Gender Stereotypes Start in the Toy Aisle: Jodi Bondi Norgaard on Building a Business to Fight Back

Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads Podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, orders, and expectations.

There's no sugarcoating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads Podcast. Hi, everybody, and welcome back to the She Leads Podcast. I'd like to kick off today's episodes with just a couple of asks.

First, if you haven't done so already, before you listen to this episode, please pause and take just two minutes to give the show a five star rating and review. In the year of the fire horse, we wanna light up the world with the journeys, stories, and wisdom of women entrepreneurs and leaders, and there's no better way to do that than to rate and review the show. Thank you so much for helping to share our our incredible show with more people. Okay. Our next guest is someone that I've had the privilege to know for a long time.

We just figured out that it was almost ten years. Welcome to the show, Jodi Bondi Norgaard. She's an entrepreneur, an author, a speaker, and a changemaker who's dedicated to breaking gender stereotypes and advancing equality through business, media, and policy. Jodi is the founder of Dream Big Toy Company and the creator of the award winning GoGo Sports Girls line of dolls, books, and apps designed to encourage healthy, active play, and inspire confidence in girls. She is also the author of the recently released book, More Than a Doll, How Creating a Sports Doll Turned into a Fight to End Gender Stereotypes.

It's a powerful story of perseverance, purpose driven entrepreneurship, and disrupting the status quo. Jodi's work has been featured in major media outlets, including the Today Show, Forbes, Parents, and the Chicago Tribune. She has worked with the White House Gender Policy Council under the Biden administration, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and co chaired the Toy Association's first diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging committee. Jodi's also a TEDx speaker, a regular contributor to Ms. Magazine, and she speaks nationwide on entrepreneurship, resilience, and the power of using business to drive cultural change while fighting for equality for women and girls.

Of course, this is more than just work to you at this point, Jodi. It's a calling, a drive, your life's work. You've accomplished so much and brought so much attention to issues of equality, And yet here we are. And that's how I want to start today's podcast. But first welcome.

Oh, thank you. Oh my goodness. Yes. I know. We're still fighting.

Right? It shouldn't be something we have

to fight

for, but we have to fight for it. It is a calling, you're right, Adrianne. It's a calling, it's passion, it's my mission. So I'm just never gonna give up.

And I love that. And I feel very much the same when it comes to equality for women entrepreneurs. I mean, just, you know, gender equality in general, it is just confounding to think that we're even having this conversation and yet it persists. And we have definitely backslid, I think, in in, you know, even in in the last very short period of time, so many rights have been taken away for women and just the atrocities around the world against women and girls is is mind boggling. Can let's start let's actually start at the beginning for those of our listeners who might not be familiar with your story.

Can you talk about how you started GoGo Sports Girls, how that was

born? Well, I had an moment and it was with my daughter who was nine at the time and she's 29 now. So this is time I've been doing this. It's crazy. So I have two boys on either side.

She's a middle and we were running into a toy store because she needed a wrap birthday gift for a party she was attending in thirty minutes like that panicky parent moment. But she was still in her soccer uniform because she got done playing soccer on a Saturday afternoon. So she had her shin guards on her hairs and all crazy messy pigtails. And I tell you this because she just looked like a normal kid on a Saturday afternoon. When we're frantically going up and down the aisle looking for a toy or a gift for her friend, when a line of dolls just stopped me in my tracks.

They had on short skirts, crop top, belly button ring, big hair, lots of makeup. I look at my daughter, I look at these dolls, I pick up one of the dolls and the name on the hang tag is lovely Lola. Now, Adrian, if I can turn around for a second, Lola lives with me and okay.

She lives in the cabinet.

I do I do I mean travels with me she is so this is this is what I saw and I just I was like I'm done with it. I'm so sick and tired of these negative messages that are marketed to girls. So I, you know, I started picking up the other dolls on the line and it was sizzling Sue and cute candy and all these like, So I bought the doll as I'm scolding all the salespeople saying, you should not be marketing sex to girls. I just had a complete meltdown in this toy store. And I did, I brought the doll home to my husband.

