Podcast Episode 86: Scott Meier

Alison : Hi, Jean.

Jean : Hi there.

Alison : How are you doing?

Jean : I’m great. How are you doing?

Alison : I’m pretty good. I’m doing very, very well today.

Jean : You seem like you’re doing very unlike those other days where you seem so discombobulated with your whole life and.

Alison : A mess,

Jean : Which is so not true.

Alison : That’s so funny. That’s right. Um, I think I got some good sleep, and, um, I’m looking forward to this interview today. Did you have a favorite stuffed toy?

Jean : So, um, I don’t think I had a favorite stuffed toy. I do remember I loved this beautiful doll that was in  and she was dressed in a wedding dress, and I. And I loved her.

Alison : Oh, wait, was that your doll?

Jean : Yes, I think my parents gave it gave her to me when I was maybe, you know, eight. Really? Yes. And I thought she was just so pretty and I just always loved her. But I didn’t really have a favorite stuffed animal.

Alison : Did you? Did you play with stuffed animals or mainly dolls?

Jean : I think I played mainly with dolls. Yeah. Yeah. How about you?

Alison : I was stuffed animals.

Jean : Okay.

Alison : I was not dolls, I had millions. It feels like millions, there’s probably a hundred stuffed animals. And I had one teddy bear that was with me that my that was, like, from birth. That I still have somewhere in a trunk. And, um, I like I’m an only child. So I played with those animals like they were my friend. There was a company called Stif.

Jean : Oh, sure.

Alison : With the button in the ear.

Jean : They’re still around.

Alison : Yeah. And that those, those were the stuffed animals and they are so meaningful. And I have one little owl still in my house. I’ll show it to you that I like love. And, um, that’s why I was really looking forward to interviewing this man today. Um, I did a movie, Ashes to Film. It was a festival for the people that lost their homes in the Eaton Fire, the in Altadena and the movie that I did with, um, with Max, uh, they showed another movie called the Magic Thread. And the magic thread was about a child who lost, you know, the family lost everything in this house, and she mainly lost her favorite stuffed toy and Budsies, which is a company that will make custom stuffed animals for you. Um, uh, gifted children in the Eaton Fire, and they do it to hospitals and schools, uh, her toy. And so they recreated her toy and Scott was in this movie and he was just in it a little bit. It was mainly the journey of this family. And I thought, I want to know more about that guy. Do you know? Because he just seems so sweet. And so I’m really excited that we’re going to talk to him today.

Jean : Yeah, well, when I looked up the company preparing for this interview, I just thought what a great idea. And I do feel, as I shared with you, that my sister and I used, um, Budsies to create a stuffed animal for my mother, so.

Alison : That’s so sweet.

Jean : Yeah, it’s an emotional companion support that she doesn’t have to clean up after or walk.

Alison : Right- exactly.

Jean : Which is just perfect for my mom.

Alison : I know that’s perfect. And I feel like that so many of us have those sort of touchstones of the past that are so meaningful or just in our imagination. So I’m really… His name is Scott Meyer and the company is Budsies,Sco and so here we go.

Jean : Here we go.

Scott: Hello.

Alison : Hi. Hello.  We’re so happy to see you.

Scott: Oh, it’s great to see you all, too. I hope you’re having a good day.

Alison : Yes. You too. And I’m Alison.

Jean : All right.

Alison : And this is Jean , Scott.

Jean : I’m Jean.

Scott: Hello, Alison and Jean. It’s great to see you guys today.

Alison : And I, uh, I was in the Fshes to, uh, film festival.

Scott: Okay. Amazing.

Alison : And I did, I did a home on the same day that yours was aired. And I, I saw that film called. It’s called a magic Thread, right?

Scott: That’s right.

Alison : And man, I was crying about your thing, you know, and about how you were giving toys to people in the Eaton Fire. So I just thought you’d be a perfect person to talk to for insidewink.

Scott: Oh. Very cool. Well, I was intrigued when you all reached out, and I’m sorry we didn’t get to connect at the film festival. I was there during the screening.

Alison : Were you?  I had to

Scott: Yeah, I should have muscled my way up on stage, but I was like, oh, they made the movie. I’m just. I’m already in it. Nobody needs to hear more from me.

