A Parent’s Passion Pivots Her Career with Dr. Zabina “Zee” Bhasin
As we continue the National Women’s Small Business Month entrepreneur series, I’m introducing you to my friend Dr. Zabina Bhasin, better known as Dr. Zee. Dr. Zee is a non-practicing child psychiatrist who has pivoted careers to pursue entrepreneurship. Her company InKidz Co is a diverse and inclusive toy company creating products that teach children about different cultures to develop tomorrow’s global ambassadors. The idea was born from her desire to raise her own children to be empathetic and kind while creating a better future for them.
In this episode, we’ll chat about:
Turning a passion into a business with a cause
Stopping hate with the next generation
How to walk the talk and take action for what you stand for
MEET DR. ZABINA BHASIN or “DR. ZEE”
I first met Zabina, better known as Dr. Zee, when we spoke together at the Fueled Women’s Conference in Owensboro, KY. Both California girls, we hit it off immediately and I was so inspired by how she took her passion as a mom to build a company to help create a better future for the next generation.
Dr. Zee was born and raised in Southern California in a well-educated Indian immigrant family alongside her three brothers. She grew up very culturalized around her large family, always surrounded by cousins. That being said, as a non-white person, her and her family faced their fair share of racial discrimination whether that be for the foods they ate, her brothers’ long hair being called girls, and more. In the 80s, she said she didn’t remember people speaking out much at the time against bullying.
When she was around 9 or 10 years old, she realized that as a girl in her culture she was expected to be the one staying at home cooking, getting married, and starting a family. However, her parents decided that, more than that, they wanted her to make something of herself.
Education was important to her family, her dad an engineer and her mom a teacher, but her parents noticed when she was younger that she wasn’t doing very well in school. In 7th grade, she was diagnosed with dyslexia which was hard for her family to accept. She started feeling insecure about her struggles in school and was often made fun of. But everything changed when she found basketball.
BASKETBALL BUILDS BELIEF
When Dr. Zee was 11 years old, she remembers playing basketball and running to block a shot when her coach said, “Oh my god, she can f**king play!”
Through basketball, she went from feeling like the scrawny, insecure, Indian girl to feeling like she might have something special to offer. She remembers her coach fondly, the same one who gave her the nickname Dr. Zee. He didn’t just look at her as a player, but as a person.
Basketball was a huge part of her life because it was the first time she realized she had something special - she could play. Her coach inspired her by helping her believe that she was more capable than she knew.
Instead of letting her dyslexia stop her, she went on to attend medical school internationally in India, practicing child psychiatry, becoming an executive within hospitals, and building cancer centers. She found a place for herself to give back and inspire others, something she said all got started with basketball.
A PARENT’S PASSION TURNED PURPOSE
Dr. Zee had a successful career in the health industry until she became a mom of two sweet little children of her own, Imara and Zane. After taking a break for four years to be with them, she decided she wasn’t going back into health care and instead took a leap of faith into being an entrepreneur, an entirely new world to her.
She didn’t set out to create a company, it all started with her simply wanting to teach her own kids at home about other cultures. She noticed that things hadn’t changed much since she was a child and kids were still picking on other kids for their differences, whether it was their abilities, color of their skin, religion, and so on.
She asked what she herself could do to help change that. She could either complain and talk, or she could do something about it.
As her oldest, Imara, was growing up she decided maybe a good place to start was teaching other kids in her daughter's class about their own Indian culture.
Coming from a diverse home and community, Dr. Zee decided to take it a step further and learn more about the cultures of the people she was surrounded by so she could explain them to her kids. She started diversifying their playroom, play groups, foods, board games, and teaching inclusivity in their home. She wanted her kids to go to school already understanding the cultures of the people they went to school with instead of judging them for being different.
She started making boxes for each of the countries and cultures they were learning about, making things herself to include. Her friends started asking her where she got all the items that she found and so did her children’s teachers.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INKIDZ CO
Raising empathetic and kind children while creating a better future for them was Dr. Zee’s passion and it was from that passion where her company InKidz Co was born.
