Kadin Whitsitt is Breaking the Mold
Mixed Asian Media - September 28, 2023
By Ryan Cotter
Photo courtesy Kadin Whitsitt
With the lack of mixed-race dolls available growing up, Kadin Whitsitt created her own toys to see herself in. Her mother and grandfather taught her their artistic practices as toy designers, sculpting her own sci-fi characters that existed outside of polarizing boxes of self-identification. I sat down with Kadin to discuss her work as a concept designer for the first Asian American doll company, Jilly Bing, collaborating with her family as a third-generation doll maker, and the importance of representation in dolls.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Interview
How did you initially get involved with Jilly Bing?
It was great timing. I was just about to graduate from Roski at USC. [Jilly Bing founder] Elenor [Mak] reached out to me [through] my mom. My mom has done some previous toy start-ups, and she's an Asian woman, so Elenor just heard around, like, “That's someone that I would love to be involved.” My mom told me about what was going on, and I was like, “Could I talk to her? I want to hear about it and see if she needs any help.”
We got our first meeting, hearing about what she wanted to do. She knew she wanted an Asian American doll that was empowering and showed the authentic Asian features and had an Asian food element that kind of brought back pride into Asian food. She was thinking about her experiences when she had Asian lunches at school and how she was kind of ashamed of that, and I resonated with that too, especially when kids didn't see me as Asian and I'd have all these lunches that smelled like Asian food. I really liked the vibe that she was going for.
I created a color palette and a pitch deck on how the food could be integrated with the doll and with the whole brand, and I did a whole deck of all these fun sketches. I did head sculpts of the possible looks that we could do, and I had them there when [Elenor] came to L.A. We literally sat together and she was like, “Maybe if you make the cheeks a little bigger, or make the eyes a little more slanted or bigger.” All these different things that I could sculpt in real time with her. Asian dolls that are out there are usually white doll sculpts, so it’s [white] features and they’ll put a black bang on it, straight hair, put a Chinese dress on it, or put a panda with it or something crazy stereotypical. But there was never the concern to take the extra time to create an Asian doll mold, like those more specific features. We didn't want it to be too stereotypical, so we needed to kind of play within this fine line. Like, the eyes took a lot. We worked with an amazing digital sculptor. It was a really collaborative environment, which was great, so we all kind of had a say. Because we cared so much about that, I think it turned out exactly how we wanted.
What would you say was the most challenging and rewarding part about the whole development process?
There were a lot of challenges because we did this so fast. I think the time crunch was one of the biggest things. I think we all wanted to do so much. We all had so many ideas, and we got a lot done, so much more than I think any of us would have imagined, but I think it was kind of picking and choosing our time, energy, and resources in the best way to meet our deadline to get them produced and shipped and all that. We had to zone in [and] not flare out as much [on] the potential future lines and the other dolls and developing this whole world, because it's not just this single doll. We have multiple characters and the whole world and other product ideas.
There's one part of the story that has been really special for me. My grandpa was a toy designer, and he did some amazing stuff. He did the first line of the Star Wars collectible toys. I think he made Strawberry Shortcake, he worked on Care Bears; he's done a lot in toys, and he's been retired for a bit. My mom had her several toy start-ups when I was younger and moved on from that. But on this, we all came and worked on this together. My grandpa had the idea for the flipping hat, and my mom did so much work with manufacturers. She helped do a lot of the prototyping to create the vision. I did a lot of the concept design.
That was just an extremely special experience. Three generations of my family put all of our heart into this toy, and it’s become a really special thing for us.
Photo courtesy Kadin Whitsitt
Jilly Bing has been available to order since December! What are your thoughts on the reception to the doll so far?
It has been so emotional, so sweet to see all these videos of these little girls, mostly (but not all) Asian girls, genuinely loving these dolls, because little girls can't fake their reactions. They see it and they're pointing at themselves, they're hugging it. It's true joy to see a doll that looks like them. Even at a young age, they can see the weight of that and feel the weight of a doll that looks like them. That's what it was all for! So to see that actually happen and come to fruition feels so good to do that for these girls, for something that I always wanted and I know I would've liked. It's been really special for me.
What do you think other toy companies/doll makers can learn from Jilly Bing?
I think what makes Jilly Bing special is it's about sharing and connection and empowering identities. It's beyond just aesthetics and what we look like. It's about what we've integrated into the brand, which is the food. Food is one of the most vibrant parts of sharing culture. It's one of the ways I connect with my cultures a lot as well. We've created these bandanas that interlock with other dolls’ bandanas, and it creates this big picnic blanket that you share. So while it's about Asian empowering, Asian culture, it's also about sharing that and doing it in your own way.
A lot of these characters are very vibrant and complex, even though they're doll characters. We are very good at not making these dolls and characters so one-sided or stereotypical, and they leave room for girls to create their own identities around it.
You mentioned earlier that Jilly Bing is in the works to create the first-ever mixed-Asian doll (which MAM will be collaborating with y’all on!). What does it mean for you as a mixed person to get to work on this doll, and what can you tell us about it as of now?
It means everything. There's a little me out there, and I can help with something that I know would've helped me so much to feel seen. Even though it seems small, I know that would impact a lot. As we play, we create this safe space as kids to explore our world and our identity in an open way. So to have a doll that you can resonate with, that kids can resonate and identify with is just so important.
As far as what I can say now, we have our three girls. They're also going to be food-integrated. Nothing solidified yet. That's kind of where it is right now.
How can people support Jilly Bing and its upcoming projects?
Buy the dolls! We want to keep going, want to get funding, want to get more people on it [so] we can really put in the work to build this world out however we want it. That starts with getting the dolls and sharing them with people, people who aren't just Asian, people who have kids. Just reposting it. If you know any film people, let's make a movie. It'd be great to have some kind of media influence.
I think it'd also be really cool to get some focus groups of mixed and non-mixed people or Asian people who can talk about this, because we don't know everything about this. This is complex stuff, and it's good to get all kinds of perspectives and opinions. Comment on our posts. Anything's great.
End of Interview
You can order a Jilly Bing doll and learn more about it here. You can follow Jilly Bing across all social media, and follow Kadin on Instagram @kadin.whitsitt.
Ryan Cotter is a student currently based in Washington (the state, not D.C.). She grew up as a third-culture kid in Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore, and most recently has studied abroad in Denmark! She is a woman of many hats both literally and figuratively, as you can see her stage managing theatre productions, writing with her sketch comedy group, creating podcasts, and performing with her Asian diaspora dance group X-ertion among other places! She has also been a guest contributor for the Wall Street Journal. She is a passionate advocate for radical joy. You can spot her 3 miles away in her brightly colored outfits FaceTiming her mom, hanging with friends, or attending the latest play or drag show.