From Dreams to Reality: Wendy Wen on Founding Senreve and Building Antelope

Awaken* newsletter

July 25, 2024

Wendy Wen, founder and CEO of pet CPG platform Antelope and co-founder of luxury handbag brand Senreve, shares insights on the early days of building the Senreve brand with her co-founder Coral Chung, creating their first iconic Maestra bag, and overcoming the challenges of scaling a startup. She reflects on the importance of focusing on vision, strategy, and hiring the right people, as well as maintaining resilience and equanimity as a CEO. Wendy also discusses her new venture, Antelope, her excitement for its potential, and the lessons learned from her Asian upbringing and entrepreneurial journey.

HanYue: Tell us a little bit about the early days of Senreve. And then what was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

Wendy: You know, it was really just me and my co-founder Coral sitting across from each other in an empty conference room. We were borrowing an office space from one of our investors. And a lot of it was just kind of dreaming: thinking about what the brand could be. It was actually really, really fun. And I think because it’s before you have any metrics, any real product, anything. So anything is possible. In the early days of us, we were literally just trying to figure out what’s going to be our value proposition, positioning, and how we’re gonna get started. It was super fun.

HanYue: That sounds fun. Tell us about your first “IT” bag, as you call it.

Wendy: Our first bag was the Maestra bag, which is a convertible bag that becomes a backpack. You can wear it in different ways: you can hold it over your hand on the handle, you can wear it as a crossbody, you can wear it as a shoulder bag, and then you can also wear it as a backpack. It fits a laptop, it’s water resistant, and it’s 100% made in Italy. It has all these nice compartments on the inside, so you can keep everything organized. It’s a beautiful bag that happens to be really functional, especially for the modern working woman who needs to carry a laptop.

HanYue: Tell us a little bit about how you and your team created this popular bag.

Wendy: So I loved bags. Coral loved fashion. Personally, we just wanted something that was really beautiful and also worked with my busy professional life. So it kind of stemmed from a personal need.

HanYue: Wow, that is amazing to hear. You really found a way to personally connect with the product that you’re building. Let’s switch gears a little bit, to what you’re currently building. Do you feel better prepared for a second go at entrepreneurship?

Wendy: Absolutely. Yes. There are always ups and downs in any startup journey, and I think I made a lot of mistakes with Senreve.

I think, first of all, I didn’t necessarily focus on the important things. I was always kind of doing urgent things. Graham Weaver (a lecturer at GSB and founder of Alpine Investors) talks a lot about that matrix of important, not important, urgent, not urgent. As a founder, you really want to be operating in the non-urgent, important bucket.

An example of what I didn’t focus on enough before would be our hiring culture. Instead, I was focusing on getting things done, which in retrospect, might not have been the best use of my time. For Antelope, I’m much more disciplined about how I spend my time. I really believe that the founder and CEO job should just be vision and strategy. Setting that vision, getting alignment across your team on that vision, helping your team truly understand how their work and their outcomes tie up to the grand vision, and what the dream outcome needs to look like. That’s one big rock for me.

Another one is just hiring the right people. The people who are going to be better than you, at each division, at each function. Hire the best people who will help you dream up something better than what you can dream of, and then make it into a reality. So now I am always pushing for the dream candidate. After that, it’s about developing them, keeping them motivated, and building the culture so that they can thrive.

When I was at Senreve, I was younger, more junior, and much more just about blocking and tackling and getting things done. Now I try to think more about scalability. I think the third piece that I’ve learned, and just gotten a lot better over the years, is just being resilient.

Part of being an entrepreneur and a CEO is maintaining a certain equanimity in the face of problems. I have to maintain an objective distance from the company. Because if you hold on to it too tightly, and it becomes life or death, then every problem can catch you off guard. Versus, if there’s a natural kind of distance, then you have space to treat everything as just a small problem or puzzle that you have to fix.