I'm like, listen, I am so sick and tired of this. I think I can do something about it. I think I can create a positive image product that encourages girls to be healthy physically, mentally and emotionally through sports and physical activity. I love sports. I'm good at about everything.

I'm great at nothing, But I saw it as like, it was always my escape when the kids were little, right? It made me a better person. It made me a better mom. I was more patient. It cleared my head.

I found it my meditation when I would go for a run. So I saw the benefits of sports and physical activity. So I thought, I don't see any sports dollss out there. I just see that we're pigeonholing girls into having to focus on their appearance versus focusing on what their minds and bodies can do. So that's where it all started.

It started in a toy store and it took me two years from rough draft to the actual debut of the first doll. But you know, when I started doing my research, I needed and that was really interesting. I didn't find any sports dolls out there, which I was really kind of surprised. I found baby dolls. I found rag dolls.

I found 75 lines of fashion dolls. That's 75 brands of fashion dolls. Oh my god. This is crazy. Like, why?

Why? It's like, you know, the the analogy that I use sometimes, like, when I was growing up, all we had was peanut butter. Right? That was it. And when we started to introduce all the different nut butters, right?

The pistachio, cashew, the different milks and all that stuff, the nut butter industry exploded. Took away from the peanut revenue a tad, but the entire industry exploded. So, you know, that it's my point. We're we're we're offering girls 75 lines of fashion dolls and nothing else. That's it.

It's still that way to this day.

Well, I was going to ask that what has changed since then? I mean, a little bit. Not much.

A little bit. I think, you know, companies are trying to do better toy companies. Toy toy industry is struggling. There's reason, right? They're not giving out good products at times or some of them products are fabulous.

But, know, some of the products just are a miss. Yeah. You know, and that can be due to other, you know, like the computer and games and, you know, mobile things like that a lot of kids online, but, yeah, but still, yeah, they're they're they're kind of it. I mean, I can give you two examples of how it's not doing better, especially in the doll category.

Exactly. Yeah.

If you'd like, I mean Yes. Okay. So there was one company that was very interested in acquiring my brand. And they said, but however, and this was probably in 2018, and they said, you know, we already have a girl empowerment product coming out. And I said, Oh you do?

Well, that's exciting. I can't wait to see what it is. What it was, it was called it was a doll called FailFix what you got was a doll that looked like it had the worst hangover bed head that any person has ever had. She had, you know, makeup coming down, her hair is, you know, all crazy. And the job of the the kid, the, you know, general usually the little girl, right, is to make her look pretty.

And it had all the accessories to make her look pretty.

Make her over.

That was their girl empowerment product. Well Wow. It failed so badly. They Good. Had so many complaints that they took it off the shelf within a year.

Then the next one are the L.O.L. Surprise! dolls. You know? Do you are you familiar with the little LOL L.O.L. Surprise! by MGA, which is the maker of the Bratz dolls. So it was the LOL dolls.

So maybe some of your listeners will remember these, or it's still out there. They come in a ball, right? And it's like, it's a surprise feature. And you open the ball and you tear open all these little packages and there's the doll and all these accessories. Well, one of the things they disclosed was that there's a secret color change in these dolls.

So say you dip it in cold water, the dolly with white hair now has pink hair. So kind of fun for the kids. What they didn't disclose is that some of the dolls that you dip in the water and you pull them out, they have a clothing change. And some of those clothing change was sexy lingerie. Devil tail on its backside, caution tape on some of them over their private parts and some actually had shackles on their wrists and ankles.

No. Yes. Yes. I wrote about this. So many people wrote about it.

