street, money changed hands eight times. Between black people before it left the community, which is a lot, and which was a lot for that economy. And I think, you know, when you don't have anywhere else to shop you shopping with your people, but I think integration kind of gave people all these choices. And in that we ended up neglecting our own communities, which was, sad. And we're re rebounding for that, from that obvious.
[00:19:04] Azhelle Wade: I have chills. That was so well said. Thank you, that was really well said. I'm almost like, all right. Interview over. That was perfect.
[00:19:13] Keewa Nurullah: I don't really prepare for a lot of interviews. I just but I remember, you know, so, so much even of my upbringing was being the token or being the only one or even my performing career, you know, just like hoping that I'm the black girl chosen out of the other black girl, you know, and it's like, I don't think that's the lifestyle for me anymore. You know, that's why a lot of black youth are choosing HBCUs now, not only for the safety and comfort with all the scary things happening, but Just to not be the token, like to to not have to beg, to, to be accepted into an institution to only be ostracized at that institution. It's like, who wants that? can I just get an education over here where I don't have to prove myself or like fight, you know.
[00:20:01] Azhelle Wade: Or explain my hair or explain anything how I talk or. I, I agree with that so much and some of my, cousins went to HBCUs and then they were encouraging their kids and I just didn't understand it. I was like, unless you just really loved that college. Why I didn't really understand it until kind of, you said that actually where I'm like, oh yeah, you're right. I could, it's almost. Competing in a different game where you're just, you can just be you like, who would I be if I weren't, while I'm trying to learn, trying to like fit.
[00:20:31] Keewa Nurullah: Isn't that crazy? It's crazy to imagine. But I had, you know, I went to a primarily white institution as well, and a lot of my friends went to an HBCU. And I didn't necessarily question their decision. I just knew that I didn't that experience. I knew that the real world wasn't all so I wanna, I wanted to kinda get used to what it was gonna be like, as early as I could, but these days, the comfort of, Being seen being understood and it going unsaid, it's going unsaid. don't have to worry about it. You can up to class every day of the week with a different hairstyle whatever looked.
[00:21:17] Azhelle Wade: Nobody's gonna.
[00:21:17] Keewa Nurullah: No matter. It's
[00:21:18] Azhelle Wade: Your hair was three inches yesterday and it's 20 inches today.
[00:21:24] Keewa Nurullah: Right. The only comment would be like,
[00:21:27] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. Can you send me that link? Can I get that hair? Oh, my gosh. so true. And honestly, now I'm thinking creatively, like how you would have developed creatively if you weren't spending so much of your brain power explaining or fitting in. Yeah.
[00:21:49] Keewa Nurullah: The other, I haven't had this conversation. I don't have it often, but I think about that a lot in my performing career, because the time that I was doing what I did, I had to do so much to fit into a mold of what the black girl hired had to look like or present herself as, or sing like or whatever. And there were four years when I was in college. Felt so unnatural for them to be pushing me to sound like everybody else or to prepare myself for having to. Be palatable that I can know. I see the kids who are doing what I did now. And they have so much more freedom to express themselves as they are.
[00:22:36] That I just wonder what, what, what my career would be now, you know, just if I was placed in a different time and so in that way, that's another part of why I, feel so comforted by my journey with kiddo is that I can be completely myself. I'm in control. I'm not, appeasing anyone or begging for anyone's approval. I'm not presenting myself in any kind of way other than who I am. And so, even though I'm doing a different thing, I'm able to kind of redeem myself and claim a part of myself back. In a different way than if I were still, auditioning and, trying to get the next yes. from the people behind the table.
[00:23:17] Azhelle Wade: Yeah, that's a tough road. You took being a black woman. I, I actually didn't think about the time in which you were doing it. That'll mentally get ya.
[00:23:24] Keewa Nurullah: I didn't go into this conversation thinking I would talk about my performing but it was no, it's, good for me to reflect on because, I don't have any regret in my life and in that type of thing, but I do look back with curiosity as. would anything be different if I had just been able to just live as my white counterparts, did there was so much, competition, even, like you said, just amongst the five black girls who were always fighting for the same spot, you know, like. it didn't have to be that way, but it was. And, and so I came out of that kind era and I just tried to, I tried to be myself as much as possible, but then I would get in situations where I was the only one or I was the token. And wasn't you was a cycle of like auditioning to get the spot and then you have the spot and it's. Well, this isn't fun. Where are my people at?
[00:24:21] Azhelle Wade: Exactly.
[00:24:22] Keewa Nurullah: Isn't isn't anyone.
[00:24:25] Azhelle Wade: Mm-hmm Yes That's. Yes.