It makes you as a CEO think a lot more clearly, and a lot more strategically. Because at these higher levels, your main job is making decisions. It’s not fixing the problem. It’s about finding the right architecture, the right people, the right processes, and structures so that your team can fix the problem. And so having that equanimity as a muscle, to deal with the ups and downs, is a really important part of my job as CEO.

HanYue: That’s really powerful. I love your learning about equanimity. Looking forward, what is your biggest challenge right now you want to solve?

Wendy: Our biggest challenge right now is to hire a chief supply chain officer. I have a big gap in operations and supply chain. So if anybody is really good at that kind of stuff, come to me! ¹

I am also learning along the way, from 10 different colors to now 500 SKUs of pet treats, supplements, food, and dental treats with expiration dates. You have to get your planning and forecast super accurate. Every piece of the logistics needs to be precise and accurate in order to meet your demand. And it also has to be efficient from a cost perspective. We really need a C-level executive who has enough experience and lots of great attributes, so she/he can continue to learn and grow with us.

HanYue: Amazing. We hope someone in our subscriber base has this special talent! What are you most excited about next?

Wendy: So many things excite me! I think Antelope is the next P&G/Honest Company of pet products. And we’re just getting started. And there’s just so much low-hanging fruit opportunity that we haven’t yet tapped. Every channel we are in can be grown by 10x. And I think that’s super, super, super exciting. It’s exciting to continue to educate pet parents. So many pet parents are not aware of the preservatives in their existing dog food, what the right content and makeup should be in their food, and what supplements they can give their dog to prevent cancer, arthritis, and joint pain. So I am super excited by this potential.

HanYue: I think that there’s really nothing that compares to the potential as an early-stage founder. You can see this big dream just slowly unfolding in front of you. A lot of our new founders will be fundraising and thinking about working with their investors. I know you work very closely with Graham and Alpine Investors. Would love to hear a bit more about that partnership, and your advice on finding great mentors.

Wendy: The relationship I have with Alpine and Graham has been just 20 out of 10 if I had to give it an NPS score. It’s beyond my wildest expectations what great partners they are. They provide the right level of support, but then they’re really hands-off. They’re empowering and trusting. And oftentimes, honestly, I think about how Alpine is treating and managing me, and how I should train and manage my executives and my direct reports, because they’re a really unique private equity fund that truly, truly has a heart of gold and focuses on people first.

In terms of advice for how students can go out and build mentorship, and relationships with professors and people in their career. It’s simple – just talk to them. Don’t be afraid to reach out. Make sure you follow up. That’s what I did to fundraise for Senreve. And those relationships have followed me through to Antelope.

I met Graham, in an MGE (Managing Growing Enterprise) class when he was practicing to become a lecturer at GSB. He was shadowing Dave Dodson back then. And I just had a conversation with him about what I wanted to do after school. That’s the most common question he gets nowadays, right? The students always go to a professor at Stanford and ask, what should I do with my life? Should I go back to private equity? Should I do this? And I remember, I think he actually offered me a job at Alpine as a CIT (CEO in Training), but I just didn’t want to move anywhere location-wise. So I politely declined.

Graham told the story about the genie goal in his class: if you have three wishes from the genie, what would your goals be? So when I was getting started with Senreve, I called him and I said, I think I’m gonna go pursue my genie goal – to cofound this handbag company. And he angel invested. It was really nice that he was willing to do that, and I think it came from the fact that I just asked and I had that prior relationship with him and reached out.

After Senreve, when I was starting Antelope, I reached out again. So I think it’s just making sure you keep in touch with your professors. I remember going through every single person that I might have interacted with at the GSB. I was co-president of WIM (women in management), and I organized a ton of these speaker events. So I would email every one of the speakers I’d come into contact with. Many of them became mentors and some knew people in the handbag industry that could help. I was shocked that some of them remembered me. Most students don’t realize that all they need to do is a little bit of legwork and follow-up. Every time you go to a networking event, follow up. Even after a few months, send them an email, updating them on where you’re at. That’s how you build a relationship. It’s really not that hard.