I mean, it was just, you know, it won the Toy Association Toy of the Year Award in 2018, '19 and '20. I call them and I have relationships with them. Like, do you know this? They're like, no, I mean,

they didn't

know has made over a billion dollars. It's a privately owned company. So they suspect that over $1,000,000,000 on these little dollies. And this is what they are marketing to girls. Like how can you sit around a conference table and say, yeah, that's a good idea.

Let's put shackles on their wrist. I mean, there's such terrible messages for girls and for boys who see this. Like that's how you treat girls. Yeah, they should have shackles on their wrists or caution tape on their private parts. It's insane.

So they stopped doing that after people, you know, mainly women and mothers had a complete fit.

Yeah.

But this should not even

No. That shouldn't see the light of day. Yeah. Exactly. Jodi, I'm absolutely speechless.

I had no idea. And and one of the reasons that I probably don't know is because I have two boys. And so I'm not buying the, you know, the dolls. I'm not in the doll aisle and things like that. That is absolutely pathetic and it just sort of supports the whole entire misogyny that I think permeates the globe and that we're, you know, we're seeing be brought to light with everything that's going on in the news right now.

And it's just absolutely awful and terrible. And I do think that, you know, some of the powers that be want to get those messages into to girls early so that they, you know, so that they're sort of groomed and expect, you know, this. And that is just that is not the the right way that humanity should be going.

No, not at all. And I agree with you. Was like, when I'm in my speaking events, a lot of times I say, I was that good girl. I I didn't make waves. I had sexual harassment.

A lot of times I just was like, oh, well, know, deal with that. And then halfway, like in my late thirties, I was like, wait a minute, maybe it's not me. Maybe it is our system. Maybe it is our culture. It's not me.

All these self help classes out there for women, all these books and everything. Okay, great, great. But I always say women and girls are not broken. It's our system that's broken and our culture that needs to be fixed. And what I am doing with my book and everything that I have organically gone through is I'm saying, I'm sounding the siren that gender inequality doesn't begin in our teens or our twenties.

It begins the moment a child can hold a book, a toy or watch a screen.

Yeah. So we need

to like you know, it's like that light bulb going off. Right? There's so many things in life and it's just human nature. We go through life and it's just that's the way it is.

That's the

way it is. You see, you know, and for me, was in inequality and then more inequality than that. Then my room just got so bright. Yes. I feel like it's my job to hand out all these flashlights because there are so many inequalities.

And why do we have to fight? And why are women's rights always on the table? You know? It's like, no.

Yeah. It's confounding. It it makes absolutely no logical sense whatsoever. And I agree with you too. I think just, you know, growing up, we're so conditioned that, you know, this is the way that things are.

And I do think that so many women, you know, that are sort of in our generation, we accepted things until, until we didn't. And I do think that it sort of happened in our thirties. Like, wait a minute. What's what's going on here? Because we were sold the we were we were in a certain system and then we got to a point and everything that we were told about how equal we were and how capable we were, we realized that it actually wasn't reality.

And I think that's the thing like, wait a minute. Why is this happening when we always thought we were equal all along and turns out we we weren't, or at least in other people's views or the or the way that the world operates, we weren't. And it's it's maddening and infuriating and I I too came to that same realization, which is in many ways why I started my company as well to say, you know, why don't women get funded at the same rate that men do? Why don't women accelerate into the C suite at, you know, the same exact rate? It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

You know, one of the things I want to, I want to almost turn back to that I I just love. I love that when when you were faced with this problem that you said, I'm gonna do something about this. And then you did. I just wanna ask, like, where did that come from? That because I don't know.

And and please share. Did you have any type of manufacturing background or, toy company background or anything like that?

Zippo, none. Zippo. Zero. So I hope to give women confidence. I had to figure it out.

And I had to ask a lot of questions. And if somebody didn't have the answer for me, would always say, Do you know somebody who may? And then I would figure it out. But there was something deep inside me that truly believed that women and girls should have the right to rise to their full potential. And I felt like I was playing this game of whack a mole.

Anytime I rose, I got whacked. And I it wasn't just me. No. And I knew it started early. And so I was determined to figure it out.

