During Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) is highlighting women who identify as AAPI and who are having a positive impact in the world of retail.

Sandra Oh Lin is the founder and CEO of KiwiCo, which delivers educational, hand-on activities and quality content through a robust commerce and content platform. Oh Lin founded KiwiCo with the mission to support kids’ creativity and encourage children to become young makers and innovators. Women in Retail asked her a series of questions about her career and entrepreneurial journey to get to know her better.

Inner Circle: How did you come up with the concept of KiwiCo?

Sandra Oh Lin: I’ve always loved creating things and experimenting. I have fond memories of making all sorts of things as a child with my mom. From costumes and crafts to experiments and concoctions, we had so much fun creating together. When I became a mom myself, I wanted to carry on that tradition and make sure that I was fostering that same creativity and curiosity in my own kids that my mom had instilled in me. As I pulled together different hands-on activities for my kids, I thought I’d share them with my friends and their kids. Parents would tell me how fun their kids had, and one mom suggested that I start a business. That positive feedback was a big part of what encouraged me to launch KiwiCo; there seemed to be a lot of busy, well-intentioned parents who wanted to introduce fun and enriching activities to their kids — like me. My background in engineering, consumer products and e-commerce gave me the confidence to do it. 

IC: Tell us about your background in retail. Did you always see yourself as an entrepreneur?

SOL: No, I didn’t. I applaud people who set out to start a company and find that business concept that resonates with them, but I wasn’t one of those people. I became an entrepreneur out of a personal need, and I was fortunate to have the background and support to bring a business to life. When I look back on my career and my experiences, KiwiCo is the business that I was meant to start if I were to start one. My education was in engineering and business. Professionally, my background is rooted in consumer products and e-commerce. I started my career at Procter & Gamble creating new products and eventually landed at startups and PayPal/eBay where I started PayPal Mobile and oversaw the global eBay fashion business. I’m well-versed in teeny tiny companies and large companies that have scaled. When I was young, our family owned a kiosk at the mall where we sold troll dolls. On the weekends, we would sell excess inventory at flea markets. As I mentioned, I am a maker at heart — starting at a young age. And I’m a mom of three kids ranging from kindergarten to high school. They provide a constant source of inspiration. While the journey is a circuitous one, they all add up to building KiwiCo.  

IC: The subscription model is a retail concept that has been exploding in the last few years. Why did you choose to go this route? 

SOL: Discovery and exploration has always been core to KiwiCo as a brand, and we wanted to create an experience that fostered those things in the kids we were serving. I also remembered growing up how special it was to get a package or a piece of mail delivered that was just for me. At the same time, I understood how challenging it can be as a parent to continually come up with new ideas and activities to keep your kids engaged, so I wanted to create something special that gave parents a helping hand to that end on a regular basis. So a subscription model that gave kids (and their parents) something to look forward to each month felt like a great way to build our business. 

IC: Tell us about a time when you were underestimated as you were growing your business.

SOL: We’ve raised equity financing to help fund the growth of the business. Early stage investing is part art and part science. On the art side, I think there’s an element of pattern matching. And my guess is that moms who drive minivans and work on kids products might not quite make that match for venture capitalists at a glance. So I did find that I had to cut through and build credibility quickly in pitch meetings. I would make sure to note my experience and weave the narrative and vision for KiwiCo so venture capitalists could ground themselves on seeing the opportunity more clearly.

IC: What advice do you have for other women who want to persevere in launching a business?

SOL: The decision to go out on your own is a big one, and one of the things that really helped me was being able to talk to other entrepreneurs who made the leap into starting companies to understand what tradeoffs they faced in that process and what lessons they’d learned along the way. It was also so important to have people in my life who were very supportive of the change; when you start a business, your family will be impacted by that choice. So I’m particularly grateful to my husband who has been incredibly supportive throughout. It’s also been really special to work on a business that my kids appreciate. They inspired the business from the onset — they helped choose the logo, test so many of our new products, and participate in videos for our social channels. It’s been really fun and special for our family that the kids can be a part of what we’re building. 

IC: What are some things you do to keep yourself healthy as a mom and business owner?

SOL: Exercise is an important part of my daily routine. I grew up playing many different sports — from tae kwon do and tennis to soccer and swimming — and getting outdoors and moving my body always helps to relieve stress and give me more energy. I try to fit exercise in as best I can, and as a family, we make it a priority to get outdoors — whether that’s hiking, taking a bike ride or just strolling around our neighborhood. 

IC: What is one of your favorite toys/projects that KiwiCo has created?

SOL: This is like getting asked which of your children is your favorite! One crate that holds a special place in my heart is the Colorful Inspiration one that we designed for our original subscription line, Kiwi Crate. It was actually the very first crate that we designed and shipped. That crate helped to define our design principles, and we iterated on the projects several times over — involving kids who would test the materials and activities all along the way. It was so much fun to see kids mixing colors to create new ones on their own tote bags and spinning wooden tops and creating stained glass art with the colored tissue paper. Even now, I still get excited when I see photos of kids proudly carrying their colorful tote bags. Now, we have nine different subscription lines for kids of all ages, and our design process and materials have evolved and advanced, but the core principles remain very much the same.