How Diversity Impacts Doll Design: Perspectives from an Industry Pioneer, Ashley Head

EP075_04-19-25_Ashley Head

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Toy Business Unboxed, your gateway to the secrets of the toy industry. Here, Jason Hsieh, a toy entrepreneur and expert in the field. “Every product we develop is really inspired by some of the real life experience that we have with our son.” “60 percent of all toys last year were sold on Amazon.”

“Be passionate about it. Because it’s a road. It’s a journey.” “Like when you have an idea that you think is gonna somewhat change the world, make things better, I’d say go for it.“

Jason Hsieh: Welcome back to another episode of Toy Business Unboxed. Today our guest is Ashley, a CEO of Curls Poppin’. It’s a doll line that changed the game by representing different group in the toy space and it’s born out of passion for hair care. And also representing authentic identity. Those thoughts that the [00:01:00] company has created not just beautiful, but they’re also bold statement of empowerment. So thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today, Ashley.

Ashley Head: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Jason Hsieh: So first of all, can you just share with our audience a little bit more about your background?

Ashley Head: Of course. First of all thank you Jason for having me. My name is Ashley Head. I am the CEO of Curls Poppin’ hair products and curls popping dolls outta San Diego, California. We’re a San Diego based company. A little background about me, I am a Morehouse College graduate class 2003, degree in chemistry. And I also have my MBA, but obviously I have curly hair. In my career I ended up moving to New York City and working at a large pharmaceutical company there. And while I was living there, I was asked buy a up and coming in 2009 and up and coming hair product company that needed male models. So they recruited me to be a male model spokesperson and a passion for hair. So I said, why not? But in launching their company, which is super successful, and in target stores, I realized there are many chemicals that should not be in hair product company, and [00:02:00] her product line. In 2018, I created shower caps and bonnets to work synergistically with these hair products. But then I realized after a few interviews with big box stores, they wanted me to have a liquid product. So during the pandemic, I created a liquid product. So that’s one of the companies. But it morphed into tapping back into a desire to create dolls with curly hair from 2009, 2010, when I lived in Dominican Republic. I realized they didn’t have curly hair dolls. And by creating liquid product, I then saw that problem in the market was still not solved. Brown, beautiful dolls with brown eyes and big curly hair like me. And so I got to work in 20 19, 20 20, I released the Curls Poppin’ doll line.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah. And I think that’s a very unique part about your story because you didn’t start out in the toy and game industry. You actually start up in the hair care industry.Which is very different. So that’s a very interesting and how do you apply some of the learning and some of your expertise? To the current toy product that you have.

Ashley Head: I love that question. I’m the creator of [00:03:00] four liquid products. And I also have bonnets and pillowcases and tools to style. Curly natural, curly hair. Textured hair. So when it comes to working with dolls and creating a doll, I said I wanted a doll that looks like me. And so I’ll give an example.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah. I think you have one with you. Yeah.

Ashley Head: Yeah. So, here’s a doll that looks like me and it has brown skin, brown eyes, kept makeup simple, but big curly hair. And so how do I apply my expertise in life to liquid products and having a hair product line to dolls? I know that people would’ve curly hair like me and little boys and girls that like to have curly hair like me. Sometimes I wanna play with a doll that looks like them, and that’s a gap in the market. So I’m filling the market, so the expertise is filling the gaps in the market with my liquid products. And I fill the gaps in the market, the toy market with my beautiful dolls and big curly hair.

Jason Hsieh: Okay. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I think for the type of product you have, as we all know, the biggest doll line is Barbie and they have a lot of different with the movie they, published few years ago. They are wildly successful and they [00:04:00] also have been around for decades.

On the marketing side, do you have any specific like strategy that you’re trying to compete against those like mega brand that have a lot more resources than us small businesses?

Ashley Head: When we talk about big brands like Barbie the number one doll company in the world, and they have been monopolizing the market for 70 plus years.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah.

Ashley Head: How does a new company like mine come to the market? They didn’t cover all the bases. They didn’t cover all the demographics. And again, they left gaps for me to stand in. I stand in those gaps. Although they created brown skinned dolls, almost realistic. They don’t have beautiful dolls with this much articulation. Right?