I was determined.

I just I'm I'm so inspired. I'm so in awe. And at the same time, I'm also wondering, you know, you just came out with an incredible book that goes through your, your story and you know, everything that it took to, to start your company, to sell your company. I mean, that's even something that women entrepreneurs don't always get the chance to do. That's a whole process in and of itself.

And then to also, you know, go out and put yourself out there in a a way that brings a lot of attention, you know, to yourself. That is this is something that I think so many women want, so many women are inspired by and motivated by, and yet there's also fear. And it's very it's not it's not unfounded. I mean, when when women speak up, we are whacked down or, you know, or or worse. Right?

Mhmm.

So what is what, I guess, advice could you give to the people that are listening in? You know, if they are passionate and they have all of the, you know, the facts and the stats and everything to support their point of view, even if it ruffles feathers, what has kept you speaking up continuously?

Well, a few things is that, you know, I got to this point of who cares if it ruffles feathers? You know what? I've heard so many things. I mean, people, men have called me a man hater and I'm supposed to be like, okay, know, that thing, you know, what am I supposed to say to that? Right?

Like, if you're going say that to me, watch out, right? Like I'm not letting that go. And a lot of the terms that I use when I feel like I'm in a position where, you know, I'm either a deer in headlights or I want to just bite back really badly and may say something that's not a good thing. I always go to the phrase, what do you mean by that? Like, call me a man hater.

So what do you mean by that?

Right. I

have two amazing boys and I have a fabulous husband. Okay. No, I don't. I just believe in equality. Right.

I don't I don't you know, the ruffling of the feathers, you know, we you know, again, we're taught to be many of us, know, women are taught to be the good girl and we don't we're not taught to ruffle those feathers. No. It's okay to speak up. It's okay to use your voice. I've wished more women would speak up.

And we are seeing that right now in our culture, which I'm so happy about that so many women are not going on the sidelines or back to the sidelines. They are actually speaking two things. One thing is that I realized early on that nobody else was going to toot my own horn about my product. So I needed to toot my own horn. It wasn't that I was tooting it, it wasn't about like me, me, me, I had to toot my own horn about my product and I needed to get out there and I needed to talk about it.

So that is number one. And number number two, which I I just had this realization is that anytime I would write something either for Ms. Magazine and oh, by the way, Washington Post I'm now an author for them as well as the Chicago Tribune. Those were two were just added recently.

Congratulations.

Negative comments. Yeah. And I've always been in the the mindset like, okay. I'm just going to hide that. I am not going to debate.

I'm never going to debate. But now I just shut them down. I am just like, you're wrong, you know, go back in your hole. I'm not saying it that way. Try to do it.

But it's like, I am not going to just do that anymore. I'm not just going to hide that comment. I am actually gonna say, hey, you're wrong. And I'm not gonna get into a debate, but I am going to do that. So I think, you know, I think we need to speak up and use our voice more and more.

And I get it. Like there are situations when you're in groups of men, for some reason, I feel like, why am I not getting my voice out a second more, a second faster? Yes. Faster than me, but they're sometimes louder. And I have learned to be like, I'm speaking, I'm speaking.

I have something, you know, and just in a, you know, they're interrupting me, but then I'm interrupting them. So trying to do, you know, trying to be more assertive and more, aggressive, but not mean. You can always do things in a very nice way, but just holding my ground, I guess. And I think women, we just need that confidence, just to say, F it, like I am, I'm confident in who I am. I have good ideas.

And I was just meeting with a young woman who is in, she's a venture capitalist. And she did say, it is incredible how many men come to her company for money and they get it and they do not even have a plan. And she's like, and then women come to their company and have this amazing plan and they don't

get Yeah. Yeah. There there's a lot of evidence that shows that venture capitalists I mean, it's all pattern matching. Right? So that venture capitalists, they they fund businesses on the potential.