Dr. Zee took what she was doing in her own home to start InKidz Co, a diverse and inclusive toy company creating products that develop tomorrow’s global ambassadors. Their products help kids learn about other cultures while being inspired to create their own world. While doing so, kids are learning to embrace diversity and accept other people exactly as they are. As a company, they are dedicated to creating connections and championing unity among people.
Dr. Zee believes that the best way for a child to understand something is through play. Diversifying the playroom and the classroom can be a great way to expose them to new cultures and ideas which also helps build their imaginations and discover the world around them.
THE NEXT GENERATION
As a parent or someone around the younger generation, one of the best things we can do that costs no money at all is to watch how we talk and treat other people. At two years old, children start mimicking behavior, embed it in their brain, and continue doing it. We get to be examples to our kids and the next generation of what it looks like to not only love others but to also love ourselves through self-care and things such as movement, journaling, meditation, or whatever that may be.
The way we change the world is by changing ourselves first.
If we don’t start early, Dr. Zee fears that we are going to see the same hate patterns perpetuated that the previous generations have experienced. Picking on kids turns into bias, turns into prejudice, turns into bullying, which then turns into violence.
With the help of the InKidZ Co culture boxes, the hope is that these children can learn empathy, compassion, and kindness at an early age by helping them understand the world outside of their own.
#STOPHATE CAMPAIGN
Dr. Zee was getting so frustrated by all the hate she was seeing in the world and in the media. She noticed big brands and companies condemning hate, but she wanted to actually DO something about it instead of just talking about it.
She got on IGTV one day to rant about stopping hate and providing resources and education for parents teaching them how bias turns into prejudice, prejudice turns into stereotypes, and stereotypes turns into violence. No child is born with bias or stereotype but it is TAUGHT to them through language and culture.
Inspired by the IGTV video, the owner of Boy Meets Girl, a clothing brand based out of New York, reached out to Dr. Zee and said she wanted to be a part of something to help.
It started with the Bond Bands, a bracelet teaching about unity, acceptance, and giving to one another to help stop hate. By wearing a Bond Band, you are saying that you will protect someone and stop hate and bullying when you see it happening in the world.
#StopHate went from an IGTV rant to a national media campaign which has now turned into a special box of it’s own at InKidZ Co including the bands. For every box that is sold, 10% is donated to the National School Climate Center’s BullyBust program providing resources to schools and parents.
Dr. Zee knows that she and InKidZ Co can’t do this alone. It’s something we all have to work toward together to make happen. It’s easy to put a product out there, make a speech, and just talk about something. But together we need to learn from the past, prevent what’s happening in the present, and make a better future.
LESSONS LEARNED
As a fairly new entrepreneur, Dr. Zee said so much of this climb of building and running a business is all about learning and being willing to ask questions. No entrepreneur has it all figured out, not even the big wig CEOs.
The biggest thing for her is believing in herself and that she can do this. There will always be those struggling days and crying nights, but even if you fail all that matters is that you keep going. Even with big accomplishments and new opportunities come new levels of anxiety and growth struggles, like when Dr. Zee first heard the news they would be retailing in Nordstroms starting at the end of October.
The most important thing to Dr. Zee is that she always wants to keep her passion and purpose at the center of everything she is doing in her business. If there is a moment ever where she feels she’s lost that, she knows it’s time to move on to something else.
Amongst all the hustle and bustle of entrepreneurship, it’s easy to forget to let yourself breathe and make time for you. Sometimes it’s important to change things up and find ways to care of yourself in the season that you’re in.
Her best piece of advice for someone wanting to start a business with purpose is to talk to other entrepreneurs. Ask questions, create connections, and build relationships that will help you learn from other people’s mistakes and success and perhaps even help you find others that are aligned with the same goal and mission as you are. Keep the people around you who uplift you, inspire you, and push you. Stop listening to the ones that don’t.
InKidz Co has exciting projects underway and I can’t wait to see how their company continues to grow and changes the world in the process. All of their products are American made, reusable, sustainable, and recyclable. You can find their newly released Mexico boxes and Mindful boxes for the holiday season on their website www.inkidzco.com.