Episode #17: The First EVER Virtual Mentorship Program for Our Industry

Listen Now

Tap Play Below or Listen On iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts

Having a mentor can drastically change the course of your career, help ease times of professional confusion, and provide a vision for the future. Women In Toys, Licensing, and Entertainment, partnered with The Mattel Foundation to launch The Ruth Handler Mentorship Program for WIT.

This virtual mentorship program is the first of it's kind for our industry. For today's episode, I sit down with the President of Women In Toys, Janice Ross, and the Executive Director, Mary Kay Russel to learn all about the offerings of this much-needed program.

Built on the Everwise platform, this program uses a combination of an algorithm and human touch to successfully pair mentors and mentees based on their experience and individual goals. This program is FREE, that's right, FREE for Women In Toys members and lasts a whole 4 months! In that time, mentees will define goals, meet their mentors, and work through weekly milestones.

If you're feeling stuck in your toy career, it may be time for a mentor! So take a listen to this episode to decide if The Ruth Handler Mentorship Program is right for you. And guess what? You can become a member of Women In Toys TODAY and sign up for this program immediately!

So what are you waiting for? Let's get started.

• Mentioned In This Episode

  This episode is brought to you by thetoycoach.com

  Click here to join the Ruth Handler Mentorship Program for WIT.

  Click here to visit the WIT Website.

  Click here to become a member of WIT.