And for women, they look at what is your history. Do you have the experience? And they are not funding women's businesses on potential. And it's just because I mean, it's it's a self fulfilling prophecy. Venture capitalists keep putting bets on companies that have, you know, achieved unicorn status that look like a certain way that have a certain, you know, founder team.

And that team hasn't historically been women. One of the things that I'm really thinking about a lot, I'm actually maybe this is a shout out. I'm taking a course right now put on through IDEO, and it's all about design thinking and leveraging AI to help with design thinking. And the problem that I'm exploring right now is is this. It's, you know, what can women do to fund their businesses that are outside of the the traditional means.

Because if we if we keep going back to that same well and that well is not, you know, satisfying our thirst, why do we keep going back to that same well? So, you know, are there is there an alternative to the the traditional models? And I don't know the answer, but I I definitely want to explore it. And it's it's sort of the same thing with like, you know, why why are we I think you are sort of walking the talk, but like, why are we even caring that men are not giving us the platform or the attention that we feel like we deserve if we keep going to that stage and and we're, pushed aside, then let's create our own stages. Let's create our own ecosystems.

Let's, you know, and then let's really support one another. And it doesn't have to be, I certainly don't want this message to be that women are better because I don't believe that. I believe, like you said, it's it's about equality. It's about humanity. So how can we create the conditions for humanity to flourish and not put, you know, men at the top or women at the top, but how can we do this together?

And that's a great experiment, I think.

Oh, it is, it is. And is all about the quality, right? Is that, there's not one gender that's better than the other. But the problem is, is that the starting line different for women than it is. Conversation with a man once and he said, you know, he's like, I came from very little.

I saw that Yellow Brick Road and I took it. I took it and I'm like, wow, people don't even know that Yellow Brick Road exists.

Right.

They don't even know it's there. And some people have to climb mountains to find that yellow brick Road. I said, you opened your door and that yellow brick road was there.

You're So so

good for you, right? But it's not that way for everybody. And it's just finding that way, how do we close that gap? That's the question. But I like what you're saying, Adrianne, and I agree with you is that women have to support women more and more and more and more.

You know, many in in in many different platforms for us to continue to rise and and I am seeing that which is, you know, which is great. Yes. And and then also it's it's it's it's supporting really good men as well. Yes. Right?

Yes. That understand this issue.

Yes.

But the powers that be are are are really putting in a lot of barriers. And making it a lot harder for us and they're going to continue to make it a lot harder for us. Agreed. We just need to keep, like you, giving women a platform to have a voice, which is great.

Hey, everyone. So for years, I've been working with doctor Kent and sending people in my network his way. He does so much impact work. What do I mean by that? Well, he helps people create books and podcasts and things like that.

He even helps with this podcast behind the scenes. Doctor Kent is my thought partner. Anyone listening knows that we all need to do what we can to get our thoughts, opinions, and voices out into the world and how important it is for women to invest in other women and for women to hire other women. I am all about that and you all know that. But in this case, I think doctor Kent is an exception.

He's doing something really different via this new program that he's launched called the Genius Discovery Program. So he wants to work with people like me and like you who are impact driven. Doctor Kent has an intensive program that goes for a month. He also has a three month program where he figures out where you're headed with your brand, your business, your speaking, and your signature story as a thought leader. I've known Doctor.

Kent for a long time. So believe me when I say that he has ton a of experience working with people that are looking to make an impact but might not know exactly how to approach them. So if you're interested in talking to him, you can go directly to talk to Kent dot com or you can send me a DM on Instagram at She Leads Media or just shoot me an email over at hello@SheLeadsMedia.com. We really we really do need to leverage the media in order to share more women's stories and get more women's opinions and thought leadership out there. And that's why I admire so much what you do because you are leveraging different media properties, your your own, you know, other more mainstream media and then also, you know, platforms like this that are, you know, maybe not as widely spread, but it's, you know, certainly, I hope an influential type of platform.