Alison : So my, my, my director was Max, who’s also a kid and

Scott: Oh, yeah.

Alison : Push those kids off, you know?

Scott: Oh, that was you in the same film, the Home. Oh my gosh, it’s all coming together now that that was so fun. Yeah. You did a brilliant job.

Alison : Hollywood in a robe.

Scott: Yeah, I loved it. That’s so great.

Alison : Can you tell because Jean wasn’t there. But can you tell us a little bit about Budsies?

Scott: Sure. So, um, Budsies started gosh, like, oh, 13 years ago. Um, and I, uh, through the universe I came to, to be the head, the head of Budsies about five years ago. Um, so it all started out as, uh, a kid’s drawing. You upload it to our website and we turn it into a totally one of a kind stuffed animal and so we love artwork, creativity. We also do puppets. You can upload a picture of you, and then all your friends and enemies can make you say whatever you want. And.

Jean : Like a voodoo doll.

Scott: Exactly. Well, yeah, we we did that as a joke once, and people took it really seriously. We’re like, no, it’s April Fools voodoo doll, not a real voodoo doll. So we don’t play with voodoo anymore. But, um.

Jean : We’re beyond that.

Scott: Yeah. And then we also, we do bobbleheads and figurines and, uh, blankets and shirts and all kinds of fun stuff. And then we have a, a brand dedicated to pets as well called petsies, which is all about commemorating your pet and a totally one of a kind stuffed animal. And, uh, yeah, so we’ve been doing it for years and, uh, it was a shark tank company. I was not on Shark Tank. I’m a shark, I guess. Uh, and then, um, but a much more informal one. Uh, and then, um, you know, when I and we also do bulk, so we make stuff from 50 units to 50,000 plus for everybody from, uh, you know, small artists collections to, uh, you know, fortune 100. So we kind of done the whole gambit. And then when I first came into Budsies, uh, there was people were like, oh, yeah, somebody sent money in for the Budsies Pals program. And I was like, well, what do you mean we don’t we’re not a non-profit.

Alison : Yeah.

Scott: And, um, people were just so they just loved what Budsies was so much. They just started sending us money and saying, please let a child who couldn’t otherwise do this, like do it. And that kind of came to a head when somebody went to our website, you know, where our Budsies pals’ page and wanted to donate $10,000. And I was like, yeah, but this is, you know, we’re not a non-profit. So we are now. We now have a fund. So we’re we have a non-profit fund and we still get donations and they, they come in, you know, it’s not something we push a lot, but with those funds, uh, we partner up with different non-profits and that’s how we’ve been able to gift Budsies to people… In the case of the Eaton fires, um, you know, we, we saw what was happening. I lived a lot of years in LA. I’m now in Puerto Rico and back and forth and was actually out there during the fires. And we were immediately like, wow, you know, sometimes if you lose everything, what do you do? You know, and yeah, it’s just stuff. But sometimes those things are really access points to memories and to, you know, when I was cleaning out my, my, my parents childhood home was they’re moving out, they’re both good still.

Scott: And, but we were moving out and, um, and, you know, it just felt super lucky to have all these things, but also we’re giving them away. And I was like, you know, maybe a bit of a hoarder, but they were there… Each one is an access point to the past. You know, you pick it up and all of a sudden you have a sense memory of 20, 30 years ago. Yeah. And so I know how that is for kids. And so it was really important to us to try and do something. And, uh, so we, I mean, I think it was, I don’t remember what the final count was, but it was dozens of kids of people that wrote in. And we, with the funds that we had in the fund, were able to give free replacement plushies to them. Um, and we did a few from North Carolina as well. We work a lot with kids in hospitals going through medical journeys. Um, yeah, all kinds of stuff like that.

Alison : I love that I saw a video, I guess someone did a story on you and it was through Zoom and the kids were drawing things. Was it during Covid?

Scott: Maybe. I mean, we did a we did a today show piece. Yeah, that was super fun. Um, yeah, that was maybe 2023, 2022.

Alison : Yeah.

Alison : And then so sweet that these kids were so into it and had these very specific things that they love.

Scott: Oh, yeah.

Alison : You know, I loved that.

Scott: It’s cool.