• Episode Transcript

  Azhelle 00:00 You were listening to Making It in The Toy Industry, Episode Number 17. Intro/Outro + Jingle 00:07 Welcome to Making It in The Toy Industry, podcast for inventors and entrepreneurs like you. And now your host, Azhelle Wade. Azhelle 00:17 Hey there toy people Azhelle Wade here and welcome back to another episode of making it in the toy industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com. During last week's episode, I gave you guys an overview on the nonprofit organization, women in toys, licensing and entertainment also known as wit. And you also got a really awesome three month free offer when you sign up for an annual woman in toys membership. So if you want to learn more about that, you can go to my show notes and you'll go to the toy coach.com/podcast/17 which is today's show notes, and I'm going to include a link to help you get that three months free right away. Now, last week, I told you all about the amazing organization that is wit and its mission to advance and support women and give them the tools and resources and connections that they need to succeed. Right. So we covered four main topics, what is what is wit for inventors? What are the education and networking opportunities they offer? And then we got into some pretty awesome member testimonials. Now if you haven't heard that episode, I definitely want you to give it a listen but you can listen to it after this one. The order does not matter here. But today, we are going to take a deeper dive into their new mentorship program for today's conversation. I am so lucky to have with me, the president of wit, and the executive director of the organization. I'm sure you're excited to get started. Thank you. For those of you that submitted questions for this conversation today, let's listen into the interview. For today's episode, we're going to take a deeper dive into the Ruth Handler mentorship program for wit, a one to one mentor match program designed to give wit members exclusive access to leaders in our industry. These mentors are dedicated to paying it forward and they want to help other women at all stages of their career. So to talk about this program today with me is Janice Ross, managing partner at brand fresh management and the president of women and toys, licensing and entertainment. And Mary Kay Russell, the executive director of women in Toys, licensing and entertainment. Welcome to the show. Jan is Mary Kay. Janice 03:05 Hi, Azhelle, thank you so much for having us. Mary Kay 03:08 Thank you. We are so excited to be here and thanks for the opportunity to share more on this great program. Azhelle 03:14 Yeah, I'm really glad to have you guys on the show. It's been great working with you so far. First like to start the conversation Off with you Janice. You know, I I know why the mentorship program is called Ruth Handler mentorship program, but that's because I've researched the industry quite a bit. But for my listeners who may not know why Could you tell us why it's called the Ruth Handler mentorship program. Who was she? Janice 03:37 Yeah, absolutely. So Ruth Handler was the iconic leader and co founder of Mattel and also many people know too that she created the Barbie brand. Yeah, I was Yeah, so she really like she's she's the she's the woman. So not only was she an inventor and a business owner and a marketer, but she was also a mom and a mentor to literally you know, many She's paved the way for future leaders. So as Mattel in 2020 was celebrating its 75th anniversary, we just really couldn't think of a better time and a better name to launch the program and then to launch it in her honor. Azhelle 04:14 That's amazing. Yeah. You know, as with new WIT President, where did the idea to partner with the Mattel foundation begin? Janice 04:23 Well, as well, it's actually it's a great story. The way that the program unfolded really speaks to our amazing community and the support that we get from the incredible sponsors and partners. I mean, they truly they truly believe and want to help us deliver on our mission of advancing women. So last year, as fate kind of has it, we were approached by Amy Thompson, Mattel's chief people officer and she really wanted to help us start a mentorship program and it literally just started as a conversation. She reached out to us so from there, you know, she offered her help to lead our mentorship initiative and it was just truly through her effort. That you know, she helped us Make this program a reality. And I would also be remiss if I didn't just express how grateful we are to the Mattel foundation for providing the financial support to make this program possible. And to Amy for her vision, I mean, her brain trust and just all of the hard work that she put into making this, you know, opportunity become a reality for our members. Azhelle 05:20 That's amazing. I actually reached out to my Facebook community and asked them what they wanted to know about the program. So they're really excited for this interview to come out. One of the very first questions I want to start and I can ask you or Mary Kay, if someone isn't a member yet of wit Can Can they join the organization today and just enter the mentorship program immediately. Mary Kay 05:44So I can take that one as well. So to answer your question, yes, if someone is not yet a member, they can absolutely join today and immediately sign up for the mentorship program, and actually diving into the program as your very first experience with Which is the best way to really understand the magic of this organization. And what we're all about. We know we're over 2000 members strong. And we're all here to support and help all women really no matter where they're at in their career journey. Azhelle 06:16 And just overall first, before we dive into details, how long is the mentorship program? How long is the partnership piece of it? Mary Kay 06:24The partnership piece is 16 weeks or about four months. That's amazing from start to finish out, it takes a little bit of it's about a two to four week from the time that you sign up until the time that your partnership actually begins is about two to four weeks. And that really depends on you know, the our mentor pool and right now we've got an incredible mentor pool and I can get into more about that a little bit later. But I would say to plan for a four week partnership, preceded by about a two to four probably two to three week onboarding process until you get matched.Azhelle 