And that's what we all have to do. And we have to do it in an imperfect way because we are all just trying to, you know, figure this this thing out. Can can you talk a little bit about your newest book? I would love to hear all about it and and hear how we can get our hands on it.

Okay. Oh, so more than a doll. So yes, how creating a sports doll turned into a fight to end gender stereotypes. So when I was I started in on the speaking circuit. I had a lot of people at different events say, where can I buy your book?

I'm like, I don't have a book. And so I decided I would write one and then COVID hit and that was a perfect time to write a book. And so I have a fabulous editor and she's a great friend and I thought, you know what, I'm just gonna write this book, I'm gonna self publish it and be done with that. As we're writing it, she's like, this is bigger than self publishing. She's like, you need to find an agent, you need to find a publisher.

I did, I found an agent, found a publisher and about a year ago we launched it. It's just my entrepreneurial journey along with the perseverance, the persistence, the giving women courage, a blueprint to just keep going. I am definitely not one person to say, I'm right about everything or right about even a lot of things. I know I'm wrong about a lot of things, but when it comes to women and girls and having equality, you bet I am a 100% right. I am a 100% right.

Right now to achieve gender parity, we are approximately one hundred and thirty years away from that. And we're going backwards, like you said in the beginning, we are going backwards. The United Nations considers The US a backsliding democracy. And when it comes to women, we are really backsliding. The more women that can speak up, the more women that can come forward and tell our stories is hugely important because you think about history and you think about the amount of times we learned about these men that did these amazing things.

And I do remember sitting in history class in high school and thinking, you gotta be kidding me, there aren't any women that did that? Yeah. I'm calling BS on that one. Yeah. You know, sure enough, there are amazing women that had done amazing things.

And then, you know, either the men, what is it called? The Matilda effect where they you know, men constantly took the credit of of these ideas and, you know, inventions, you know, and our stories. So anyway, it's, you know, more and more women are getting these stories out there, their stories out there and we're saying enough is enough. Seriously, at this point, we have nothing to lose. We seriously have nothing to lose.

So we just need you know, just strap in, buck up and just, you know, fight.

Keep going. Yeah. Keep fighting. Yeah. And that's that's why I'm wondering.

I mean, you you have so many, you know, prospects you're gonna be doing so much writing and it's incredibly influential. Where do you see your yourself in the next, you know, five or ten years? Where do you see this movement going?

Well, I really hope we come out on top. I really do. Who knows? You don't know what restrictions are gonna be imposed upon us, to silence us. Where do I see myself?

I have a lot more books than me. I know it. And so when I started writing a book, I never was a writer. I mean, I liked to write but it wasn't something that I thought I'd ever do in my lifetime. And I enjoyed it so much and I enjoy writing these articles so much.

Can't even tell you. So I feel that I'm thankful for Ms. Magazine for giving me such a platform to write articles. And now with the Tribune, the Sun Times and the Washington Post under my belt as well, I think

You're a journalist. I think

I'm doing okay. Think I'm doing And I just wanna, if that's the way, the best way for me to get my voice out. I mean, I do speak, I love getting in front of a group of women or even a group of men and women because men need to hear this story too. There was an event I spoke at about two weeks ago and the majority of people in the audience were men. And I can't tell you, I was a little nervous.

I was like, oh my God, but I just went along, they were so amazing and the questions they asked and they were on board and they wanted to learn more.

And so

I felt like shame on me for being nervous about that, but I have been attacked before by guys, but they were fabulous. I was super impressed and I really enjoyed having them in the audience.

I love to hear that. And I do think that there is hope. I certainly don't think that all men want to keep women down. I think that, you know, the majority of men really do see the the benefit in diversity and, you know, working together. I mean, you know, for all the men that are brought up by just incredible women, I mean, I hear so many young men talk about their inspiration is their mom and how their mom basically, you know, held the family together and worked and did all the things and was creative and fun and active and, you know, all of it.