HanYue: That is really inspiring and empowering. The notion that a really good mentor relationship is just a few emails away is so powerful.

Wendy: Definitely. Diane Von Furstenberg came to Stanford to speak once. After that, I was like, you know what, I’m just going to send her an email. And I said, “Hey, I loved your talk. I read your book, now I’m starting a handbag company. Would you mind talking to me?” And she replied, the same day, and said: “Here’s my number. Call me tomorrow at 9 am.” And that’s Diane Von Furstenberg. I think students overestimate how often these people get reached out to. I think you are probably thinking that – oh they get so many emails and pings. But the reality is that they probably don’t get that many.

HanYue: Amazing. I want to switch gears a little bit again. If you don’t mind, we’d love to hear a little bit about your upbringing. How has being Asian impacted your entrepreneurship journey or maybe just the mentality of life?

Wendy: I am Chinese, I grew up in Southern California to immigrant parents, who wanted me to be a doctor just like every other Chinese family. I remember doing like my freshman year summer internship in medicine and just being so bored. I was stuck in a lab all day. I think I was too extroverted to follow that path. I’m really dynamic. I love meeting people. I love talking, I love pitching. I get a high from pitching – probably why I enjoy entrepreneurship. And something just clicked. I realized that that medicine path wasn’t for me.

I think what my Asian upbringing helped with though was, that my parents were really good about rewarding effort and not outcomes. They always told me, “Hey, Wendy, it’s not about the grade that you get, if you get an A-minus, but you didn’t try, we will be disappointed in you. But if you got a B plus, and you tried your absolute best, we will be extremely proud of you.” They just wanted me to maximize my potential. And I think that notion really propelled me to just give it all to everything I do. If I’m going to put my mind to doing something, I want to knock it out of the park and do it really well.

In terms of pursuing entrepreneurship, though, that is really not in my parents’ DNA, I think what happened is that they provided me with so many opportunities, by coming to the US and allowing me to have this American education, so that I just got so inspired and absorbed all these American thoughts. And I’m very American, obviously. But I still had the work ethic from my Asian upbringing. That, coupled with such family support, gave me the confidence to pursue what I really, really want to do, which is building companies.

Mark Leslie, he’s another one of my angel investors and mentors, said, there are only three reasons why people want to start a company: one, it’s to make a lot of money. Two is to make a difference in the world. And then three is to build something of lasting value. He said usually people fall within one of these three camps. And I think for me, it’s definitely the last one like I just love building things. I love building culture. I love building a team, and I like building products.

I also think being bilingual helped us expand into other regions for Senreve. We were in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. I think having multicultural blood and experiences in me, makes me more adaptable and flexible, and more resilient, potentially, because I know how to learn about a different culture. You know how to build a life somewhere else. That’s the entrepreneurial spirit.

HanYue: So to sum it up, it’s like that notion of ‘give it your best’ that coupled with a little bit of risk-taking that allowed you to find out what you want to do and really go for it. On top of that, being open-minded and flexible when it comes to like, new obstacles, different experiences, and new regions. Those are amazing takeaways. You have accomplished a lot already. Do you have a few favorite moments from the past or favorite stories that you want to share?

Wendy: There was a time at my last company retreat for Antelope when I celebrated my birthday and the team surprised me with a birthday cake, a sash, and a crown. All 80 of our employees celebrated my birthday with me. And I thought that was really special. Because our team is so talented, they’re so smart. And for them to choose to contribute their talent, to Antelope’s vision – I take it very personally, I take it as a favor they’re doing for me. Seeing everybody in that room, working towards this Antelope vision was so inspiring. Running this company is the best job I could have asked for.

HanYue: That is really heartwarming. You really build a great team and a great culture. And then you got to observe it taking on a life of its own!