06:59 Can men Join the Ruth Handler mentorship program? Mary Kay 07:03 Girl. We've got male mentors. We've got male mentees. Okay. All right. Good. Okay. Really? Yes. Yeah. And I would say to you know, just as it relates to members in our community, we keep our eye on the ball, right? We keep our eye on our mission, right? Our mission at the end of the day is to advance women in industry. And we welcome the many men that believe in our mission. We asked those that signed up, to be a mentor to tell us the reason for wanting to be a mentor. And I'm going to share with you that we received one response from and I'm not going to name the company. Let's just say that it's the top tech company in the world. I'm going to say, who is the father of daughters, who said that he so passionately believes in this program that he fully embraces it wants to be a mentor. I mean, I wish you could have read his very, very painful Passionate submission I was it literally almost brought me to tears. And it's but it's not he's not alone. There's other men that are members of width that feel just as passionately about what we do and that are in it to advance our mission because they see the value in putting women in more leadership roles.Azhelle 08:19 I think that's a great thing to point out to people listening to because if a woman is going through her survey, she might be afraid to check off like, yeah, I'm okay with a male mentor is fine, like, maybe past experiences or whatever. But it's really good to hear that you're asking questions to find out why people wanted to be mentors, so you can make sure you're getting the right people so that if somebody is open to having a male mentor, and they're a woman, they should feel safe. They should feel like this person is here for the right reasons. we're betting that absolutely, Janice 08:47 yeah, I think that that's such an important point. And I appreciate you highlighting that because that openness to finding the right person could be a man or a woman because everyone that is signed has signed up as a mentor, you know, is their friend for the right reason. Azhelle 09:02 So I feel like one of the things that I know are going to hinder people from Oh, should I sign up? Should I try? They just want to understand what it is they're getting into. So what's the very first thing that a mentee is going to see when they just click that link that says, sign up for mentor? Mary Kay 09:18 Yeah, absolutely. So the first step is to go to obviously women and toys calm, and you want to click the Mentor Program at the top of the page. And then you scroll down, and you'll fill out a signup form. And this just asks very basic general, I think there's three or four questions on there. And at that point, you'll have the opportunity to sign up as a mentee, a mentor, or you can specify that you want to do both. So if you do sign up for both, though, we make a note of that, but you'll get an email from peg Brown, who's our community manager, and she'll ask you to choose one or the other for the current spring session. And the reason we do this is because we recommend that you focus on just one mentoring partnership at a time versus participant. Heading into separate partnerships. One is a mentee, and one is a mentor. Because focusing on just one will allow you to put all your time, effort and energy into just that one partnership. This way, you're assured that you're going to get the most out of the program. And you'll have a clear direction for your immediate goals. But don't worry, because you know, like I said, if you want to decide at this time to be a mentee, no problem at all, we'll be running another session in the fall, and you'll be able to have the opportunity to partnership them then as a mentor. Or if they have time, let's just say that you have completed your form of partnership with your mentor and you decide you want to be a mentee again and be matched with another mentor. You can go ahead and do that too. It's totally up to you. That's Yeah, yeah, it's it's just really cool. So here's the deal that once you complete the signup form, you do need to confirm your membership first, and then you're off to the races and you'll then just get an email from from the program that will come from ever why's it Get wise calm. So be sure to check your your spam folder because sometimes these emails from otherwise do skip the inbox. So and then you're just you'll just be given a button there to click a button and get started with the program. Azhelle 11:12 So I know you've talked to me about ever wise, but honestly, before you mentioned it to me, I hadn't heard of it. And I know that's the platform that this entire mentorship program is going to be on. So let's talk about ever wise and just get people familiar with it. What exactly is ever wise? Mary Kay 11:29 Yeah, absolutely. So ever wise is a top mentor match program and one of the best out there actually, it's used by so many different companies, companies like HP American Express, Adobe Twitter, Salesforce, NBC Universal. And what we love most about this program is how intuitive it is. And the user experience on the platform is just so super easy to navigate through. You're literally guided through every step of the way through reminders and email notifications. Azhelle 11:58 Yeah, I want to tell people That just when Mary Kay took me through the back end a little bit of it, it looks almost like you're taking one of those online quizzes. It's that simple. It's kind of like when you go through your the two week onboarding process that she started talking about, it's really as simple as like a survey online. It's very straightforward. Janice 12:18 You'll find it's funny Azhelle, we did a number of different platforms. And I think that's what we loved about ever wise was that it was just so module and it was just so intuitive. And it was just really easy. So it's just I think it's fun. It's actually kind of fun. Azhelle 12:34 Mm hmm. So Janice, what advice would you give mentees to help them form successful working relationships with their mentors?Janice 12:43 So timely as well, because I literally just kicked off my mentee earlier today. And it was so was our first meeting. And yeah, it was so exciting. And we literally just spent the, you know, a good portion of it, just getting to know each other. But from my perspective, What made it so successful is that my mentee, she was just so present and just so open to the conversation, and I