And I love hearing those stories. They make me cry because it's it is so true. You know, we definitely don't get the the accolades that we deserve and and we still continue to do this incredible and amazing work. So I I love that there's there's evidence to you, for you, and now for everybody listening that there are men that are on that are certainly on, you know, women's sides, and then there are men that are not. And we just have to not pay as much attention to those voices and really amplify the ones that that that are are for humanity.

So, you know, I I wanted to ask one other question that just kind of came to my mind as we were talking. Your path from, you know, creating a physical product as a as sort of like, I'm trying to think of the the right word, but as a a talisman maybe for, you know, what can be done to change and and sort of starting from a product into a movement and and thought leadership. Is that something that you think that more women can look to as a template? Because the reason I'm asking is I've been thinking a lot lately about how there are so many women owned businesses that are in, let's say either the beauty category or like, you know, the category of like con constrictive wear, you know, a lot of the women owned companies that kind of hold up the the the patriarchy are the ones that succeed.

Mhmm.

And, you know, other companies that sort of, you know, call out the the patriarchy have a harder time. But I I I'm very interested in this idea of like create a product and get, you know, a lot of attention around it and use that as a platform for to make change. So can you just talk to that a little bit?

So you're asking about like, maybe, is it like, like my business ended up being a mission driven business. Is that what you're asking? Like how do women have a mission driven business or how do they have a business that is successful? It doesn't have to be mission driven at all.

It does not have to be. I guess what I'm trying to tease out is you started a product based business that, yes, it was mission driven, but the mission was bigger than the product.

A 100%.

And so the, the product was the thing that almost launched the platform and the mission. And so, you know, do I guess my question is, do you think that that's a good pathway for women who may not be seen as credible with their thought leadership without having that type of, you know, something tangible to launch from?

Right. Right. I think having a tangible product right now in this day and age as a single entrepreneur, to put it this way. If I were to do the Go Go Sports Girls right now, it would have been a no go because of the tariff, right? Cannot get anything manufactured here in The States.

So if it's something that you can get manufactured here in The States, okay, have at it. If you have to go over to China, Vietnam, Taiwan, some another country, forget it. I mean, it's insane. It was learning. There was a company learning, not learning express, Learning Resources something, and a company that's been around for maybe sixty years and they actually filed a lawsuit against the administration because the tariffs that were on China were a 100 and some percent.

This guy is like, we were paying millions of dollars in tariff for a small company. We can't afford this. Well, they won. Actually

That's just incredible.

I know it is incredible. So as a small company, I mean, even I work with Hasbro a lot and they are hurting them and they're the largest toy company in The US. So if it's hurting a big company like that, so the tariffs are really tough right now. Bringing a product to market right now would be, again, very tough unless you can have it in The States. But I mean, there are so many different avenues and so many women are so talented in so many different areas, but it is just believing in women, believing in say their store or their accounting firm or their investment firm or whatever their drive and mission is and supporting them.

Let me ask you this now that you are a journalist. If if women have stories, and and I don't know exactly what the the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, your columns are about, but, you know, are you sort of highlighting other women's stories or are you staying in the the sports realm?

No. I'm I'm doing all all, but here's the thing. Every time every time, you know, a publication picks it up, I'm just freelance, right? So I'm not working for them. It's like, I am writing.

Okay, so Adrienne, I hope I can say this and I'm not a swear, but if there is something that it like the the US women's hockey team and Yes.

I read your piece. Yes.

That's the one the Washington Post is picking up too. And I said to myself, motherfucker and what the fuck so many times. Yeah. Said to myself, oh my god, I have got to write something because this is insane what is going on. Yeah.

So I did. And and again, like I said, I have never been that person who said those words daily or even, you know, through the week. No, I find myself saying it all the time. I'm like, what is going on? And and so anytime I'm I feel like I'm in that mode, I'm like, I gotta write an article.

That's it.