Wendy: Yeah, it did take on its own form. That’s the thing. I think seeing the moments when Antelope is taking on its own life just makes me so joyful. Our social media team is amazing. Last year, I remember seeing an Instagram post pop up on Bocce’s Bakery, which is one of our brands. The post was like PupChella – it was a play on Coachella. And they had a lineup of all these artists that were like, dog-named. Like Bark Pink, and Tailvin Harris. It was so cute. It was so funny. And I was so proud of my team. This team is so creative. And I was so proud to see their creativity come to life.

HanYue: Wow. That sounds phenomenal. I think that is actually all my questions. Thank you so much. Wendy!

Wendy Wen’s journey from Senreve to Antelope exemplifies the power of vision, resilience, and strategic focus in entrepreneurship. Her insights offer valuable lessons for aspiring founders on building successful and impactful companies.

Since the time of this interview, Antelope was able to hire a great Chief Supply Chain Officer. ↩︎

Stories

4 Creative Ways Trysen Kaneshige Uses Art to Keep Aloha Alive

Some artists create for attention or fleeting trends, but Trysen creates with intention, guided by a deep sense of responsibility to the culture that shaped him. Growing up in Hawaiʻi, he learned that Aloha is not just a feeling, but a way of living rooted in care, respect, and connection.

That belief now guides both his art and his creative studio, Inspire to Create Media. Through murals, design work, and storytelling projects, Trysen uses his business as a platform to protect culture while helping others share their stories with intention.

1. Reviving Local Stories Through Murals

Photo courtesy of Trysen Kaneshige, Founder of Inspire to Create Media

At the core of Trysen’s work is listening. On Kauaʻi, he spends time learning from residents about their histories, struggles, and sources of pride before creating any artwork. This approach reflects the values he also brings into Inspire to Create Media, where storytelling always begins with people.

The murals that follow are rooted in real voices. They transform blank walls into visual records that help locals feel represented and allow visitors to understand the island through the community’s lived experience.

2. Designing With Aloha in Mind

Photo courtesy of Trysen Kaneshige, Founder of Inspire to Create Media

Aloha influences how Trysen collaborates, how carefully he considers each element, and how much intention goes into every decision. Design, for him, is about respect as much as aesthetics. That same mindset shapes the design work produced through Inspire to Create Media.

Whether creating branding, apparel, or custom visuals, his goal is to make work that feels warm and grounded. Each piece is designed to reflect care, balance, and a sense of home rather than fleeting trends.

3. Empowering Youth and Community Spaces

Photo courtesy of Trysen Kaneshige (fourth from left), Founder of Inspire to Create Media

Beyond client work, Trysen uses both his art and his studio to invest in the next generation. Through partnerships with schools and wellness programs, Inspire to Create Media supports projects that turn shared spaces into places for expression and growth.

By involving young people in the creative process, he helps build confidence and identity. These initiatives focus less on the final product and more on giving youth a voice and a stronger connection to their roots.

4. Building a Global Bridge From Island Roots

Photo courtesy of Trysen Kaneshige, Founder of Inspire to Create Media

While his work is deeply rooted in Hawaiʻi, its reach continues to grow beyond the islands. Through collaborations with global brands like Volcom and OluKai, Trysen shares an authentic island perspective with a wider audience.

These partnerships amplify his message without compromising its foundation. By staying grounded in culture, he shows that it is possible to connect with the world while remaining true to where you come from.

Photo courtesy of Trysen Kaneshige, Founder of Inspire to Create Media

Carrying Aloha Forward

At its core, Trysen’s work—through his art and his studio, Inspire to Create Media—is an ongoing act of care. Through each project, he honors his home, uplifts his community, and uses creativity as a way to carry Aloha forward with intention, respect, and lasting impact.

More than anything, his work reflects a belief that culture is something you actively protect and pass on. By choosing collaboration over ego and meaning over trends, Trysen ensures that Aloha is not only preserved, but lived, felt, and shared with future generations.