could tell immediately that she was engaged in this process and in this journey, and she was also prepared, and we talked about her goals and what she was looking to get out of the program. So my advice to mentees is first sign up, get yourself signed up, and then open up and really open up so that you're ready to take the journey. And I think that that would be my advice. Azhelle 13:31 That's great advice. One of my listeners, Bianca asked power they pairing mentors and mentees because she has specific questions about manufacturing. So for someone like that, are there clear questions that that are going to let her say I'm looking for someone to help me understand manufacturing, like their their points where she can put that information in? Mary Kay 13:52 Yeah, absolutely. And that's the best part about this. And we could we're going to talk about that a little bit later about how that mentor match happens. Right? Because We talk a little bit about, you know, otherwise being an algorithm based platform, there's a little bit of human involvement in there too. And so when a mentee fills out their application, there are there are areas where they can make comments. So So this mentee that you're speaking about wants to be directly connected with someone that can help her with manufacturing, I encourage them to put that in there. Because whatever the hell they ever was platform may or may not pick up through the algorithm. The back end of it, the staff, the human touch piece of it will read those comments, and, and help to make that the best match for that person. Gotcha. Azhelle 14:37 That's great. So why exactly does it take two to four weeks to find a match? That was one of the questions that I actually had when I was talking to Mary Kay about this the very first time is it that it takes two to four weeks or to do that whole onboarding process or you just give people two to four weeks? Mary Kay 14:52 You know, we say two to four weeks on in this for a couple reasons that I'll get into, but I have to tell you that since we've launched We've actually been matching people up much more quickly. So we say two to four weeks, really from the time they complete the form on the wit website until the time that they're physically matched. Azhelle 15:12 So you guys are already making matches. Mary Kay 15:13 Oh, girl. Absolutely, please. I, I'm gonna tell you there, there's I bet you that there's got to be close to. I'm going to put myself out there right now. I bet you we've already made regarding at 75 matches and partners know what yeah, it's crazy. It's insane. And that's why I loved hearing this from Janice today. I love talking to the people who are in partnerships right now. Because just the excitement on their face and using Oh my god, it's amazing. It's amazing. It's just like, like, I'm so thrilled with this program. But so here's why it could take the two to four weeks. So first of all, we want to give you enough time to work through the onboarding activities, the activities that are in the ever wise platform, the content library Uh oh my god, there's so much great information in there, we want to make sure that both mentee and mentor have time to go through that onboarding piece of it. Now, we found that some breeze through it and other say find a little more time so they can get as much information and learn as much as possible from the content library before their partnership begins. The time to make a match can also depend on our pool of mentors at any given time, I will tell you that over 200 mentors have already signed up for the program. So we have such Actually, it's 200 plus right now. So we have this extensive pool of mentors to choose from and more mentors are signing up every day. The bottom line here, we want to make sure that you get the best partnership and experience possible. And that might mean that it could take an extra week to make that perfect match for you. Azhelle 16:49 Gotcha. And each mentor is only assigned to one mentee, right so you're getting their undivided ration. Mary Kay 16:55 Yep, absolutely. Yeah, this system this system will not let us match more than one at a time. Yeah. Azhelle 17:02 So after the onboarding process and this Ruth Handler mentorship program for wit, there is a 16 week partnership process, right. So I would I would just love if you could explain what that includes, like how milestones are defined week to week. How's all that setup? Mary Kay 17:17 Yeah, absolutely. So the 16, which week partnership is literally the nuts and bolts of the program. And as I mentioned before, the the mentees and mentors are guided through every step of the way. So So in terms of what the partnership looks like, and how the milestones are defined, you'll be guided through you know, six different path sections is what they're called throughout the partnership. And in each path, the mentors and mentees will each be given a series of actions that they need to take or activities that they need to perform is a really well defined and like I said, guided along the way beautifully. So the paths that sit the different paths include now For one, you meet each other and share goals. The next one is established key measures of success. Okay, the next one is start applying what you're learning, followed by exchange feedback to strengthen your partnership. And then you measure your behavior on the jabber in your current role. And then at the tail end of it, you're going to wrap up your partnership and plan for continued learning down the road. And yeah, and as you move through the partnership, you'll be working directly with the met with your mentee to complete each path. And then at the end of each path, you'll complete a quick check and survey. And this asks you about just how everything's going with a partnership and your answers are completely confidential. But it lets us know how the program is working out for you. And from time to time. During the partnership half. mentors and mentees alike will complete surveys that they'll share with one another to let each other know how they think things are progressing. So So, there there are several different check in points if you will, one that will let us know that the program is working and to to let your mentee or mentor partner know how you feel the partnership is working. Azhelle 19:15 And like who defined so I know there are like weekly check points or weekly goals but who defines just the ultimate goal for the entire partnership? Mary