Jason Hsieh: Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Ashley Head: The articulation, they didn’t capture the basic fresh makeup, which is more realistic. They’re to me I always think they’re like so glamorous with so many colors of makeup and, also so many colors of eyes. I went with realistic, beautiful faces and realistic makeup that they didn’t do. Again, we said, we talked about the articulation. They have some with articulation, but not [00:05:00] like this. And then the unique giant curly hair that’s realistic.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah.

Ashley Head: They don’t have that. They don’t have that. They never had it. Never had it. So I So how do you compare? That’s how you compare. And then how do you, how do I come into the market and have confidence that I won’t be crushed? I have a demographic, I’m a Morehouse College graduate. I have a license with Morehouse College. It’s an all male school, so that’s really interesting that people will find that the more this doll is in the Morehouse College bookstore. The number one HBCU is actually Spelman College.

Jason Hsieh: Oh, okay.

Ashley Head: This is, this doll has a license with Spelman College, so you’ll find her in the Spelman College bookstore. And I think our most popular, fastest selling doll is the doll with the largest sorority in the world. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

That sorority represents, this is A-H-B-C-U doll. And this sorority is, HBU campuses, but there are campuses all over the country in the world. And they’re the largest black sorority. So we have an exclusive license in the first doll line to have a license with Delta Sym [00:06:00] Sorority Incorporated. So that’s how we compete. We’re in different areas and where Barbie never went. There’s no Barbie representation with a license for HBCU. So my goal is to have our dolls in all the, of the HBCU bookstores and that right there will be historic.

Jason Hsieh: I see. That’s a very interesting strategy. And how do you secure those licenses with a few different name that you just mentioned?

Ashley Head: Yeah, I love the question. My I went to Morehouse College, so I was able to have a conversation with the bookstore there, and naturally, Spelman College is right across the street. But the license doesn’t come from the actual college. It comes from followed education. They have the license with many colleges, HBCUs, and many other non HBCUs predominantly white institutions. We did a pitch, presented our dolls on our capabilities. They loved it. And we’re starting with Morehouse and Spelman soon to expand to 10, 20, or a hundred.

Jason Hsieh: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that and congratulations on able to secure that deal. I think that’s also very important for the company. I want to go back to one of the point that you mentioned that how your product have more [00:07:00] articulation point.

Can you elaborate on that, on exactly how many more that you have compared to some of the competitor in the market?

Ashley Head: So we talk about articulation I’ll say for an 11.5 inch doll, they typically have I think just I mean their hips and their arms, which would be two, four points of articulation. With the curls poppin’ doll line. There are dolls that have nine points of articulation. The knees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then elbow seven, eight, and then neck nine. So it’s nine points of articulation where they, for those that don’t know articulation, it’s the bending and the posing, how they can bend and pose and it’s important. And the wrist too. So, they can bend and barbie doesn’t do that. Most of the Barbies don’t do that. And other dolls, there are other dolls that have the same amount of articulation, but we’ll say most dolls their size don’t have this many points of articulation.

Jason Hsieh: Is that also intentional when you first designed the product to try to make it different?

Ashley Head: It is. I’m 100 percents intentional. It costs a little bit more to have dolls with articulation, so [00:08:00] I wanted to have a more high quality doll and they also. I said, how can we differentiate ourselves and stand out in the market? This doll also we play with her just a little bit. She can now stand in her heels. So how do we delineate ourselves? We have big, curly hair, natural makeup, more articulation than most dolls their size. And then this beautiful doll if spend all time with her, she will stand in her heels.

Jason Hsieh: Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. That’s actually pretty hard to design because of the balance you tend to fall over. So that’s also like a unique selling proposition.

Ashley Head: It, is. And especially for when you want to they have done, you call it made to move. Doll creators know, made to move. Toy owners know it’s called made to move. So we are the first. Beautiful, black, curly haired, articulating, made to move doll line.

Jason Hsieh: And how are some of the kids and parent has responded to your product line so far based on the people you are talking to?

Ashley Head: Yeah, I love that question. We’ve only gotten ravening reviews. People buy her dolls and say, I love the dolls. She’s beautiful, she’s different. Little [00:09:00] girls say, oh my gosh, she looks like me. She’s not like the mermaid or the little blonde doll with the blue eyes from the movie. This is a doll that actually looks like me. She has curly hair like me, mom. That’s the response we get. And ironically the doll with Delta Incorporated one story I’d like to share. There was a 90-year-old at one of the trade shows we went to for the organization, and she said this was the first doll she bought since she was five. This is what we said why said what, five years old her grandmother bought her a white doll. She hated it because it didn’t look like her. She buried it, got in big trouble. She buried it by a tree. Got in really big trouble and never played with dolls again. She swore by it. I don’t want a doll ever again. She’s a 90-year-old woman and bought our doll. Said This is the first doll I could buy because it looks like me. So that’s important.

