www.inthedollworld.com In today's episode, we sit down with Adwoa Cooper from Adwoa Design. Adwoa details her journey from using crochet for stress relief to developing a successful business, illustrating that the path to achievement can be as unexpected as it is rewarding. Adwoa brings a fresh vibe to crochet, merging hip-hop influences with her unique doll designs that echo a whole culture's beat. We delve into how her dolls bring fresh perspectives to both the hip-hop world and the diverse co...
Apr 10, 2024•58 min
www.inthedollworld.com In this wonderful episode of In The Doll World, I am joined by Azhelle Wade, the Toy Coach. Her journey to a key figure in the toy industry is an incredible testament to the power of passion and commitment and her love of teaching and being creative. Embark on Azelle's journey as she shares her reasons for leaving corporate life to pursue her dreams. Explore the challenges and misconceptions of entering the toy industry, enriched by Azhelle's valuable insights. Discover th...
Dec 13, 2023•39 min
Welcome to an inspiring conversation with Andrea Furtick, the innovative CEO and founder of AGC Toys, and the creative force behind the Afro Goddess Warrior Dolls and Project. www.inthedollworld.com Get an intriguing glimpse into Andrea's artistic journey that led to the creation of the Afro Goddess Tarot Arkanas and ultimately, these unique, representation-rich dolls. Discover how she overcame the hurdles of cost-effective doll creation, and ushered in the creation of Nova: Goddess of the Unive...
Nov 29, 2023•34 min
Listen at www.inthedollworld.com Karen Oyekanmi, the founder of the American Black Beauty Doll Association, opens up the conversation as she shares the inspiration behind her quest to fill the market gap for beautiful black dolls and to provide positive representation for children of color - a mission that still holds significant relevance almost 40 years later, as they celebrate their upcoming annual Festival of Black Doll Show and Sale, Nov 4th 2023. As we chat with this panel of remarkable wo...
Nov 02, 2023•50 min
Our latest podcast episode introduces Samantha Ong, the innovative CEO of Joeydolls, celebrating the diversity and beauty of the Asian diaspora. www.inthedollworld.com Samantha's story begins with a simple desire - to create dolls that reflected her daughter's Asian heritage. Frustrated with the lack of diversity in the toy market, she embarked on a journey to make dolls that would allow children of Asian descent to see themselves in the toys they play with. Joeydolls are more than just dolls, t...
Oct 25, 2023•44 min
A journey into the heart of the doll industry with our enthralling guest, Diana Jones, the dynamic owner of Dolls Magazine. www.inthedollworld.com As a child, Diana enjoyed altering her dolls' hair, creating unique looks for each of them, Diana has since navigated through life's turns, acquiring a microbiology degree, raising seven children, and eventually taking the reins of Dolls Magazine. Her tale is a testament to the power of passion she has for what she does. As we converse with Diana, we ...
Sep 27, 2023•37 min
Join us on a fascinating journey as we travel into the world of miniatures with our special guest Kat Picot, the inspiring publisher behind Shrunk magazine. www.inthedollworld.com Kat's story is a testament to passion and perseverance, as she beautifully recounts her transition from working in a doll's house shop to launching her own internationally acclaimed miniatures magazine. In our discussion, Kat sheds light on the highs and lows of independent magazine publishing and the unique challenges...
Sep 13, 2023•44 min
A beautiful and delightful interview with Zoe Oli, the 11-year-old mastermind behind Beautiful Curly Me. Zoe's inspiring journey starts at the tender age of six, when she decided to tackle her self-confidence issues head-on by creating her own line of dolls that feature curls and braids just like hers. Don't miss Zoe's incredible tale of resilience and ambition, and how even the youngest among us can make a significant difference when they dare to dream. Zoe's story is not just about business; i...
Aug 16, 2023•25 min
What if you could transform a childhood hobby into a thriving Instagram account, creating a community around the love of doll collecting? Cassie Jenkins, the talent behind Dolls On The Scene, did just that, and she's here to share her journey with us. www.inthedollworld.com Cassie's passion for dolls sparked at a young age, and her enthusiasm only grew with her age, with her family playing a considerable role in fostering this love. She opens up about the pivotal role her mother had in her hobby...
Jul 05, 2023•41 min
What happens when a doll enthusiast, collector, and social media star joins In The Doll World to share their unique journey? You get an inspiring conversation with the talented and passionate Clawdeena www.inthedollworld.com Clawdeena found solace in their love for dolls, creativity, and makeup transformations growing up in a small conservative town after being born in Queens, New York. With an impressive following of over 3 million fans and followers across various social platforms, Clawdeena i...
