Hands On Approach to Manufacturing

What does it mean to be “hands on” to product design and manufacturing? It’s actually being hands on!

Yes, it's me in the work uniform in the middle of the day in a factory. Welcome to the world of entrepreneurship ― the other side of the glamorous life. How come my university professors never told me what you really do when you own a business?

All joking aside, the days I spent at the factory learning all about the manufacturing process of printing books and making toys, checking the quality standards and controls, and understanding the technological details were some of the most interesting and fulfilling days of my life.

You may have already heard that I recently founded a new company, Growing Through Arts™, which makes and distributes educational books and toys for children.

It’s a concept I developed while I was studying at Harvard Business School. I realized that educational books and toys about the arts can inspire children to pursue the arts and can also teach them participating in the arts can have a dynamic impact on their future careers.

For a long time, Growing Through Arts™ was just an idea, but after I graduated last May, I took steps to make the new company a reality.

We decided to start by producing three storybooks, which we called The Ballet Series: The Nutcracker Ballet by Aleksandra℠, The Cinderella Ballet by Aleksandra℠, and The Sleeping Beauty Ballet by Aleksandra℠. In the books, we not only tell the story of the ballet, but also we introduce children to vocabulary words they will hear in ballet class, and we include moral lessons that parents can ask their children.

For months, we fine-tuned the stories and the outstanding illustrations.

At the same time, we also developed three companion Practice & Play Books, which include puzzles, matching games and writing exercises that teach children important pre-school skills and help them retain the learning from the storybooks. And we designed a beautifully illustrated alphabet set and three Stage Scene Play Sets that come with sticky, reusable characters, which children can use to reenact scenes from the ballets.

Now, after months of hard work behind the scenes, I am thrilled to announce that our first series of books and toys will be available to purchase this June!

Two weeks ago, I flew to Hong Kong to personally oversee the printing of the books. I checked the quality of the paper and examined the inks to ensure that everything would meet my highest standards. I had butterflies in my stomach when I saw the books being printed right before my eyes! We’re working with one of the top book printers in the world, so I feel fully confident that the final books will be impeccable.

I can’t wait for you all to see how beautiful these children’s books and toys are. I hope that they will inspire children everywhere to have a lifelong love affair with the arts!