Kay 19:25 So, the ultimate goal is determined by the mentee. So, at what point at the very beginning very beginning, okay, yeah, so I Janice 19:34 just, I just kicked off my, my partnership with my mentor. And in that conversation, we talked about what her goals were for, for the program, because at the end of the day, it's all about her and what it is that she would like to accomplish so that we can focus on that everyone's goals are so different, but I think it's really important and that's the opportunity upfront is to set those goals to ensure you've got the most successful partnership and that you're guided through the program with those goals in mind. Mm hmm. Mary Kay 20:03 And and, you know, to, you know, the mentee can have can have all the best intentions when they set their goals at the beginning of this partnership. But you know what goals evolve and you know, want to take full advantage of your mentors, awesome years and years of experience and open yourself up to learn and try new things. And as you talk these through with your mentor, you could refine them as you go along. Right? I mean, they may change and then once you know the direction that you're that you're headed in that you need to be headed in there experience will help you to get there. Azhelle 20:38 That's great. Okay, I have two questions that I did not give you guys but they're formulating in my head. So Sure. Okay. So what would a mentee do say they start their partnership, and they're realizing that either them and their mentor, they're misaligned, or maybe their mentor is not as responsive as they'd hoped, or they'd wanted them to be. So is there an opportunity for them to get paired with a new mentor or Wait for them to reach out and change things. Mary Kay 21:02 Yeah, absolutely. And the way that will come across is through the the survey that I mentioned earlier, in terms of after each path, both mentor and mentee are going to have the opportunity to fill out a survey. And let us know how it's working out for them. And in the event that it's not working out for whatever reason, that's the other part of the human touch that will come into play. And at that point, we the staff will have the opportunity to have a conversation with the mentee offline and or the mentor offline, get a little bit more information and we can absolutely look into, you know, the opportunity to reassign them to another mentor. It's all about communication and honesty, and I don't anticipate that we'll have too many issues. I guess, you know, again, I think the the the mentee if she goes into this with an open mind I think that it can be an incredible experience for her. But that said, there's always the opportunity for them to come back to us and let us know if it's not working out for whatever reason.Azhelle 22:12 And the the survey, I assume that it was a survey that both mentor and mentee would see. But are you saying now the surveys for the back end? Mary Kay 22:20 There are? Yeah, there are two separate surveys. One survey is going to it's going to it's going to direct them both the mentor and the mentee. So, for example, the men the survey that we the staff will see will say, let us know how your partnership is working out. Okay. And it'll specify that this is just to let us know how the partnership is working. Azhelle 22:46 So you don't have to worry about hurting feelings... Mary Kay 22:49 Not at all. And and there is another survey that it says share your feedback with your mentor. Okay, it's good to know Yeah, yeah, yeah, so definitely help. confidential as far as that goes, but we do think it's very important. It's just like any relationship. You know, even if you think about a man relationship between an employer, employer and, you know, exact members, you know, they have touch bases to find out, Hey, how are things going? You know, it's so important that ongoing communication, just, you know, to check in with one another on that. Azhelle 23:21 And my second question, I'm thinking about this from the perspective of somebody that works, you know, for a specific toy company, how does confidentiality work in the program? Because I know, you know, I might want to be mentored by the head of another toy company. But how, how is my confidentiality protected like being inside of this program? Janice 23:41 I'm grabbing shell that you actually asked that question. One of the things actually, in fact that Amy Thompson was adamant about was just just clarity on the fact that this program is company agnostic. This program is confidential and it's with the intention to mentor right. So that's kind of the Bottom line there. And everything that happens on the platform in between people in these partnerships is absolutely and 100% confidential. And I think that all we ask is everyone just come to this with that professionalism and that intention, and we believe that there is should be no problem with people working on different companies, because information that's being discussed or any information that, you know, would would come up in those conversations, again, that stays within that partnership and should only be used to help with the mentorship, the mentee. So our goal is to mentor is to actually match people up with people that are the best match for them. Azhelle 24:39 That's wonderful. That's great because I don't I want people that are already in the toy industry to to be able to take advantage of this and feel like they can take advantage of this. Janice 24:47 Definitely no and I think that that's like I said, that's really important because even regardless of whether you're really hyper competitive companies and so that's kind of the obvious, right? But you know, at all levels, I think at the end of the day, everyone One needs to have that assurance to know that everything that they discuss about their company about their boss about their goals that's confidential, that this is a space that is for them and specific to help them with their career growth and with their the goals that they established for their mentorship partnership. So, and that, you know, has to be the case, right. That's, that's the way we can make this successful. Azhelle 25:22 That's great. That's great to hear. Yeah. So I'm also wondering, are mentors and mentees able to communicate via video or audio through the platform, Janice 25:33 so that everyone's platform gives you a lot of different ways to communicate in your partnership? There are chat boxes that actually then