May 24, 2023•39 min
We continue our Part 2 conversation with my guest Aniqua Wilkerson, Fiber Artist Dollmaker and Owner of My Kinda Thing. www.inthedollworld.com We continue our Part 2 conversation with my guest Aniqua Wilkerson, Fiber Artist Dollmaker and Owner of My Kinda Thing. www.inthedollworld.com As Aniqua continues to share her wonderful doll journey, we find her moving into another pivotal and proud moment in her life as she becomes very instrumental in helping to create for Lions Brand for the first time...
May 11, 2023•38 min
Another wonderful In The Doll World show with my guest Aniqua Wilkerson, Fiber Doll Artist and Owner of My Kinda Thing . (Pt.1) www.inthedollworld.com What a great and purposeful doll journey Anqiua's shares with us, the educator is definitely in the house. As the third child of seven children, creativity was always encouraged in her house growing up and Aniqua always had dolls to play with, from the time she can remember, but did not have her first black doll until she was eight years old. In t...
May 03, 2023•41 min
A passionate and powerful interview with Flora Ekpe-Idang, the CEO, Founder and creator of Corage Dolls. www.inthedollworld.com Flora shares with us her inspiration for creating Corage Dolls, out of her experience of watching the documentary “Gril Like Me”. She was struck by the lack of positive diverse representation in media and products had on black children and even though this ‘doll experiment” was done more recently than the historical “Doll Test” done by Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, the r...
Mar 30, 2023•58 min
A delightful interview with Evelyn Smith aka Evalina, owner of Evergreen Art Dolls and silicone doll artist. From animal science to doll making, her journey has been just as eclectic as the wonderful doll she makes. www.inthedollworld.com Growing up she loved sci-fi, art and animals, so it’s no surprise she has found a way to marry the three. Although she loved playing with dolls and being creative, she didn’t stumble upon the true doll world until 2017 while in graduate school, working on her m...
Mar 15, 2023•30 min
What a wonderful conversation with Debra Pounds, Doll Artist and owner of Paddlefootz Dolls & Thangs www.inthedollworld.com Debra shares how in 1997 a request from her mother for a Black Santa lead her to crafting but it was after the many conversations with her sister on how hard it had been and still was to find black dolls that were true, cute, and beautiful reflections of us as Black people for her nieces, and her daughters that led her to her doll creating. We also talk about the approa...
Feb 22, 2023•42 min
Another FANGIRL moment for me at IDTW. What a fantastic time spent with Ms. Yla Eason, creator of Sun-Man, the first Black superhero action figure and owner of Olmec Toys. www.inthedollworld.com Ms. Eason is an award-winning educator and entrepreneur who is largely credited with pioneering the ethnic toy market at mass market stores. As an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers University, her focus is Business Communications, Multicultural Marketing, and Digital Marketing. Over...
Jan 30, 2023•36 min
Such a beautiful conversation with art doll artist, Natasha Smith, Owner of Mend By Ruby Grace. www.inthedollworld.com Nastasha shares with us how her love for her daughter jump started her journey into doll making, while not having a clue at all where to start. As a self-taught doll maker, she has been honing her craft in the doll artistry since 2008. Natasha thrives in trying new techniques and experimenting with design, color and whimsical style, her love for nostalgia and repurposing textile...
Jan 17, 2023•34 min
What delightful show with this 10-year-old entrepreneur and doll creator, Demetrius Davis, Jr. aka Lil Dee, CEO of Our Brown Boy Joy, and his mom Dr. Luciana Gilmore. www.inthedollworld.com Our Brown Boy Joy created "My Friend," a character plush doll that speaks positive affirmations, such as “Brown Boy you are smart!” and more. LiL Dee shares that while watching the news during lock down from COVID, stories of George Floyd was unfolding, his mom could see it was making him incredibly sad. Conv...
Dec 08, 2022•29 min
A fun and phenomenal interview with Sandra Epps, artist and author. Founder of Sandy’s Land LLC an entertainment service and the Detroit Doll Show. www.inthedollworld.com As a creative force and a survivor of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), a disease where the immune system attacks both the body tissue and organs, Sandra continues to use her strength, resiliency, passion, and creativity in celebrating history, culture, self-love, and diversity with the promotion of dolls of color and through...
Oct 20, 2022•48 min
A great conversation with Janet Lovett, Sculptor & Reborn Doll Artist. Janet is also a GOLD Award Professional Doll Makers Art Guild winner, PDMAG member and PDMAG mentor. www.inthedollworld.com This is our 3rd episode of our In The Doll World collaboration with the Professional Doll Makers Art Guild (PDMAG) as the Media Partner for their free upcoming online convention, October 14th-16th, which will celebrate doll artists within PDMAG, free classes, demos and much more. From her grandmother...