Jason Hsieh: I see. Thank you for sharing that story. Sounds like she was almost traumatized. Trauma, the experience.

Ashley Head: Yeah, definitely.

Jason Hsieh: What are some of the challenges that you have faced so far? Trying to break into the toy industry.

Ashley Head: The challenges we face break into a toy industry. First of all, standing [00:10:00] out. How do you stand out in such a competitive market? Again, with big box stores and big brands out there, and even small brands alike how do you delineate yourselves? How do you stand out? First of all, I’m a man of color creating a doll. So that’s one thing where how do I, if there’s a, dunno if there’s even another one of me, but with the Dolls, I think the most important thing is to stand out, to have a unique product. To have unique characteristics about that product that make it different that these, this is not been done before because aside from our dolls coming standard with leather skirt and the curl poppin’ shirt. We also have this one of the hottest items for Christmas would be,

Jason Hsieh: oh,

Ashley Head: Christmas doll. Nice, right? So how do you stand out? Other companies don’t have this. Trending in 2025 actually will be dolls, advent calendars and AI toys made with ai. I’m gonna be two of those. This doll’s gonna come in an advent calendar. So that’s super important. So think outside the box. Think what’s trending and where’s there gap. And I figured it out to do will like mine.

Jason Hsieh: I see. I see. And as far as marketing strategy [00:11:00] goes, what are some of the marketing strategy that you have tried so far for the doll line and which one has been more successful and which one that you tried just doesn’t really work?

Ashley Head: Yeah. Best marketing strategies the good old fashioned word of mouth. We go to these trade shows, or people buy dolls. They spread word of mouth. It says dolls so beautiful. I love it. I’m gonna buy some from my neighbors, my friends. If we’re at a trade show and, sell dolls, they’ll give the information to pass on to a friend. Word of mouth is number one. I personally love tikTok and Instagram. It’s the worldwide web at your fingertips. I post a video typically of a, doll on TikTok, on Instagram, share it across the mediums. And people start to buy the doll. They see the video and say, wow, I want one. So from Maine to Florida to the state of Washington, people see the doll and, buy it. And there are some international buyers too. I’ve had a little girl in India has a doll.

Jason Hsieh: And what is your vision for the company over the next few years?

Ashley Head: Over the next few years, I believe that the company will continue to grow, not slowly but steadily. I understand that one of [00:12:00] the reasons other doll companies that are starting the market fail is because they have this huge success with marketing and getting the word out and people buying their doll and even getting into big box stores, but they cannot maintain the inventory. So that is a blind spot I think most small companies run into. We’re entrepreneurs. We have our nine fives and we start these businesses and they start to take off, and then we take the big jump and, go into big box stores and can’t handle the upkeep of the inventory. That is a blind spot for a lot of small companies. So where I see myself is I’m, I will be here in a few years because I’m going to take the slow and steady route to the top. Not looking to the left, to the right of my competitors, but keep growing, developing my brand. I see myself going to big box stores. I see myself getting more sororities, black sororities, and also expanding in universities, colleges and, other higher education institutions to be in their bookstores. I think that’s a very unique niche and I think I can keep growing in that direction and I’ll survive.

Jason Hsieh: How many different [00:13:00] skew do you have in the product line currently?

Ashley Head: We have 10 different skews. 10 different dolls, but we have more skews coming quickly because we have a lot of clothes that are essentially fashion that we call our fashion packs. Here’s one right here, our fashion packs of outfit with And stuff like that, the outfits. And so each of those will be a skew under our doll lines, but we have 10 different dolls.

Jason Hsieh: And are you planning to launch more this year? Besides the existing sku?

Ashley Head: We’ll be launching all some exciting updates that will coming in the next year, especially at Toy Fair 2026. I can’t wait to see you there.

Jason Hsieh: Oh, okay. Yeah.

