Funding a Test Market

There is much more to the funding story. When you are launching a business, funding often comes in stages. This was the case for me. I had received enough seed money to create the prototypes. Now I needed another round of money to manufacture a quantity of dolls and launch a test market to prove the concept before mass production. Or at least produce a quantity of dolls that I could market to noteworthy high profile people or celebrities. This phase of my project lasted eight years. Yes, you read it right, for the last eight I have worked on and off with potential investors to fund a test market for the concept of the SophiaDolls™. A year might go by with no activity, then someone or some group would show up and renewed effort would go into providing updated business plan, financials, marketing, sales and distribution strategies. I continued to funnel modest amounts of my own money to keep the other doll prototypes in development. Chris Love, the doll artist, has worked with me all of these years. She is another person that I owe so much to – for her belief in our project and for her hanging in when the money was slim, and there didn’t appear to be a shred of hope to finish the dolls.

I spent two years contacting doll manufacturers, network marketing companies, and toy agents in hopes that one of them would embrace the project and take on the manufacturing and test-marketing end and to no avail.

Then one day last year, my husband George, and my own Greek god, offered to step up and become the angel for the test market for the SophiaDolls™. He has lived and breathed this project for the six years we have been together. Smart investments and good market timing enabled him to allocate some funding for the test market. I am back on my way to realizing the dream that was ignited so many years ago!

Financing the Vision

I had a BIG vision and I was going to need BIG money to get it off the ground. Fortunately life brought me Donn Chappellet of Chappellet wines out of northern California. Donn and his wife Molly just so happened to have three daughters, larger girls that didn’t model after Barbie. He believed in my concept and me and wanted to help pave the way for his daughters – so he gave me my first seed money. I will always owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Chappellet. If it were not for Donn, I may have never been able to go beyond an idea.

This first round of seed money, plus my own investment financed the development of the first two prototypes, Athena and Demeter.

Athena is tall and stately, with piercing gray eyes and a knowing look. If she were an actual woman, she would be 5’9”, and would wear size 8. She has a little belly, a signature design of all SophiaDolls™. Athena has broad shoulders and long, graceful arms. Her hips and thighs are full, providing a powerful foundation and solid connection to the earth. Her hands are nimble and skilled.

Demeter’s body illustrates her abundance and generosity. She is fleshy, with wide hips and a full bosom. She has a little belly, the signature design of all SophiaDolls™. If Demeter were an actual woman, she would be 5’5” tall, and would wear size 14. Her hazel green eyes reflect the colors of the earth. Her robust and Rubinesque physique celebrates the beauty of the feminine body.

Dressing and Accessorizing the Dolls

Taking a sketch and then turning the drawing into tangible clothing and accessories isn’t as easy as it appears. I spent hours and hours going through fabric samples to get the right color, size and texture of the fabric for the prototype costumes. I went through several doll costume makers in search of the one with the right “feel” for the outfits. I finally found the perfect woman, Donna, who lived in N.Y. and who had designed and sewn several fashion doll costumes. Unfortunately, she died unexpectedly and my search continued. I have had similar experiences with wig manufacturers. My original contact and source of supply, Diana, also unexpectedly passed away, leaving me to start over. But in each case I persevered. One person leads to another, to another, who leads you to someone else. Many times I felt like giving up, but my heart would not let me. This is my life work – my life passion! I have spent months upon months working out the costumes, wigs, realistic eyes and accessories for each doll. Symbols, such as a shield and armor for Athena and a sheaf of wheat for Demeter complete the ensemble. I laugh as I reflect on the detail I have gone through, from determining a skin tone color to completing the make up coloring for each doll. Each doll has a different hair color, eye color, and facial and body shape. Each doll is a museum quality piece of art.

Creating a Doll

I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided to create an exquisite, high quality doll; one with realistic and unique facial features and body type, no less. My goal was to create a doll to recognize and honor the different human sizes/shapes and reinforce the distinct personality or archetypal qualities found in all women. Fortunately I met some wonderful and talented people along the way who cared enough to spend time educating me.

The first was Tony Genadio. His company produced the high-end doll molds for the top doll manufacturers, including the first Barbie mold. Here is what has to happen to create a doll prototype:

a. Sketch or drawling of each doll.
b. Artist sculpts the doll in clay.
c. A wax mold is made from the clay.
d. A master mold is made from the clay mold.
e. Production molds are made from the master mold.
f. Plastisol is poured into each mold, baked and then carefully pulled out from the mold.
g. Eyes are placed into the head, doll parts are put together, wigs glued or sewn on heads, faces are painted, eye lashes attached and dolls are dressed and packaged for market.

I decided to have the dolls made using rotational molds so there wouldn’t be any seams on the arms and legs. Tony had to develop special molds because my dolls had “real woman” hips and a little belly, as well as different breast sizes.