Oct 05, 2022•34 min
A very delightful and powerful conversation with Nikki Graves, CEO of Trinity Designs, Inc. www.inthedollworld.com Nikki’s journey into doll making did not start with a love of dolls, surprisingly she was not into dolls at all but out of her desire to find a doll that was a tribute to her sorority as a Delta, and with no luck finding one, Nikki decided to take matters into her own hands and develop a doll that represented her and her sorority. That decision led to her creating not only her own d...
Sep 22, 2022•43 min
Joining us on In The Doll World is Hope Ivy Mason, Award winning international doll artist, 3-time Professional Doll Makers Art Guild Doll Artist Winner. www.inthedollworld.com This is our 2nd episode of our In The Doll World collaboration with the Professional Doll Makers Art Guild (PDMAG) as the Media Partner for their upcoming online convention, which will celebrate doll artists within PDMAG. Hope shares a beautiful conversation with me on In The Doll World. From her diverse background as an ...
Sep 08, 2022•28 min
What a great interview with Chef Gina King, a mini food specialist and owner of Chef Gina's® Mini Food. www.inthedollworld.com From Professional Chef with a degree in culinary arts to mini food specialist and an avid doll collector herself, Gina shares with us her unusual and funny journey into creating mini food. Chef Gina's® is the Original Doll Food Creator established in 2000. She makes realistic food from Clay for fashion dolls and in various scales, from 1:6 (Barbie size), 1:4 (Gene size) ...
Aug 24, 2022•28 min
I had a delightful conversation with Sandra Maxwell, BJD Artist and owner of Sandra Maxwell Studios, best known for her 7" resin ball jointed Punkin Pie dolls. Sandra is also one of the heads of the upcoming Professional Doll Makers Art Guild Online Convention. www.inthedollworld.com This is our first episode of our In The Doll World collaboration with the Professional Doll Makers Art Guild (PDMAG) as the Media Partner for their upcoming online convention, which will celebrate doll artists withi...
Aug 10, 2022•37 min
This was a wonderful interview with a passionate doll and self-esteem advocate, Sherri Roberts-Lumpkin, Founder and Director of the Ragbaby Exchange . Listen at www.inthedollworld.com The Ragbaby Exchange is a non-profit organization committed to building self-esteem in women and children through doll making. Sherri shares with us how her career morphed from fashion design major, to graphic artist, to doll maker and how her doll making skills offered her the opportunity to create a unique progra...
Jul 27, 2022•44 min
FANGIRL ALERT!!! In The Doll World is joined by most versatile & distinguished repaint artists in the doll community Noel Cruz. www.inthedollworld.com/episodes I have always admired his brilliant work and what a wonderful conversation we had as he shared his journey from drawing portraits since the age of 12 to becoming such a renowned repaint artist, to repainting the most precious doll in his collection. Although Noel is most recognized for his character & celebrity-based dolls due to ...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 12 min
A truly delightful conversation with Tamika Spencer, Paper Artist, specializing in doll wigs as well as a freelance photographer specializing in doll photography. www.inthedollworld.com/podcasts Join us as Tamika shares her wonderful journey to creating her outstanding paper art doll wigs. She also shares with us which dolls are the hardest to create wigs for, and you may be surprised who they are. I also talk with her about her process, what paper is the easiest to work with and what she is loo...
Jun 16, 2022•24 min
Part 2 of Acori Honzo's interview now on https://www.inthedollworld.com/podcasts Our inspiring conversation with Acori Honzo, of House of Honzo, self-taught sculptor, painter, and doll artist. Acori shares his amazing journey into creating African American OOAK dolls, of history makers and icons that are inviting, realistic and powerful. In this part Acori shares which dolls he has created has inspired and challenged him the most. I am sure you will be surprised who they are. He also shares his ...
May 26, 2022•29 min
An inspiring conversation with Acori Honzo, of House of Honzo, self-taught sculptor, painter, and doll artist on In The Doll World. www.inthedollworld.com/podcasts Our conversation was so enlightening that I truly found it hard to edit it down to just one show, so this interview will be published in 2 parts. Acori shares with In the Doll World his amazing journey into creating African American OOAK dolls, of history makers and icons that are inviting, realistic and powerful. His love of creating...
May 18, 2022•59 min
In The Doll World has a wonderful conversation with Denise Johnson, the creator of the YouTube show All Dolled Up-The Series. Listen here at www.inthedollworld.com/podcasts Denise talks about how her daughters and COVID inspired her to create a show that is designed to be entertaining as well as educational. Although she wanted to create something fun for them to do as well as for people to watch, she also knew it was very important to encourage creativity, bring about confidence, as well lesson...
Apr 27, 2022•27 min
