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As part of our annual By Women series—which spotlights the best women-owned products and companies—we're committed to giving female founders who own 51% or more of their business a platform. This not only allows them to introduce their brilliant products to a wide and potentially new audience, but it also helps you—the reader—discover really cool stuff. Like KiwiCo, subscription-based toy crates that teach kids STEAM through play founded by mom-of-three Sandra Oh Lin.
Sandra Oh Lin spent years building a career as an engineer, focusing on consumer products, tech, and e-commerce. So when her kids were little, it only felt natural to her to create play experiences for them that were both fun and educational.
“As I started to pull these projects together, I started to share them with my friends
and their kids during playdates,” she tells Glamour. “During one gathering, a friend said, ‘You should start a business around this.’”
In 2011, Lin took that idea and founded KiwiCo, a toy subscription crate that encourages children to develop STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) skills through play. She realized that parents want to encourage their kids to learn, but most were too busy to do it or didn’t know exactly how to.
The best part about KiwiCo? Babies and kids love their products, from a “fishing” game to toddlers to books that teach them about shapes, without ever realizing they are developing skills, too. Lin chatted with us about making engineering fun and relying on her kids to develop new products.
Glamour: What parenthood pain point were you trying to solve?
Sandra Oh Lin: As parents, we want to do everything that we can to prepare our kids for their futures. But we often don’t know where to start, and we’re incredibly busy. We worry. We ask ourselves—are we leaving the world a better place for our kids? Also, the fact of the matter is two-thirds of the jobs that kids in elementary school see when they enter the workforce aren’t in existence now. So how do we equip them accordingly?
With KiwiCo, we aim to be a trusted partner in helping kids build the mindset - from creative confidence to the feeling of having agency—as well as the skills—from problem solving to critical thinking - to tackle the challenges and opportunities that come their way. The way we help kids build that mindset and set of skills is through intentionally designed hands-on projects that are also super fun.
How do you balance motherhood and entrepreneurship?
I feel incredibly lucky to have my kids understand what I do for work and get involved in helping to shape our products. They were the source of inspiration for the company. They were and continue to be critical testers of our products, and they help create content. During the pandemic, when we were all home trying to go to school and work virtually, I realized that I was seeing a new-to-me facet of who they are as students. Interestingly, my kids were also seeing a new-to-them facet of who I am as a CEO of a company too. My hope is that as much as they inspire me, there is something about seeing me as a leader inspires them in some way too.
What do you hope to accomplish in the future?
When we first raised money years ago, I remember telling our lead investor that we hoped to build a beloved brand and a great company. This past year, we launched in Target and Barnes & Noble as we’re building our wholesale channels. Having worked with over 10,000 schools and organizations, we’re reaching more and more kids through our education business. So we’re still on that path to serve more kids and families.
