The Dollpreneur™ Podcast
Welcome to the Dollpreneur™ Podcast!
I’m so excited to have you join me on this new adventure as I reignite my passion for the doll community with the Dollpreneur™ Podcast. Each episode celebrates the innovators and artists who bring this magical industry to life.
I’m Georgette Taylor, co-inventor, co-creator, and co-founder of the first plus-size fashion dolls, Big Beautiful Dolls and with years of podcasting experience from a business podcast to being the former creator, host and producer, of In The Doll World podcast.
Join me as I share inspiring conversations with talented creators from around the world, introducing both seasoned artisans and fresh new voices. The Dollpreneur™ Podcast offers a unique glimpse into the world of doll creators, blending art and entrepreneurship to showcase the passion that drives the doll-making world.
Whether you’re a doll enthusiast, an aspiring creator, or simply curious, the Dollpreneur™ Podcast is where creativity meets entrepreneurship, community, and every conversation inspires. Let me guide you through this world I’ve helped shape, from Big Beautiful Dolls to engaging discussions with the leading voices in doll-making.
Until we connect again, have a Dollpreneur™ Fabulous Day!
The Dollpreneur™ Podcast
Empowering Future Generations through HBCYou Dolls with Brooke Hart-Jones
www.thedollprenuerpodcast.com
What if a heartfelt gift could ignite a groundbreaking entrepreneurial journey? In this episode of The Dollpreneur™ Podcast, we’re joined by Brooke Hart-Jones, the visionary founder of HBCYou Dolls. Brooke’s journey began with a deeply personal mission: to find the perfect birthday gift for her best friend’s daughter. Her friend, a proud HBCU soror, inspired Brooke to create a gift that would honor their shared cultural heritage and celebrate the legacy of historically Black colleges and universities. When Brooke couldn’t find what she was looking for, she took matters into her own hands—giving rise to HBCYou Dolls.
We also dive into the unexpected opportunities that arose during the pandemic, which allowed Brooke to expand her vision and create personalized HBCU-themed dolls that resonated with so many. As Brooke shares her incredible story of transforming an idea for a gift into a thriving business, we also discover how her background as a buyer and her collaboration with Purpose Toys became key drivers of her success, and hear her advice on resilience and adaptability in the ever-changing retail landscape.
Her work underscores the vital importance of representation in children’s toys and the broader impact it has on shaping identity and inspiring future generations.
Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or a supporter of cultural heritage, Brooke’s story is a powerful testament to the transformative power of entrepreneurship and the importance of community support for diverse doll makers. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation about turning passion into purpose and sparking meaningful dialogues about education and identity—one doll at a time. To learn more about HBCYou Dolls, please visit HBCYou – Purpose Toys
Thanks for joining us on The Dollpreneur™ Podcast! We hope you enjoyed the episode and feel inspired by our amazing guests and learn something new about the creative people within the doll community.
We would love for you to stay connected so please subscribe to us on Instagram, FB & our Youtube Channel all @thedollpreneurpodcast
You can also subcribe to The Dollpreneur™ Podcast newsletter by visiting our website The Dollpreneur™ Podcast to subscribe.
Until next time, have a Dollpreneur™ Fabulous Day!
Hello everyone, welcome to the Dollpreneur Podcast, where I get to chat and share with you the amazing doll creators and creatives from around the world. I am your host and creator of the Dollpreneur Podcast, georgette Taylor, and I'm so excited to highlight the inspiring stories from the people who keep the doll community buzzing with creativity and passion. So, whether you're a long-time doll lover or just curious, looking for something new and creative to listen to, join us for engaging powerful and insightful conversations that celebrate the heart and soul of the people within the doll community. So what do you say? Let's get this show started. Hello everybody, welcome to the Dollpreneur Podcast, where we're here to celebrate creativity, passion and entrepreneurship of doll creators from around the world. I'm your host, georgette Taylor, and I'm so excited to have with us today Brooke Hart-Jones. Brooke is the founder of HBCU Dolls, a doll and toy brand inspired by Black colleges and universities, and I want to welcome you to the Dollpreneur Podcast, brooke. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to meet you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm so excited to meet you too. I just love what you're doing and I can't wait to have my audience listen to your story. But before we dive into your little incredible journey with the HBCU Dolls, I just wanted to know can you share a little bit about Brookhart Jones? Tell us that story and what shaped the person behind inspiring this brand?