[00:24:34] Keewa Nurullah: Scenes doesn't have to be all white. Like they're like actually a lot of talented people who look like me and we might probably have more fun together, but it just, it you know?
[00:24:47] Azhelle Wade: But this is like such a good argument for sometimes people think like, if we have a black only anything, then it's, Kind of separation and segregation again. But I think that, I mean, having like HBCUs is a great example of, of an experience where a black person can grow in an environment where they feel accepted and then join, the rest of the world. But it's about, my opinion, If it's a black community, if it's a, school I think it's an opportunity for black people to like grow thrive, figure out who they are, and then reenter the world kind of untainted, like unaffected by the opinions of other people that don't quite understand their culture. So , do you think that some of the toys and things that you select, help kids feel that acceptance?
[00:25:34] Keewa Nurullah: Definitely. Definitely, definitely. I think every black person knows the experience of being in a shopping environment and feeling unwanted or feeling like there's a spotlight on them when there shouldn't be, or having some kind of experience or being at CVS and somebody asking you where the lotion is and you don't work there or yeah, whether it's looked at or followed, or whether it's being assumed to work there, whatever the experience is, you'll be pressed to find a black person who has never experienced any kind of, all of their shopping experience have just been chefs, kiss, you know?
[00:26:19] I think about that in the kind of home for families that I've created of just like. Yeah. Are people being seen and feeling welcome and feeling like the priority? Not just like, oh, this here's this little section over here for black history with like five, like, no, you are not an afterthought. You are first thought. And so, and that's, the point? That's the purpose. Anybody coming in is this is for you. Okay. and, and people don't always come in. They don't always know it's black owned. They don't always know what kiddo is. and we'll tell em, we're like, come here. What do you want? What do you need help with? You know, like this is for you. it may look expensive to some people, but now we got stuff for $5. What do you need? Like this car, you know, like we really try to, make sure that our community knows this. This is for.
[00:27:16] Azhelle Wade: I love it. What would you say piece of advice you would give to a small toy manufacturer, small toy business owner who wants to sell at your store or any small retail store? What kind of advice would you give them?
[00:27:28] Keewa Nurullah: a couple things were when I get frustrated is that, I've told you what I'm trying to build with Kido. And sometimes when I'm shopping for toys, things get undermined in a way because we have mostly sustainable toys. You know, we have European makers or me. Like we, we, we have a unique offering of things that, largely aren't available in the big box stores. however, I get shipments in and I go to unpack the toy and it may be a toy that I've been wanting for the shop for two years. And then the packaging all over the box are only white. So while I'm trying to be Kido and have this cute collection of things I'm undermined by this toymaker has chosen only to feature white children on their product, on the packaging.
[00:28:16] And so that's when I come, when it comes down to it, I'm just gonna have to make my own to, because it happens so much. and it shows that with toy making, we are an afterthought. And so I'm like, well, I gotta go closer to the source. I mean, kid, I just have to keep going so that I'm able to control all parts of, of what I'm trying to present to our families in our community. it's just hard to know in these times, if I'm giving my money to people who really, I should be giving my money to, should I be supporting your economy? When it comes down to it. I don't know. I don't know. So I'm always looking for unique things. even in the colors, chosen on a wooden toy, like not corny, you know what I mean? Like some independent toy makers are painting and choosing color
[00:29:05] combinations for their kids' toys in a way that's really like heavy handed or. It's not stylish. It's kind of like very remedial, like, oh, well it's just kids. So we're just kinda like throw all of these likey colors on it. And now mind you, some of it, they from studies of what children's eyes draw towards, but in the end, the parents are the, are a parents are making the decision and what I found and what I think has made me so successful. And this curated collection of toys is that the parents like how it looks, they like the idea of their children playing with something that's high quality. That's stylish. that seems like more thought was put into it. That it wasn't just thrown together.
[00:29:51] Azhelle Wade: And, a lot of toy people tend to try to follow the masses because they, because they're, they have to sell to multiple stores. Right. So they sometimes have to cater to multiple buyers. So that is a really good. And when I worked in, I don't know if you know this about me. I worked in the toy industry for 10 years before I started the toy coach. And I have to tell you, black people are kind of like a box to check. As far as when you're taking product photography, I would fight to have a black model in the mix and not have her be my skin complexion because my skin complexion's like the safe skin complexion, you know? Right. Like that's the safe. so I would try to fight for that. and the one thing I would do is I would get a dark skinned, black model.