Discover more from Trysen Kaneshige here:

📍Facebook

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Learn more about Inspire to Create Media here:

📍Website

📍Instagram

Dec 26, 2025
3 min read

Stories

From Jackie Chan’s Assistant to Building Paire: How Nathan Yun’s Vision for Better Essentials Became a $15M a Year Brand

Nathan Yun did not start his career thinking he would one day build a consumer brand. His early years were spent on film sets and in editing rooms, learning how stories are shaped and how audiences respond to them. Working as an assistant to Jackie Chan gave him a front-row view of storytelling at its highest level. He watched how a single film could reach millions of people and create a shared emotional moment across cultures.

Yet over time, he noticed something that stayed with him. The inspiration was real, but it faded quickly. Once the credits rolled, people returned to their usual routines. That contrast made him question what lasting influence really looked like. Was it found in big, unforgettable moments, or in the small things people interacted with every day?

Paire grew out of that question, built not around trends or marketing tactics, but around everyday essentials, starting with socks. If stories could move people for a moment, Nathan believed products could shape how they lived every day.

From Film Sets to Daily Habits

Nathan came to understand that while stories stay with people selectively, habits are formed through repetition. Clothing, especially everyday essentials, plays a quiet but constant role in daily life. When something feels uncomfortable or wears out too quickly, people notice it immediately, even if they never say it out loud.

This insight marked a turning point. Nathan no longer wanted to create something people felt for a moment. He wanted to build something they could rely on every day. From the beginning, Paire was shaped around that idea.

Instead of chasing trends, the brand focused on fit, fabric, and longevity. The goal was simple: to make essentials people would reach for again without thinking.

Nathan Yun (right), Founder of Paire

Learning How to Build Before Building His Own

Before launching Paire, Nathan spent five years at furniture startup Brosa, where he learned what it takes to grow a business beyond an idea. As the company expanded from a ten-person team to more than one hundred employees, his role evolved from content creation to leading brand and marketing.

During that time, he saw how forecasting affected inventory, how data guided growth, and how pressure increased as operations scaled. He also witnessed what happened when demand moved faster than systems, and how costly it could be to build those systems too late.

Those experiences shaped how Nathan approached entrepreneurship. He did not want to build Paire on instinct alone. He wanted a clear understanding of supply chains, margins, logistics, and customer behavior before committing to his own brand.

Nathan Yun (far right), Founder of Paire

The Trip That Made the Mission Personal

The purpose behind Paire became clear during a trip to India. Away from polished storefronts and online campaigns, Nathan saw the fashion industry in a very different light. He witnessed environmental damage near production sites and spoke with workers whose livelihoods depended on high-volume manufacturing.

“That experience made it clear something needed to change,” Nathan explains. What stayed with him most was how disconnected these realities were from everyday shopping habits.

Much of the damage he saw came from clothing treated as disposable. When he returned home, Nathan reached out to his longtime friend Rex, a textile expert. Instead of launching a wide range of products, they chose to start small. The focus was on improving a single item and making it last.

Nathan Yun (left), Founder of Paire

Earning Trust Through the Product Itself

Nathan understood that values alone would not earn loyalty. The product had to prove itself in everyday life. The team spent months refining fabric blends, improving breathability, and testing durability through repeated wear and wash cycles.

Pricing a pair of socks at twenty-four dollars came with risk. Most consumers were used to buying socks cheaply and replacing them often. But once people tried Paire, many returned. Nearly seventy percent became repeat customers, not because of marketing, but because the product became part of their routine.

By focusing on quality and longevity, Nathan Yun built a $15M-a-year brand that shows meaningful change does not always arrive loudly. Sometimes, it begins quietly, through the simplest things we rely on every day.