Speaker 2:Okay, so I am a wife and mother of two. I live in Texas. I graduated from Hampton University. I come from a long line of HBCU grads, a long line of people who value Black history and it's important. So I really grew up learning Black history at an early age and really, you know, becoming a passion of mine.
Speaker 2:And then also, my mother was a doll lover. I consider myself a doll lover, but she would collect dolls. She, as I come to learn more about the doll community, she was definitely a novice, definitely not a professional collector, but she did really love dolls and kept a lot of dolls around her until her death. So you know, all those things, kind of, as I look back, were definitely shaping me for what I'm doing now. And then I have a background in retail merchandising. I was a buyer in the retail corporate space for almost two decades and so kind of all those things, all those kind of roads and twists and turns in my life were leading me here and, of course, didn't know it, didn't know why, but kind of leading me here in 2020. It became HBCU Dolls.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well, how did your experience as a buyer prepare you to?
Speaker 2:you know, build a doll brand celebrating HBCUs a doll brand celebrating HBCUs, just kind of knowing. Well, probably you know the number one thing not taking things personal when approaching retail companies, kind of understand their thought process and being able to kind of navigate that. It's still tough being on the other end. I'm not going to make it seem like it's made things easy, but it gives you a back-end knowledge how things work and understanding not taking things personal, it just kind of understanding from the other side. I used to joke, you know, long before HBCU dolls was a thought, I would joke to myself like, wow, it would be the ultimate karma if I'm ever on the other side, ever on the other side, and you know exactly, exactly. So just kind of that, that knowledge of how they operate and what they're looking for and you know it's a volatile business.
Speaker 2:It's a you know, and you just can't take it personal. You got to have some thick skin. Your baby may not be well-rece. Uh from by everyone. Um, really Okay. You gotta you gotta keep it moving so that's true.
Speaker 1:That's true. So it gives you, it gave you a different perspective, even though you are on one side of the coin.
Speaker 1:Like you said, when you became a part of the other side of the coin, right what was? Uh, even though you you kind of knew what the other side of the coin, right, what was, even though you kind of knew what the other side of the coin went through when they were trying to present their you know their products or dolls, or whatever it was they were bringing, to market, what was the one unexpected challenge that you faced when you started bringing, or tried to bring, your HBCU dolls to major retailers?
Speaker 2:So I'm going to preface this by saying I didn't do this alone. So I partnered with Purpose Toys, who had resources, had a foot in the door, and so they made that process a lot easier for me. So they kind of handled a lot of that. But getting them to understand, you know there's been a lot of complaints about not having as many schools and you know we had an idea of schools we wanted to carry. They had their own opinion and also, oh, they decide. You know which stores will carry that position where you're allocating to different stores and you have data on the demographics of certain stores and you know, and it just always doesn't line up, but you only have the data you have.
Speaker 2:And so the store is not getting to, you know.
Speaker 1:Getting to the places where you feel like they need to be at Exactly, and that's tough because we have no power over that.
Speaker 2:Once we sell them, the dolls, they put it where they, you know, think it should fit. And that's tough because we have no power over that.
Speaker 1:Once we sell them the dolls, they put it where they, you know, think it should fit. Okay, so your dolls are in retail. So that's a little bit different, I think, than a lot of people who are a lot of doll makers, who just sell their dolls specifically on their own website Exactly, and there's pros and cons to both processes.