send messages to your mentor or mentee. And then it also allows you to schedule your meetings and those meetings are scheduled actually through zoom. So yeah, so my first meeting today and it's all integrated really nicely to so the communication happens on the platform, the meeting request and scheduling happens on the platform. But the platform actually does give you the opportunity. And I loved this feature, by the way. So I chose to actually have it go on to my Outlook calendar. So it goes on to my Outlook, but everything has actually been scheduled via the otherwise platform. So it's really not so yeah, it's really great. So everything happens in one place and doesn't require and we actually even in fact, encourage everybody to keep all the communication on the platform versus trying to email and get outside the the environment. Azhelle 26:33Oh, this is so great. Honestly, like this is making me understand the mentorship program even more, because when I started in the toy industry 10 years ago, I my mentor then was my boss then is still a really good friend of mine now. And ever since meeting him and having him helped me and every time I had a question, I call him be like, I don't know how to handle this, like what do I do? And if I could have found more of those people along the way, it would have just made things go a lot easier. So this is really nice that you're Starting this, this program, and people are going to be able to have the opportunity to build these relationships. Janice 27:05 And what's great. I mean, we're really so passionate about the opportunity, presenting this opportunity to our community. Because, exactly to your point, like I just and Mary Kay mentioned it earlier, there is just a thirst right for people who want to be able to connect with others in our industry and have a conversation about what's important to them and the goals that they're trying to accomplish. And so much comes out of that. And actually, the other thing that Mary Kay mentioned that I just agree 100% with as well is that, you know, on my call today, with my mentee, we set some goals or she set the goals is that I'm really you know, servicing her goals, right. But I sense that as the partnership grows, and we get to know each other better, those goals are going to evolve and we're going to get through things and there's going to be all these other kind of parts and pieces that I think we'll both discover about each other that we can realize there's more learning that is available to her right? Yeah. So it's just again, it is a pretty exciting opportunity that I think our industry has never seen before. It's really Azhelle 28:09no and what's hard with mentorship is like you don't just need someone who can help you with your goals. You also need like, Mary Kay was talking about it asking personality questions, you kind of need a personality match, right? You need someone who could be your like your friend or your sister like someone that you could be your mom, like someone very, like, you know, the same wavelength as you. Janice 28:29 That was actually that was one of the things that struck me though with my call earlier today. And I shared with Mary Kay I said, Oh my gosh, my mentee I mean, really, I just so connected with her because her sensibilities and just like the way that she approaches problem solving, and the way she was talking about different scenarios, it was kind of crazy. I was like, Oh my gosh, she's like a little, you know, she's really a version of me and that personality, for such a good girl. Awesome. Azhelle 28:54 I know what you mean. That's the feeling-- That's what you want. Janice 28:57 You totally want that and you just immediately can Because again, that's the beauty of otherwise it does if with your profile really sort of sought for those kinds of connections and matches, and it just, you know, really sets you up for success. Azhelle 29:11 And you know what my mom always said this to me, she's like, people can only grow as far as they know. So like, what's great is like, if someone who's like a you, but you know, like years ago sees you and they're like, Oh, my God, I want to be that I want to be president of what I want to be the managing partner at brand fresh management. But if she doesn't meet you, she won't even be able to have the vision to say, that's what I want to be Janice 29:33 Yeah... I appreciate that. It's great. Azhelle 29:35 So Jen, is I know that joining the mentorship program also gives you access to an extensive library of articles. There's like surveys and career advancement activities. And I just I want you to tell us a little bit more about those resources, how you found them, and how useful you think there'll be to the mentees in the program. Janice 29:56 Well, this was actually one of the features that was most excited. To me, you know, so much information is coming at us like every day. I know for myself, I have a hard time just determining, like, what should I look at? What should I read? Yeah, and I think the thing that's really cool about ever wise is that it really allows us to focus on our own professional development and our career advancement. So, you know, it takes out all the noise. And it really provides you with a wealth of informative content that's been carefully chosen and thoughtfully organized. So, you know, you've got articles and videos and activity, so each one offers a little something different. And what's great is once you're in the ever wise platform, you can browse through the library of content. And like I said, it contains a ton of articles and videos and just, you know, lots of great information that is actually valuable to both the mentor and the mentee. So it's goingto help both of you, you know, become successful in your partnership by accessing all this information. Azhelle 30:53 And listeners, I just want to tell you because Mary Kay took me in the back office I saw behind the scenes Yeah, no, it's already I really simply like there's just a drop down list on the left hand side and it lists kind of categories like what do you want to learn how to lead people better? Do you want marketing Do you want and you just literally an alphabetized list, click on it. And then all related articles pop up with almost almost like a Pinterest like board. And you see an image relating to the article, you click on it. Some of them lead you outside of the platform. Some of them stay within the platform. Some are quizzes summer articles