Follow Nathan’s journey:

📍 Website
📍 Instagram | LinkedIn

Dec 19, 2025
4 min read

Blogs, Development

What the Creator Economy Really Needs in 2026

The creator economy is no longer a niche corner of the internet. It is a $250 billion industry, powering modern marketing, culture, and commerce. Yet for the creators at its core, the experience often remains unstable and fragmented. Inconsistent rates, shifting platform demands, and “gifting” budgets paired with outsized expectations have left many navigating an ecosystem that hasn’t caught up to their value.

As we look toward 2026, the industry is approaching a tipping point. Growth alone is no longer enough. What creators need now are standards, systems, and support that allow them to build sustainable careers—not just viral moments.

Below are five critical shifts shaping the future of creator work, and the standards Meraki is building to support a stronger, more intentional industry.

1. Stronger Structure for a Growing Industry

Photo courtesy of Vivian Kwan (center), Founder of Meraki Group

While creator content has never been more polished, the backend of the industry remains disorganized. Uneven pay scales, scope creep mid-campaign, and unclear paths to professional growth are still common. Creators are often met with constant brief changes or “gifting” requests that require high-level deliverables without fair compensation.

The gap: There is no shared structure defining fair rates, clear deliverables, or realistic timelines across the industry. Expectations are often implied rather than stated, leaving creators to absorb last-minute changes, unpaid revisions, and expanded usage. Over time, this places most of the financial and emotional risk on creators instead of being shared evenly with brand partners.

The Meraki solution: Meraki builds every partnership on clarity. Terms and rates are established upfront, expectations are clearly defined, and communication stays transparent throughout the process. By setting strong boundaries early, creators are protected from underpayment, and brands begin each project with a shared roadmap for success.

2. Education That Powers Careers, Not Just Content

Image Source: Pexels

The biggest challenges creators face are rarely creative. They are structural. Pricing work correctly, understanding usage rights, and identifying harmful contract clauses remain major pain points—even for experienced creators.

Too often, creators are expected to learn these lessons the hard way.

The gap: Most creators enter the industry without access to professional guidance that supports long-term career growth. Knowledge around contracts, licensing, and negotiation is often gatekept or learned through costly mistakes. As a result, many creators stay stuck in short-term cycles instead of building sustainable paths forward.

The Meraki solution: Meraki focuses on training ethical, creator-first managers who act as true career partners. Through negotiation support and education around contract red flags, creators are equipped to think beyond the next deal and toward sustainable, multi-year growth.

3. Standards in Negotiation and Contracts

Image Source: Pexels

A significant number of creators still undercharge for their work, and 26% report needing help navigating contracts. Without standardized deal benchmarks, creators are often left guessing their worth—leading to pay gaps, rights misuse, and legal risk.

The gap: Negotiation norms vary widely, with no clear benchmarks for fair compensation or usage terms. Many contracts are written in dense legal language that creators are expected to sign without full understanding. This imbalance leaves creators vulnerable to losing control of their work and long-term earning potential.

The Meraki solution: Meraki empowers creators with defined negotiation standards and the confidence to secure fair, market-value deals. By demystifying contracts and usage terms, creators can focus on their craft knowing their income and intellectual property are protected.

4. Work Models That Protect Wellbeing

Image Source: Pexels

Burnout has become one of the industry’s most pressing issues, affecting more than half of full-time creators. The always-on model—driven by algorithm shifts and last-minute deadlines—is no longer sustainable.

Creativity cannot thrive under constant urgency.

The gap: Many campaigns are built around speed and volume rather than realistic creative timelines. Creators are expected to be constantly available, adapt instantly, and produce under pressure without recovery time. Over time, this erodes both creative quality and mental health.

The Meraki solution: Meraki advocates for structured planning and sustainable workflows. Campaign timelines are built to protect both creative quality and mental health, proving that high-level output does not require constant exhaustion.

5. Representation Rooted in Voice, Not Trends

Image Source: Pexels

Creators are increasingly resistant to being reduced to labels or treated as trend-driven checkboxes. True representation starts with understanding a creator’s voice—not forcing them into a predefined brand narrative.