Speaker 2:For sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:So you didn't have that unexpected challenge bringing the dolls to the market. What challenges did you have creating the dolls, because I think that's a whole nother challenge.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, because I'm you know, to be frank, I'm not a doll maker, I'm a visionary had an idea for a doll when I was doing it on my own, I was handcrafting. I was buying a doll wholesale from craft stores. I'm customizing the doll and then when I partnered with Purpose Toys, they had the manufacturing resources. So it's a lot. Because you want our skin tones to be, you know, reflective of the community, you want our hair textures and we're such a beautifully diverse, beautifully diverse people and so it's hard to kind of reflect for everybody to see themselves. So that's tough, you know, and just an 18-inch doll is very expensive to make and wanted to make it accessible to mass market, hitting those benchmark numbers that everybody needs to make to be in business and trying to produce the quality that you want. It's tough. Very proud of what we did. Of course there's things we had to compromise and sacrifice, but I'm happy from for what we that's right, what you're able to produce.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I totally understand. I mean, there's definitely those, like you said, those different qualifications that you're not, you're not thinking about when you want to create a doll. You know, like you said, you have this vision, I want to create a doll, and for that person that's not on the other end yet, right, right, they're just thinking about it. It seems simple, it seems like a simple process, but it's not. Like you said, especially when you're creating a doll of color, there's so many different choices of colors and so many undertones and so many hair textures. How do you, like you said, find a happy medium for yourself when you're creating?
Speaker 2:that Case in point, we decided to go with molded underwear, meaning underwear is built on the actual doll yes on the doll right. Our people do not like I get so many complaints about she does not have underwear. I had to go buy some underwear to put on her before I gave to my. My granddaughter or my niece wanted to know why she didn't. You know it's the underwear, but the amount of extra costs underwear would have been.
Speaker 2:And so we had to make that decision to do the molded underwear, which is which is standard in the doll community, but it's a cultural thing for, you know, especially older generation black women, if the doll has a dress on, they want to see some underwear, especially a short dress. So that's been tough, you know, and I understand and I sympathize. I definitely understand that point of view, but I also understand that that underwear would have cost over an extra dollar in the manufacturing process. It's a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is definitely a lot of stuff, A lot of things to think about. You know, on that perspective, you know what sparked the moment for you when you realized you wanted to bring the magic, I guess, of HBCU into dolls and into children's play. What was that moment for you?
Speaker 2:children's play. What was that moment for you? So okay, so I'm a proud HBCU grad, but I have a friend who she takes my pride to the 10th grade right, and she has a little girl so sweet and I her birth, and this is, during the pandemic, one of the first times in my life that I'm able to sit still Okay now I still have a kindergarten and first grader, so it's still chaotic to some degree, but it's the first time in a long time where I'm not driving over 30 miles to work back every day, rushing to pick up my children by the cutoff, you know, running the soccer prep. So life has slowed down for me more, you know, more so than it had in a long time. So, and I've always been an idea person, but it was the first time I was actually able to have an idea and not have to push it out because I have so many things to do, places to be. So I was able to kind of act on this idea.
Speaker 2:So I, um, my friend's daughter, her birthday was coming up. I said, oh, it would be so cute you know it's the pandemic, I won't be able to, you know, see her, to send her an HBCU doll for her birthday. I'll just just go online, order it, have it shipped, start searching and can't find it. And I'm like I've seen this before. Right, I thought I'm pretty sure I've seen this, you know, and I think I'm, you know, master Googlist. I'm searching, I'm searching and I'm like wow. And so my first thought is okay, maybe I can put one together for her. And then I found a doll from a craft store. I found uniform. I personalized it, shipped it to her and her mom loved it even more than she did, and they put it on social media. And then people were asking me to make one and I'm like, wait what? Oh, okay, and you know, I'm like maybe this is something I can do. And that's kind of how it started. Wow, that's so cool, though that's so cool, though, that's so cool.
Speaker 1:They were like make one, and you're like OK, wait a minute, I only made one. I got to make a number one. How is that going to happen?
Speaker 2:Like I'm getting orders. I don't even have a name for this business, Right?
Speaker 1:That wasn't the vision. We did a business at the time, right. So after they said okay, after you said okay, I think I could do this, what was your next step to finding that person to help you with that? Because you know, I know when I was making the big, beautiful dolls, you know I just went into stores and I looked on boxes to see who manufactured what and then hopefully I could call somebody you know back then but that was 1999, you know that was so many years ago. Now hopefully they have a little bit more people that you can reach out to and mentor. You know that can mentor you through that process. And I know you found Purpose Toys.