summer, you know, it's a, it's a really nice library and you guys hand picked what's going inside that library? Correct? Janice 31:32 So good question on that one. So we did curate information that is available to you as part of the modules as you go through your partnership. But in addition, you can go outside of just the curated information and then access like I said, what you've described absolutely no, which is an incredibly well organized library. So you can really search by any content that you want. And it's you can you know, curate it, you can create like to just sort of select just videos or just videos on self improvement or leadership. So it really allows you to do a lot of different things with the information even outside of the just the curated stuff that we've provided for you. But I do want to mention, I think this is actually really important for everyone to know, though, is that the content you'll you'll notice this, but the content isn't actually specific to the toy industry. So what we did, right, like, you know, we're working with every wise every wise has this wealth of information that they've amassed over time, right, they've put this platform together and part of that process was then getting all this content together. So we are taking advantage of that. And over time, we'll continue then to then populate it with more information on the toy licensing and entertainment industry. As you know, we find articles that would be relevant to mentoring and career development. So we'll feather those in over time and certainly even if people have read articles that they've read or content podcast, Azhelle 33:00 Shameless self plug. Janice 33:03 There you go. I love it. Nobody, seriously. That's right. We want to make sure that we make available which we can we can then put onto the everyone's Yeah. So we, we do have those capabilities and we'll continue to do that. But we do want people to understand that, you know, it really doesn't matter what industry you're working in when it comes to the program and the mentoring in terms of the content that you know, you're going to learn from this because concepts are concepts like they trickle down and just help you advance your career. great stories are great articles are great, you know, videos, and, you know, just ensures that you're a great mentor, especially even to your own kids. In fact, these a, the information is just really valuable. Azhelle 33:44 So we've talked about all the things that mentees can get out of this program. We know that anyone can be a mentee, anyone can, can learn more can advance their career further and learn a new skill, but what are the requirements for the mentors that are brought into this program? Janice 34:01 So we don't have actually like a checklist to be clear about that. But what we are looking for are seasoned professionals that are willing to, you know, work with and help emerging leaders. So people that have gotten a lot out of our industry and really want to give back. So, you know, in terms of kind of what we would call requirements, you know, we're looking for people that have a strong skill set or an expertise, and that you know, that you'd be committed to your mentee. So you know, that also that would take the time and be engaged in that partnership. So yeah, mentoring says it's a tremendous development opportunity. And it really demonstrates your commitment to being you know, to being a leader yourself. Azhelle 34:39 How do you guys determine if a mentor is capable of being a mentor? How could they prove their experience? Is it their website? Is it their resume, like what are they What do they submit? Mary Kay 34:50 So that's going to come through in the profile that they fill out? They will articulate in that profile answer the questions that will be Describe what their skill sets are. And honestly, you know, we'll look at their their years of professional experience. And and I'll be honest, I've seen all these, these 200, you know, mentorship applications come through. And most people that have, I would say, under five years of professional experience don't typically sign up to be a mentor. I think it does take a certain amount of professional experience before you can be considered a mentor. I don't know. Janice, do you agree with that? Janice 35:31 Yeah. And I think that's a really good point, Mary Kay, because, you know, five years, it's fine. It seems to be kind of like that threshold. But what I would say to just adding to that is that you may have five years of expertise in a particular area. And if you have that, that expertise in that in that area, and that skill set to that you're ready to share. We invite that because that actually works really well when we look at reverse engineering, right. So yeah, exactly. So So if somebody has five years of experience in it, Like an e. e commerce. I mean, that's a big topic right now in our industry is we're all struggling to figure out what's happening at retail, one of the areas that, you know, a lot of people are thinking about, you know, whether it's it's, you know, small entrepreneurs or bigger toy companies, but it's just really what's your e commerce strategy? And so we do, yeah, so we have people that really have some expertise in that. And even though you don't have like, you know, 15 years of experience more generally, the fact that you've got five years of experience, specifically, or specialists, I think makes you prime to be a good mentor for somebody who's looking for them, that person Azhelle 36:35 could then you know, strategically be paired with someone who has significantly less experience. So you wouldn't pair that person with someone who's like 20 years experience and looking, you know, looking for something completely different. Janice 36:46Exactly. Yeah, we would. That's the great thing about how the system works, we would ensure that if somebody had five years of experience, again, we'll use that example of e commerce that we're looking for somebody who's really looking for more expertise in The You know, he calm space. And so going back to like, well you know, even just the the two to four weeks in matching that is a really good example of sometimes we want to make sure that it's the best match possible. So we may not on week one have that person in our mentorship pool and we want to make sure that we find somebody that's really going to help that, you know, someone meet that particular goal. But again, we're the the mentorship