Ashley Head: Super unique debuts in February 14th, 1516, 17th Is the toy fair 2026. I’ll be debuting some wonderful, unique products that I’m sure the market will gobble up. But as far as 2025, we are ensuring all of our lab testing of all our products are up to date, our certificate of analysis so we can make sure our products are safe. We are currently using, we’re an eco-friendly company, so we use a little bit of plastic on our [00:14:00] boxes and more cardboard so they can be recycled and reused. We’re working on our packaging eco-friendly packaging, and with our current $5 in the market, we think we’ll just work with those through the Christmas holiday and have a lot of debut of new products in 2026.

Jason Hsieh: I see. Yeah, I will be excited to see that as well. And as of today’s recording, the biggest scenes within the toys and game industry is the tariff.

What is your perspective on the tariff and how are you dealing with that as a business owner?

Ashley Head: Oh, those tariffs. I’m so glad you brought that up. The tariffs hit and we do produce our dolls in China. I, work closely with my manufacturer. Basically friends, we talk on WhatsApp all the time, and we’re trying to think of different and creative ways of getting around the tariffs. We haven’t quite figured it out yet, but if they hit China like, they’re plan to, it’s going to impact us significantly. And we hope to get around it somehow, some way by getting our product before they hit. And also working with our manufacturer to see if there’s, if we can maybe go with larger quantity to get the numbers. Not as high, but either way, we’re gonna, [00:15:00] we’re gonna be here with tariffs and it’s, not a good thing at all.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah, I can feel the struggle myself since we also have a shipment that’s being called off right now. Yes, we finished the production, but we are waiting for the situation to settle before we ship it over here. Yeah. But thank you so much again for being on our podcast and sharing with our audience your experience of course, and just the accomplishment you have done with your brand so far.

If you have to just share one piece of advice with someone that’s getting started within the toys and game industry, what would that be?

Ashley Head: What I’m feel now in this very moment is that you have to stick to your intuition and gut feeling to create that toy and to not ask too many opinions from anyone about what you wanna do, because here I am, a man of color making a doll with big, curly hair, and I have a license with the largest sorority. Why hasn’t a woman of the sorority ever made this? Or at Spelman all women’s HBCU. I ask that question people say, are you sure? Are you sure? Yes. I’m very sure this is the toy I wanna create, this is where I wanna create. I got the download from God himself. So here I am making it [00:16:00] and stick to it. If you have to do it in secret, make it, and then, and don’t ask too many opinions because people will say, oh no, you should, no, you sure it’s a waste of time. But I have a friend that makes clothes for eggs. And she quit her full-time job to do that, and she fell on. So anything is possible.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah.

Ashley Head: Stick to your intuition because no one ever regretted following your intuition about anything, so stick to it.

Jason Hsieh: That’s a very good piece of advice. You only get one life, right? So Yeah, try. Might as well go for it.

Ashley Head: Let’s try and here’s something and, I’ll say I have I had evidence to support me in making a doll because in 2018 when I created the liquid product company it was the curl poppin’, it wasn’t liquid products at first, it was a bonnet and a shower cap.

Jason Hsieh: Oh, okay.

Ashley Head: I, I actually made a bonnet and a pillowcase and put it in a tube called the curls poppin’ and sat in sleep set.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah.

Ashley Head: And then I wanted to go to a trade show to sell it. My wife said before we go just selling a bon and a pillowcase, can you create another product? And I created a the shower cap. So [00:17:00] the shower cap, pillowcase and bon we went, we sold a product every two minutes in one second for two days straight.

Jason Hsieh: Oh, nice. Okay. Yeah.

Ashley Head: It was a shower combine. So that just goes to show, follow your intuition on something that you think you wanna bring to the market, and the market will speak. If the market buys it. It’s a good idea. If the market doesn’t buy it, it’s a bad idea. Start over or change it.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. Sure. And thank you so much again for being on our podcast and sharing your experiences and stories.

And for our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in to today’s episode of Toy Business unboxed podcast. We hope you have enjoyed today’s conversation and find it insightful and inspiring. If you like what you have heard, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform so you never miss an episode. We really appreciate your support and we would love it if you can leave us a review and share the podcast with your friend and colleague.

For more resource tips and the latest update within the toys and game industry, visit our website at toy-launch.com. Join the conversation and connect with us on social media using hashtag #ToyBusinessUnboxed. We’d love to hear your feedback and [00:18:00] suggestion for future episode. Until next time, keep innovating. Keep creating, keep bringing Joys to toys. This is Jason Hsieh signing off on the Toy Business Unbox podcast. We’ll see you in the next episode.