Speaker 2:So how did that come about for you? So you know, this journey has been so divinely ordered that's the only way I can describe it, because, from a person who can describe it, because, um, from a person who I never desired to be an entrepreneur, I is not something I saw for myself. Um, you know, I like creativity and being creative and doing things, but just, I just really didn't see, because I've I've been blessed to see a lot of entrepreneurs in my family and I I know what it takes. I don't glorify entrepreneurship by any means and so, yeah, so it's been divinely ordered. So I was doing it on my own and then Purpose actually reached out to, they found me Okay, that's cool and reached out to me. And you know, I hear so many people who, like I say, all I can say has been divinely ordered. Because, you know, I know that's not typical to you know, within a, within two years of an idea to go from idea to store is nothing short of a miracle.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's so true. Yeah, so, and I mean more beyond my wildest dreams, my wildest vision, you know what happened. So all I can say it was definitely divinely ordered. So, yeah, they reached out to me and asked did I want to scale the business, Did I need resources? And just started having conversations with them. And that's beautiful, when we are conversations with them.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful when we are. Yeah, that's really beautiful. I love that. I love that. What was the story behind choosing Hampton University as your alma mater?
Speaker 2:I wanted a school on the East Coast that was co-ed, and a family friend a few years older than me attended and she told me about it and my sister had visited before my sister's 12 years older than me and so, um, she had, she had visited the campus before, so she had a little bit more knowledge of it was able to tell me, and so it just kind of happened.
Speaker 2:I, I knew I had another friend from the Dallas area who had moved to Virginia, his father's job had moved him to Virginia and we kept in touch and you know he mentioned he is like, yeah, I'm thinking about going to this school not too far from where I live now. I said, oh, you know, I've been thinking about it. He's like really, I said yeah, you know, because I'm in Texas, he's in Virginia. So he was shocked at and this is like right on the cusp of the internet era. So you know, we were starting to get online, taking forever. So I was able to kind of look it up on the internet a little bit. A little bit it took, you know, took like an hour to pull up and I'm like, oh OK, this sounds really cool and you know you would get pantslets and things. You know I went. I never stepped foot in Virginia before.
Speaker 2:Got on a plane by myself and went there, so divinely ordered, I had to say. And I looked back because I was very shy, very shy, somewhat introverted. I had a lot of friends but I was always like the quiet one in the group, you know. And and to think that I got on a plane by myself from Texas to Virginia, hampton, virginia, luckily my sister, she met me there. She was living in Detroit at the time, so she flew, I flew from Dallas and she helped get set up. But it's definitely one of the best decisions I ever made, wow.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, it inspired, you know and inspired these dolls, Like you said, I really, in all things, I think that we go through, whether the challenges or triumphs or anything like that, it's usually always, you know, divinely ordered to teach something to inspire other people. I totally believe in that. How do you hope that the HBCU Dolls inspire you know, future generations of, not just young entrepreneurs, but just sharing the information and the mission of you know historically Black colleges and universities?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. You know, dolls play such a role in the development of children, right? So being able to plant that seed early on, not only about HBCUs specifically, but increasing education, goal setting, working hard and just the history of HBCUs and what they've meant to our culture, to this country, you know, they're just meant to inspire and create more conversations. I've seen videos of, in a fun way, you know, parents being able to say, oh, she's a cheerleader for HBCU. Do you know what this is? Because you can, you know you can have conversations with children and it just kind of one ear out the other, Right?
Speaker 2:Right you have something tangible and fun and to be able to connect it. That way you're going to be able to retain it. A better chance of them retaining it, you know right. So it's been fun just seeing the conversations that they've sparked. You know, this is the school. You know auntie so-and-so went to, or I went to, oh, this is daddy. Oh, really, you know, so it becomes. They become more inquisitive and with that information.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I think that's. I think that's true. I know you collaborated with Purpose Toys. Are there other collaborations for HBCU dolls that you know hasn't happened yet, that you would like to have happen?
Speaker 2:Oh, so many, so many ideas, so many dreams. I'm still navigating the doll market. We got here quickly, but it's going to take a lot to stay here. So a lot of things in the works, anything you?
Speaker 1:can share Anything you can tell.
Speaker 2:No, unfortunately not, I'm good with that, but please stay tuned. A lot of exciting things for sure.