program is already populating quickly and we've got a really great pool of people so it will continue to grow. But that's probably a good example of just I don't know, Mary Kay, Yeah, Mary Kay 37:33 I was gonna say, you know, if I saw a mentor match recommendation come through from otherwise. And let's just give you an example and say that somebody who's got five years experience in social media marketing and say we've got a mentee that's looking for, you know, in looking to the match with somebody with that same skill set, right mentee might have 25 years of professional experience, but they need to be mentored by somebody who's got I'm experiencing social media because they don't have it. Azhelle 38:03 That's the reverse mentoring. You're talking about Mary Kay 38:05 your reverse mentoring.Azhelle 38:06 Yeah, absolutely. That's definitely one question. My listeners are going to be asking themselves. Am I too experienced to be a mentee, or not experienced enough to be a mentor? Yeah, some people are really gonna feel like maybe they can't be a mentee because they have 20 years of experience already. But you're saying that just because you have 20 years of experience in product development, doesn't mean you can't join? Like maybe you want to move into design, maybe you want to go into marketing Mary Kay 38:36 or maybe you want to start your own company you Azhelle 38:40 and I feel like we're not saying this enough that this is included in your women in toys membership. I feel like I'm not saying that enough. Mary Kay 38:47 I know. Let's say that again. Would you please let's say that again. Janice 38:51 Azhelle you are amazing because like, really what we are looking to do at women in toys, licensing entertainment, we are looking to really provide tangible resources to support and advanced women in our industry. Yeah. Azhelle 39:08So okay, the question I want to wrap up for both of you. If this program existed, when you were starting out in the toy industry, what would you have looked for in a mentor? Janice 39:19 Wow. So, look, I was actually so lucky to have a mentor in my career, kind of mid in my career. And it was just somebody that was open and direct and supportive, and just helped guide me in ways that, you know, accelerated, you know, my, you know, what I was doing for the organization and also just my career growth. It wasn't through some formalized program, though. And what I would, you know, today like look for is somebody that could do that again, right, that somebody that could get could be direct and could give you open and honest feedback. But in the case of everyone Like we shared with you throughout the podcast, but in a way that's really directive and has resources. And so for me, like, I just I'm excited that, you know, it's taking the best of what mentorship can be. And it's putting it into an environment that again, can promote, like, again, openness and candor and, you know, focus goals. So again, I this would I wish that we had had this when I was, you know, looking for my mentor 15 years ago, like, I But listen, I'm excited to to be a mentor now. And, and I'm sure to I'm going to sign up for as a mentee at some point as well. I look forward to that reverse mentoring. Yeah. Mary Kay 40:38 And, you know, for me, I got into this industry a little bit later in life as an inventor and brought a game to market and I'll never forget when I first got into the industry, and, you know, went online, of course to do some digging and research and things like that. What really took me back was the people who were willing the people in the industry who were willing to Open up their minds and give me advice freely. It blew my mind actually. And there are a couple key mentors, that that still today I have relationships with. And I thank them all the time because without their help without their mentorship and their advice, and I would not have been able to do what I did. And I can remember thinking back, I Wish I could bottle this. Azhelle 41:25 Oh, look at that really seriously. Mary Kay 41:27 I thought to myself, you've given me so much information and literally saved me 10s of thousands of Azhelle 41:33 dollars, oh my wish Mary Kay 41:34 that I could bottle this and here we battle This is just come full circle for me to see this this program come to life. And every single time I have a conversation with a mentee or mentor. I mean, the mentees that we're talking to are so thrilled to be part of this. But the mentors are so thrilled to be able to give back. And those were the same mentors that I met at the beginning of my career with the within the industry. History and to be able to be in a position to put both parties together and just see the magic that comes out of this thing. Is is pretty incredible. Azhelle 42:09Ah, such a great conversation. Thank you guys so much for coming on the show today. Thank you. Mary Kay 42:16 Thank you, Michelle, this has been such a pleasure being able to reach your listeners and being a part of this podcast and you do such an amazing job educating an industry really of people who are new to the industry. I've listened to many of your podcasts and I'm blown away just at your your years of experience honestly and what you're able to bring into our industry and help people as they navigate their way through. So thank you. Azhelle 42:43 Oh you guys. Go on. Tell me. No, thank you. Thank you. All right. It was a pleasure. Take care. Pleasure with you. Janice 42:53 Thanks so much. Azhelle 42:55 Well, toy people. I hope you found that conversation. super beneficial. Helping you decide if the Ruth Handler mentorship program for wit is for you. Head over to the toy coach comm forward slash podcast forward slash 17. To get all of the links you'll need to get started and to get your special three months FREE when you sign up for an annual wit membership. This is a crazy deal. I have never heard anything like this. So you're definitely going to want to take advantage of it. Until next week. I'll see you later toy people.Intro/Outro + Jingle 43:35 Thanks for listening to making it in the toy industry podcast with Azhelle Wade, head over to the toy coach comm For more information, tips and advice.

• Have an idea for a toy or game? 🧸 Click here.

  🎓Learn more about how you can develop and pitch your toy idea with Toy Creators Academy® by clicking here to visit toycreatorsacademy.com and join the waitlist.

SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH FRIENDS