[00:30:31] And then I would try to get a Latina who kind of looked like me because then I felt like I could get like a mix, you know, really get like a full rainbow B. There was never this conversation of, should we do the same product with a black kid and a white kid, but maybe that's something that people that are producing for small toy stores should think about, like, why does the box have to have the same kid on all sides? Like maybe that's something we need to look at as an industry. There are minimums for packaging, but maybe we need to say, okay, since there are packaging minimums, how can we make everybody be seen, but still make a product that works for every market. Right. Maybe we don't have just one kind of kid on every box.
[00:31:06] Keewa Nurullah: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
[00:31:08] Azhelle Wade: Last closing questions. Number one, what is the best piece of advice you received when you were starting your toy store?
[00:31:14] Keewa Nurullah: I think the best piece of advice was to, I mean, really plainly just listen to the customer. in the very beginning of my store, I really, I didn't have any experience yet. In that exchange. And so in that first collection of things, you know, I was just presenting what I like, what I like. And very quickly after that, you have people coming in, you have people asking for things. Now, mind you, I may have this idea of like what I want my store to be, but if 10 people on the same day, come in asking for baby boot. Well, what are you gonna do? You know what I mean? Like.
[00:31:50] Azhelle Wade: I'm gonna go buy some baby.
[00:31:51] Keewa Nurullah: This direction? Oh, well this is what I wanna do. Like, no, like girl, you get some baby in the store or what doing?
[00:32:00] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:32:01] Keewa Nurullah: That is such an easy way. As people online aren't as fortunate, they don't necessarily have this kind of ongoing feedback from customer, but let me tell you, it happens all the time. People ask for something. If enough people. Then it is probably gonna pop up in the kudo It's gonna be my version what they are asking for. It's not gonna be target has, but if they're asking for it, by all means, you know, this is my community. These are the people I'm looking to. And so, you know, because I am so picky with this curator collection, it might take a little while I have to find the right one, you know, I might have to find right. Set or else I'll be staring at it and I'll feel horrible about it. Cause it's not as cute as everything else, but yeah, once I find it, it's gonna be in the shop. Everything's gonna be wonderful.
[00:32:48] Azhelle Wade: And my last question for you. What toy blew your mind as a kid?
[00:32:54] Keewa Nurullah: Oh man. I think I really did luck out and still come from the golden era of just being out on the block. before all the screens and everything, it was the jump rope. It was double, it was double. I had like older brothers. I didn't have a built in set of people who wanted to jump double. So if we could get three girls who knew how to turn and jump, and we could have that trifecta enough to play Dova that's, that was it. We would play our afternoon, you know? It was that simple, simplistic toy that I think is probably what guides my choices in buying for Kido today.
[00:33:31] Like it's really easy stuff. It's stuff to encourage families to get back outside, to get in the yard and just like. Pop this ball around to play this little simple, like wooden thing, and really think about where it goes. Like really we're not talking about all kind of flashing lights and sounds and like, no, like this is like imaginative play, like basic things to kind of encourage that family connection, the connection between siblings, imagination and thought that, yeah, that's what I get excited about when I think of my childhood.
[00:34:02] Azhelle Wade: Well, Keewa, thank you so much for all this time today. We have so much to cover. I'm gonna invite you back in the future. I already know, I already feel it.
[00:34:10] Keewa Nurullah: Come on. Let's do it.
[00:34:13] Azhelle Wade: All right. It was a pleasure. Thank you for being here.
[00:34:15] Keewa Nurullah: Thanks for having me.
[00:34:17] Azhelle Wade: Well there, you have it. My interview with Keewa Nurullah, I hope you enjoy today's conversation, toy people and learn the important point that becoming an entrepreneur looks different for every single person who chooses the path. Whether you actually start out in a corporate world and you go the entrepreneur path, or you start off in a creative field, like Keewa as a dancer and then suddenly get a great idea for our product, which leads you to this entrepreneurial path. There's also entrepreneurs that own toy stores and entrepreneurs that create the toys.
[00:34:53] There is no one size fits all approach to it. However, one thing that can help any entrepreneurial project is putting yourself, including your background and your history into the story of your brand and finding a meaningful motivation to get your ideas out there, or to open up that toy store in Keewa's case. Now the takeaway from today's episode is the power of integrating your culture into your toy dreams. There is a power in it, but let's be real. There's struggle in it too. It's not so easy to make changes in the way that people are used to seeing things done or present it at retail. It's not gonna be easy.
[00:35:36] But if you could hear the passion in Keewa's voice and how excited some of her statements got me, a fellow black woman, you could see that there is a connection. There there's a power in our shared culture. So whatever it is that you have, whatever your shared culture is, or if it's a disability that affects you or a family member that you are seeing not represented in the toy industry enough. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I know your time is valuable and that there are a ton of podcasts out there. So it truly means the world to me that you tune into this one. Until next week. I'll see you later toy people.
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