Speaker 1:So what advice would you give, you know or offer, I guess, other entrepreneurs that are coming up, you know, when they embark on their journey? I know, like you said, you didn't do a lot of the back end, I guess, in retail and how to get into the market, but you did a lot of the work up front, you know, and somebody reached out to you. You still had to be a part of the way those dolls looked and all of those things.
Speaker 2:So what advice would you offer somebody else who's looking to do something? I would say decide what lane you want to be in. Is it mass market? Is it want to direct a customer? And don't feel like you need mass market to be validated. You know what I mean. That's good. Need mass market to be validated? You know what I mean. Like, mass market doesn't work for everyone and it's not necessarily the the prize. And then don't be afraid to partner with others, don't be afraid to collaborate and let your mission guide you. For sure, yeah, because I think I think you're right.
Speaker 1:For sure, yeah, that's a really good one, because I think you're right when you said that that arena may not be for you based on your mission. But if you don't know your mission, if you don't, like you said, if you don't really know your vision, that can be kind of misguided in a way, because it's really not built for what it is that you want to have happen, what it is that you want to have happen.
Speaker 2:But on the flip side and you know, me included and we as a community have to do a better job of supporting our founders and entrepreneurs, even if they're not in mass market too. So I understand, you know, I understand that the consumers sometimes put credibility based on where you're sold, and it shouldn't be like that, right. So we as a community have to do a better job of supporting all founders, no matter where their products are.
Speaker 1:So that's yeah, that's true. I mean, you know that was one of the reasons why I wanted to do the show. You know that I have been doing the show.
Speaker 1:Thank you for the work you know I did the other show. You know, in the doll world I continue to do it through this podcast because I know that all the doll makers that I've met my journey of creating dolls I didn't see their dolls on the shelves. You know what I mean and I really wanted it to be a place where people can see whether you're on the shelf or you're not on the shelf. You know that your work is still valuable and that people need to know who these people are, absolutely Because they're doing great work. You know representing I mean, trust me, a lot of the ideas that we've brought to the table and creating dolls have been put into retail and created. So you know there's a lot of vision, a lot of you know a lot of hard work that goes into that.
Speaker 2:I've learned so much the last four years just on this journey. Like I thought my mom was a doll collector until I learned what the real doll collectors were you know. But yeah, I've learned so much about the doll community. You know black doll collectors from whether it be the show that's in detroit every year, um, and sitting in on the symposium that duke has started hosting yes, yes, I was a speaker there last year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was so great to see.
Speaker 2:It's beautiful, it's really. You know, I always knew there was history and black dolls and uh, but it just really, really uh, opened my eyes. What eyes. The symposium last year and just everything I've learned over the last four years and the beautiful documentary Black Barbie came out and listening to the story of the lady not only Kitty Perkins, but the lady who worked there.
Speaker 1:Right the one that the story really was created for Kitty Perkins, but the lady who worked there Right the one that the story really was created for.
Speaker 2:So you know, just a beautiful legacy, beautiful storytelling and history preservation, and it's just beautiful.
Speaker 1:Well, you know the fact that what's beautiful, you're a part of that too.
Speaker 2:I know right, you don't think about it like that.
Speaker 1:No you are, but you are part of that because you created these dolls and your mission is really to showcase the history and the knowledge of, you know, HBCUs and you created a doll. You're in that space now I trust me, I understand.
Speaker 2:I don't think of things like that. I don't connect dots like that.
Speaker 1:But wow, okay, you know it's funny, and I'm saying this because I felt it happened to me that way. I did not think, you know, us creating a plus size fashion doll was significant. It was significant to us because we were plus size women. I never thought of myself either as being part of that historical mark of creating dolls, you know, until somebody said that to me. Like, I'm sharing that with you because I think it's important that we know our place in that too, in that history of doll makers and doll creators. You know, being black women in this space Really important. So, yeah, so, thank you so much, thank you for everything you've done.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, so thank you so much. Thank you for everything you've done, Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for bringing them to the market. I mean thank Purpose Toys for helping you to do that and seeing that vision too. You know, I think that's so important. Like you said, it's important to be able to have those people that can mentor you and help you grow to another level in this space, because it's very difficult and it costs a lot of money.