The gap: Many partnerships remain transactional, prioritizing short-term relevance over genuine alignment. Creators are often selected to fill a category rather than for their perspective or long-term vision. This leads to inauthentic work that disconnects creators from their communities.

The Meraki solution: Meraki begins every partnership by listening. By understanding each creator’s goals and vision, Meraki aligns them with brands that share their values—fostering long-term relationships that feel authentic to both the creator and their community.

Photo courtesy of Vivian Kwan (second from left), Founder of Meraki Group

The Next Era: Purpose Over Pressure

As we look toward 2026, the transition from a “Wild West” to a professionalized industry requires more than just better tools—it requires a fundamental shift in how we value the humans behind the content.

Meraki sits at the center of this new era, bridging creative passion with real professional growth. By pushing for fair standards, ethical representation, and sustainable careers, Meraki does more than manage creators; they help protect the future of creative work.wi

Learn more about Meraki Group:

📍Website

📍Instagram

Dec 19, 2025
5 min read

Stories

Joeydolls by Samantha Ong: A Story of a Daughter’s Search and a Mother’s Mission

Where Identity Begins

Growing up in Australia as part of a small minority shaped Samantha’s early understanding of identity. It taught her what it feels like to search for belonging, to look for pieces of yourself in the world and not always find them. Those early lessons sat quietly in the background as she moved into adulthood.

Her career began in finance, a path she chose for its stability and predictability. But creativity eventually led her in a different direction. She built a thriving wedding photography studio—one that grew from passion, long nights, and the joy of capturing love stories. It was a life she couldn’t have imagined at the start.

Then the pandemic arrived. Overnight, hundreds of thousands of bookings vanished. The business she had spent years building collapsed in an instant. And in that same period of loss, another reality weighed heavily on her: the rise in anti-Asian hate. As a mother, the headlines and the stories hit differently. Samantha began thinking deeply about the world she wanted for her daughters—what they would grow up seeing, feeling, and believing about themselves.

That led her on a simple search: dolls that reflected her daughters’ culture. But what she found were options that were limited, stereotypical, and often too expensive. It was a moment that crystallized something important. Realizing how quickly children learn about who they are, the idea for Joeydolls began to take shape—quietly, but powerfully.

Turning an Idea Into a Brand

An idea, however, is only the beginning. Turning it into a real toy brand meant stepping into a world Samantha knew nothing about. She had to learn everything from manufacturing to product design to e-commerce—starting from zero. There was no roadmap, just persistence and a mission that felt too important to abandon.

The timing made it even harder. Pandemic rules slowed communication. Shipping delays stretched out timelines from weeks to months. With very little funding, every decision mattered. Every misstep cost time she couldn’t afford to lose.

Then tariffs on goods from China jumped to 145%, and suddenly even the future of the business came into question. There were moments when it all seemed impossible—too expensive, too complex, too overwhelming for one person to navigate.

But Samantha kept going. She kept refining the vision, pushing through setbacks, and holding onto the mission that started it all. And she didn’t do it alone. Throughout the long nights and the uncertainty, she was supported by a husband working multiple jobs so she could stay focused on building the brand their daughters—and so many other children—deserved.

A Brand With a Bigger Purpose

Today, Joeydolls has sold over 15,000 dolls and earned major recognition. But those numbers only tell part of the story. At its heart, the brand is Samantha’s answer to a question that began during one of the hardest moments of her life: How do we help children grow up seeing their cultures celebrated, not erased?

Joeydolls stands as that answer—a way for children to see their cultures reflected with pride, dignity, and everyday joy. What started as a search for her own daughters became a mission to help thousands of children feel seen, valued, and connected to where they come from.

A single doll can seem small. But for many families, it’s a beginning. And for Samantha, it’s proof that representation—when created with care—can grow into something far bigger than one person’s story.

Learn more about her story here: https://www.joeydolls.com/

Dec 8, 2025
3 min read