Are you sleeping on the money-making magic of your email list? If you've been pouring all your energy into TikToks, Reels, and likes… hold up. Because while social media might be where the buzz is, your email list is where the buying happens.

In this episode of Making It In The Toy Industry, I’m showing you why email marketing is still one of the most powerful ways to grow your toy or game brand when it’s done right.

You’ll hear highlights from a special masterclass where I share a few of my favorite strategies to turn your list into a sales-driving, brand-building powerhouse. Oh, and yes... we’ll talk about subject lines that actually get clicks.

👉 Hit play, take notes, and let’s level up your email marketing game together!

With over 13,000 followers on TikTok and millions of video views, Lost Boy Entertainment is forging a new path for launching a successful game brand. To continue our New York Toy Fair 2025 interview series, I sit down with Cameron Ring, co-founder of Lost Boy Entertainment.

This episode is a great 101 on the power of identifying a market gap, filling a need, and self funding your launch. If you’re considering a show like New York Toy Fair might be the best next step for your brand, listen in on why rushing in too soon could actually hurt your business.

My favorite takeaway from this interview with Cameron revolves around distribution channels, but you’ll have to hit play to find out exactly what was so insightful about that conversation.

In this episode of Making It In The Toy Industry, host Azhelle Wade sits down with Richard North, founder of Wow! Stuff, to dive into his incredible journey from a 19-year-old entrepreneur to one of the most innovative figures in the toy industry. 🌟 Richard shares the highs, lows, and what it took to thrive in a competitive market, and how he continues to create "wow" moments with his toys. If you're curious about what it takes to build a successful toy business, this episode is packed with insights and stories

Forget just selling products—it's time to create immersive shopping experiences for your customers, in person and online. The sensory retail revolution is here, driven by consumers who are tightening their purse strings yet still craving a deeper connection with the brands they invest in. In today’s episode, we’ll dive into three powerful ways plush brands—from high-end labels to indie creators—are building these connections and turning them into tens of thousands of social media likes, comments, and shares.

What is the "Underconsumption Core" TikTok trend and how might it effect the toy industry? From "Loud Budgeting" to "Underconsumption Core" Gen Z and Millennials are leading an era of saving over spending, and they aren't keeping quiet about it. As the cost of living skyrockets while wages remain stagnant, the U.S. is bracing for a financial downturn. But this time, consumers are anticipating, preparing, and talking about how they're cutting back, all over social media. If you haven't yet explored the implications of this trend on the toy industry, now is the time.

Which comes first? Your product or your mission? In today’s episode you will learn the benefits of creating your mission before your toy or toy brand. Defining the purpose of your brand will guide you on the creative journey, and can give you a powerful reason to invest so much time and money into your toy ideas. Today’s podcast guests are Janene Russell and Ms. Monica Sutton, also known as Ms. Monica. Janene is the key lead in preschool brands and preschool brand manager at Educational Insights. Ms. Monica is an early childhood educator and child behavior specialist with a hit YouTube channel with over 500,000 subscribers. In today’s episode, you will learn some valuable lessons about how to develop your mission. You’ll learn the power of saying no, how sticking to your mission can lead to more opportunities, and how things that didn’t go so well can actually help to define and guide your mission.

As a toy entrepreneur it’s pretty likely that your cost of doing business is high. From manufacturing the perfect toy or game, to going to trade shows, building a website, nurturing an email list, dealing with returns, and damaged goods…you may be finding it’s hard to do anything for free, even if you do it yourself. Today’s podcast episode is going to share how you market your toy or game product for free. Now look, we know nothing is truly free in this world, so these marketing tactics will cost you time to implement. But with time and the tools provided in this episode you could be marketing your toy or game product for free in a way that compounds your efforts over time.

Have you ever heard of content marketing? You likely already know what direct marketing is, the action of promoting and selling your toy or game product. But what is content marketing? Content marketing is a long game approach to creating awareness for your toy or game product. It takes time, consistency, and a deep understanding of your Ideal Target Market. In this episode I share several ideas for how you can start using content marketing for your toy or game product and highlight a couple of game entrepreneurs who are utilizing content marketing for their product in a brilliant way. Tap listen to find out what that is.

You know that feeling when you submit a job application but you’re pretty sure no one is going to see it? Well today, the ever-growing social media platform, TikTok has stepped up to the plate to create a more personal hiring experience that can almost ensure your resume gets seen…at least once. The hashtag TikTok Resumes has almost 300 million views and hopefully the program will return in full force very soon. But until it does, this episode will help you prepare to be an early adopter of the latest revolution in job hunting and recruitment. When you’re ready to learn about the future of the job market, listen in to this episode.