Speaker 2:It costs a lot of money. Oh my gosh, it costs a lot of money.
Speaker 1:So I do want to ask you that though. So for the people who are coming that are new into that industry, like, what would you think would be a realistic and I'm not asking you how much you spent, but what do you think would be a realistic budget to consider for creating and manufacturing dolls? Because I think they come in with a, with an idea of they don't really need a lot of money or that they can piecemeal it, and it just doesn't work that way.
Speaker 2:It doesn't. So I approached it differently. I had a different kind of contract situation Purpose Toys that allowed to not have to up front but to get money on the back end, on the back end yes. Yes, so I'm grateful for that. From what I've been told, I mean, just the tooling alone can cost you a couple million dollars, you know, depending on where you're being manufactured. So it can get high into the seven figures just to get started.
Speaker 1:So it's definitely a financial commitment, definitely requires a lot of resources, and that's why the market is pretty much dominated by a handful of companies of conglomerates because of how expensive it is yeah, yeah, and and I think, like even with the, even beyond the tooling right, you know, you still have to purchase a certain amount of dolls, which is not a small amount of dollars huge runs of dollars yes, yes you know and, and and. That then chips into how much you're going to charge and that and that cost then goes to the people who want to purchase that doll.
Speaker 2:And it's not done here in the US. So it's there's a disconnect there, which which can be tough.
Speaker 1:I was curious how did that work for you? Because everybody, like you said, everybody's different, like when we, when we started our, our cost was rolled into the making of the doll. It, our cost, was rolled into the making of the doll, so our cost was rolled into the tooling and then based on how much we purchased from them per doll, you know, and it was still very expensive. Again, I was in 1999. So 2000, 24 years later, it's way more money.
Speaker 2:And it's so funny you saying 1999, 2000,. That doesn't sound like a long time. I have to remind myself that was over 20 years ago, but it doesn't sound like you know. I was an adult at that time, so that wasn't very long ago, you know.
Speaker 1:It really was like you were talking when you were talking about, you know, when you were working with somebody or when you were looking for the school and you had to get online and try to find information you know, people don't understand like it just was not as robust as it is now. You know, even trying to hold the business together with somebody who lives in another state was just just very hard to do, you know. So, yeah, but but I'm I'm just very happy that you're in that space and I'm very happy to see those beautiful dolls, because they're just so cute. I love them, I think they're so cute and I really I really can't wait to see what else you have coming down the pike to introduce more people to, you know, hbcus and have them understand the importance of those things, especially with well, you know, with the climate that we're going into. I think it's very important Absolutely that, in the forefront, share a little bit about where people can find your dolls and learn more about your story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. The dolls are available online, primarily now in select stores, but easier to find online Walmart, target and Amazon. You can find updates on you know, updates on you know products, new things that are going on on our Instagram page, hbcyoudolls. So that's HBCU dolls on Instagram, facebook. And yeah, please follow us. We'd love for you to engage with us and so you can see all the things we have going on.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for being on the Dolls with Noir podcast. I'm so excited, I'm excited for your journey. I'm excited for all the things that you have coming up with the dolls and with Purpose Toys and I'm excited. I'm excited to talk to them, too, at Purpose Toys. I'm looking forward to talking to the founder because, I think that what she's doing is just really really important in this space Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Dee Dee Bryant Ford is amazing yeah. So excited to meet you and so proud of what you mean to the Black Doll community, and I look forward to keeping in touch.
Speaker 1:Thank you, yes, we will. We will do that. Thank you so much for being on the doll for no podcast. Thank you, bye, now bye. Thank you so much for joining us at the doll for no podcast. We really hope you enjoyed the episode and feel inspired by our amazing guests, as well as learn something new about the creative people within the doll community. So don't forget to visit our website at wwwthedollpreneurpodcastcom for more content and, please, we would love for you to stay connected to us, so please subscribe to the Dollpreneur Podcast newsletter, youtube channel, instagram and Facebook pages, and they can all be found at the website, wwwthedollpreneurpodcastcom. Thank you again for listening to the Dollpreneur Podcast and until next time, have a doll fabulous day.
