Jodi Bondi Norgaard
Empowering Girls for Life
Persistence: The Power to Create Change
Empowering Girls for Life
Keynote Speaker
An expert in creating change, Jodi Bondi Norgaard shares her entrepreneurial journey of challenging the status quo, achieving goals, and breaking gender stereotypes.
Jodi Bondi Norgaard'S SPEAKING FEE Under $25,000
Jodi Bondi Norgaard is a toy industry thought leader who serves on The White House Gender Policy Council collaborating on policy as it relates to children’s toys, content, and publishing. In 2022 she partnered with The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to conduct the first study on whether gender norms and stereotypes are reinforced in toys and toy advertising and marketing in the report, Equal Play? Analyzing Gender Stereotypes, Diversity, and Inclusion in Advertising and Marketing for the Most Popular Toys of 2022.
Jodi is an entrepreneur, feminist advocate, keynote speaker, DEIB consultant, and an expert in creating change and breaking gender stereotypes. She is the founder of Dream Big Toy Company and the creator of the award-winning Go! Go! Sports Girls line of dolls, books, and apps for girls encouraging healthy and active play over fashion and body image. She is an activist pushing media and retail to do a better job portraying girls beyond stereotypes.
Jodi is a leader in breaking gender stereotypes since 2009 when she launched the plush sports dolls with built-in specifications to a real girl’s body. Her inspiration came in 2007 after shopping for a doll with her then 9-year-old daughter and finding a doll with belly-baring clothing, high heels, and make-up, named ‘Lovely Lola.’ Initially, industry leaders dismissed her product because a sports doll was not mainstream. “Girls want fashion dolls,” she heard, over and over. She was not convinced and knew mainstream ideas never create change. By 2015, she had made significant strides and her product was launched in Walmart stores. In October 2016, the Go! Go! Sports Girls brand was acquired by Jazwares, an established cutting-edge toy company.
She has been featured on national media including The Today Show, The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson, Forbes, Upworthy, Parents, Shape, Self, Runner’s World, Advertising Age, Good Housekeeping, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and Huffington Post. In 2016, Jodi was invited by The White House under the Obama administration to participate in conferences on breaking down gender stereotypes in media and toys.
As a public speaker and TEDx speaker, Jodi speaks to corporations, women’s groups, conferences, universities, and more. She is the author of the forthcoming nonfiction book, MORE THAN A DOLL: How Creating a New Brand of Sports Dolls Turned into a Fight to End Gender Stereotypes and the children’s book series, BENNY & BEA, addressing unconscious bias. She is a DEIB consultant specializing in gender equality and spearheaded and co-chaired the first Toy Association DEIB Committee, bringing together key players from Disney, Mattel, Hasbro, Lego, and Sesame Workshop to expand play. In 2016, she was named by Women’s Running as one of 20 Women Who Are Changing the Sport of Running And The World.
Jodi Bondi Norgaard motivates and inspires audiences with her entrepreneurial journey of innovation, overcoming adversity, challenging the status quo, achieving goals, and becoming a leader in breaking gender stereotypes.
In this presentation, Norgaard discusses how to market for social good and the necessary combination of passion, determination, perseverance, and grit needed to create change while running a successful business. Initially, industry leaders dismissed her product because a sports doll was not mainstream. “Girls want fashion dolls,” she heard, over and over. Jodi was not convinced and knew mainstream ideas never create change. By 2015, she made significant strides and her product was launched in Walmart stores.
In this presentation, Jodi Bondi Norgaard shares her “aha moment” and discusses what she never anticipated while launching a socially responsible product; the long road ahead of her, the hard battle she would fight and learning that her persistence, determination, and passion would serve her well. Norgaard knows you don’t need to be a genius, have unlimited resources, or a giant team to create change and she encourages audiences to take their best idea, step over fear, step over adversity, find courage, find innovation, tap into their passion, and persist when it becomes difficult.
In this powerful and inspirational presentation, Jodi Bondi Norgaard speaks on the value and benefit of women supporting women in business and in life. She brings awareness to the stereotypes imposed upon women and the steps needed to eliminate them from our culture, so women can lead and rise together. She shares her entrepreneurial experience and the mentors who helped her succeed through adversity with guidance, kindness, and support. Norgaard offers strategies for women to get behind each other and provides examples of what the power of being a woman really looks like.
In this presentation, Jodi Bondi Norgaard empowers girls to realize their full potential. Research shows interests, ambitions, and skills can be shaped early on by media and toys, influencing everything from subjects they choose to study to the careers they ultimately pursue. Norgaard inspires girls to break free from stereotypes and embrace their unique strengths and assertiveness.
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