Attracting The Next Generation of Toy Industry Talent: A Q&A with Marianne Szymanski

October 19, 2021 | Marianne Szymanski is a toy industry expert with decades of experience under her belt as the creator of the toy testing and research company Toy Tips, which she founded at age 23 at Marquette University. But these days, the industry veteran is perhaps best known for her work in shaping the next generation of toy industry professionals. As a professor of the country’s first-ever toy industry business program at the University of Southern California, Szymanski is building a pipeline for future talent in the toy space— she’s even co-authored three Harvard case studies on the topic.

Toy News Tuesday editors spoke with Szymanski about how the industry can help encourage more students to explore careers in the toy industry.  

TNT: Through your “Entrepreneurship of the Toy Industry” course, you’re helping hone talent in the toy industry beyond the world of design and invention. Can you provide a basic overview of how this course came about and how it’s continuing to evolve today?

MS: I created and teach classes at the University of Southern California that demonstrate entrepreneurship through the lens of one industry, the best industry in the world — the toy industry. Here, my students learn all facets of the inner workings of how a company begins, from ideation and innovation to manufacturing and supply chain management all the way through promotion, marketing, and retail placement. Students choose a public toy company or a children’s entertainment company closely aligned with the toy industry to follow throughout the course and learn about growth potential. We also have guest speakers from the industry give presentations on their work, including leaders from companies such as Basic Fun!, Crazy Aaron’s, Goliath Games, Madame Alexander, Activision-Blizzard, and ZURU. Most recently, The Toy Association’s Executive Vice President of Strategic Development & Member Services, Ken Ebeling, gave a virtual presentation to the class on October 18. In-class simulations and experiential projects are also a big part of the course, with industry leaders such as Toy Industry Hall of Fame Inductees Tom Kalinske and Jill Barad serving as judges for past product pitch competitions.

TNT: What are some of the key points you try to instill in your students about the opportunities that exist in the toy space?

MS: Having an entrepreneurial mindset is key! We are all our own personal brand. Being creative is not enough. We dive deep into our own entrepreneurial personalities to recognize skills and strengths and how those can be applied to a business and the world of toy operations. Having industry executives present on the recent challenges they’ve navigated amid the COVID-19 pandemic have also been informative guides for students about how to be agile and pivot a business’s operations when needed.

I also emphasize that you don’t have to create a product or a concept for a product to work in the toy industry. This is a big misconception about working in the toy industry; there are jobs for everyone. Some of my students are interested in marketing and manufacturing. The talent pool is vast amongst students, and my class is one way to introduce a multi-facet of opportunities within a single industry. 

TNT: As the industry works to create a better pipeline for talent, what do you see being some of the biggest hiring challenges?

MS: Companies need to consider that talent lies in all majors, and not just toy design. Take dance majors, for example. They may want to study dance, but they may also have performance schedules that they’d like to work around. As creative, artistic-minded people, they could be the perfect candidates for freelance work in ideation execution. You may not realize that a person could add so much to the toy industry based on their previous academic or job experience. I encourage every toy company to break the mold, do things differently, and you’ll be surprised how much of a talent pool exists with young people, no matter what degrees they hold. Creativity is at the heart of every facet of the toy industry, and creativity is something that comes from within.