I love this. I mean, I think that that's amazing. It it has an emotional response for you that is visceral and, you know, angering. And, yeah, like, that is the the key indicator that it is time to to talk about it. And I hope more women, you know, listening to this, they're inspired to do the same thing.

You know? Like, this is what we need to do. We need to learn how to write these really influential pieces, you know, put them out there. And it's it's very encouraging. And you have a body of work behind you.

You have a book and and all of that. But it's very encouraging to know that some of these larger publications are also looking to bring women into the fold and also to share their writings and their thought leadership. So that is incredibly encouraging.

And the other thing is that I'd like to support others. And if people are wanting to write, I'd say go on Substack. I've been very, very pleased with that platform. And a lot of times if nobody picks up my article, I'm like, that's fine. I'm putting it on Substack, right?

It'll go out to my list. But like every woman, comment on, like, you know, you just say, I love what you're doing. Thank you for your words or thank you for your, you know, energy, whatever it may be. It's putting yourself out there just to say, keep going. Right?

I do that all the time. Like keep going. Like, appreciate you because it's hard right now. It's very hard.

And a

lot of women are just wanting that affirmation of, yeah, okay, I got to go for it. I got to keep moving forward. So yes. Then in turn, most likely they'll support you.

Yeah, that's such great advice. And I do think that we are collectively tired. And so those affirmations and and those keep goings are really, really important, even if they're not tied to, you know, money. I also know there are so many times that I just feel like it's so difficult. It's difficult getting women to or anybody to, you know, come out to these events that I put on despite the incredible content and and people that I, you know, put up on stage.

It's it's harder and harder. And, you know, I just ask myself a lot of times like, you know, why am I continuing to do this when it's so hard? And then I'll get a message randomly from someone like, you don't even know what you did to change my life. And and then they tell me a story from, you know, five years ago. And then I'm like, okay.

I guess I'll keep I guess I'll keep doing this. I do need to think of a better business model that, you know, that that gets some revenue and resources coming into the business, but it does it does prompt me to keep going.

So I am very, very glad. And you know what, Adrianne, I wrote about this and it it made me think when you were talking about that story is that I realized that like in June, I was very tired. Granted I was doing like a book tour and I was traveling everywhere, but I was just tired with everything that was going on. Like God. And I realized it's okay to be tired.

It's okay to rest because this is exhausting what we're doing, but we cannot give up. Yes. So our rest is needed and it doesn't, you know, it could be a week, it could be a day, it could be a month, but we need to get back up and continue to fight, but it is okay to rest. It's not okay to give up. And another thing is that women, I hope they realize, and I'd love to get this message out.

We are 51% of the population. We control over 80%, maybe even 90% of the consumer spending power. We have so much power that we were not recognizing. And it's time that we recognize all these powers that we have and we press on together. We come together, press on together.

Yeah. We're the majority.

We have the, you know, the power, the spending power, and we're we're going to have, I I think it's, you know, 80 something percent of the the world's wealth by, you know, 2030. So those are all amazing things that are stacked in our favor. And I agree with you. It's like, let's recognize that we have this power and do something about it.

Yeah. And that is why there are restrictions on women because the power it be right now is afraid of our power.

Yes.

And that's why they're putting on those restrictions. If we had no power, they wouldn't care. Yeah. Wouldn't care

why they're so You are so right. Jodi, I think that I could talk to you for another two hours about a lot of a lot of other things. I just really appreciate you spending time with me and and the listeners of the She Leads Podcast here today. How can people, you know, follow you, follow everything that you're doing? And if they want to reach out to you and connect with you, how can they do that?

Oh, yeah. You know, send me an email. Jodi Bondi or Jodi@JVNorgaardEnterprises. Anyway, it's on my website. Don't even worry about that.

We'll put it in

the show notes.

The, you know, social media, that would be awesome. But, yeah, if anybody has any questions, please just reach out. I would love to answer or help if I can.

Amazing. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate this conversation.

Well, thank you. I always love talking to you. It's so great.

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