Jean : Sorry, Scott. It’s such a great idea that you developed it and that you ran with it.

Scott: Yeah.

Jean : Yeah.

Scott: Well, I, I mean, so I didn’t, I didn’t invent the idea, but I am helping to, to grow it. And what’s cool about it is it is a platform for ideas. And so every kid gets to be a creator and see their idea come to life, which for me as a kid, I mean, even now, it’s a super powerful thing. And we would go, I’d walk through our fulfillment warehouse and just pick up all the different ones and look up the stories of them. And every single one is unique. Like imagine going to a Bizarro toys R us or, you know, like toy store from another universe where they never make two of the same thing. And that’s.

Alison : Love that.

Scott: So that’s where we are. Like, there’s no shelf that has 50 of, you know, Princess whoever ..it’s instead it’s 50 different princesses, you know.

Alison : Right.

Jean : But what’s a really unusual stuffed animal that you’ve seen? Like, wow, okay, that’s anything that really sticks out in your mind.

Scott: Oh my gosh, so many. Um, we get all kinds of monsters and fun stuff. I know we did a ferret in a wheelchair. Um, we, we’ve done, um, you know, there, I mean, I have some behind me. This is like, uh.

Alison : You have a screen of, like, plants. Oh. They’re good.

Scott: Oh, yeah. It’s fake. Yeah. I don’t like to show off my stuffed animal collection to the public.

Alison : We love it. That is so.

Scott: Yeah, that’s one of our. This is Fred.

Jean : Oh my gosh. But yeah, to your point, when the child receives, then the physical, tangible stuffed animal that they drawn on a piece of paper that what a great feeling you’re, you’re initiating and cultivating in that child.

Scott: Yea.. Let me say it is it is really cool to see. So if you, I don’t know if you saw the today show thing. Um, it’s so heartening to be there with everybody, like with the kids, like experiencing it, the different at the different stages. And you know, we’ve had teachers that are that are doing this too. And that’s one of our teachers we work with. Miss Shannon has done this a bunch and has been super awesome and and was on Good Morning America. Um, for bringing these to kids. And so that’s something now that we’re, we’re, we’ve just kind of reworked part of our process specific to classrooms and teachers where they can upload everything all at once. Um, because we got this feedback from, you know, different teachers all around, like Canada and the US and teacher influencers and they’re like, it’s having an impact in their classrooms is what they’re telling us. And we just keep, I just my whole thing is I just keep trying to follow the yeses. Yeah.

Alison : So yeah. Right.

Scott: If someone’s like, yes, this is working. It’s like, okay, how can we yes, more, how can we? Yes, better. And so, um, you know, we have these teachers that we’re doing like over multiple years, like multiple classrooms. And it’s grown into this thing that’s like in their gymnasium now where the kids create a story, they create a character. And then while they’re finishing their story, their character is being made. And in the end, they, they become fully legitimate little authors with their book that has the picture they’ve drawn and the plush stuffed animal that goes with it. And what what the teachers are telling us is like for the reading comprehension and, and for like improving test scores and reading, which is a major issue right now. That’s like, that’s my new banner, uh, right now is, is literacy, especially in the US. There is a, a crisis going on, especially in the third grade. Yeah. I wasn’t even aware, you know, I, we don’t, I don’t have kids yet, but hopefully in the stars at some point. And, but I was like, that can’t be real. The stats that people are telling me where over two thirds of third graders are reading below grade level, right? Like that’s crazy. That’s significant. And third grade, I guess is, this time I’ve been told again, I’m not. It’s this time. But now I’m so passionate about it. I’m just going to take it on as my own facts. But, uh.

Alison : That’s right.

Scott: The third grade is the moment where kids transition from reading to from learning to read to reading to learn.

Alison : Uh.

Scott: And after that, if you can’t read, you cannot learn at a level that, that helps you grow as a full human. And, and so it’s, um, it’s something that I think is so important and the stats are, are wild, you know, prisons, 75% illiteracy rate, uh, like or functional illiteracy or read at a fourth grade level, which again, it comes back to that third, fourth grade time, which is so important, you know, and then of course, you have the kids that are reading at a third grade level in the first grade, right? And they’re stoked to make a Budsies too, because they’re like, I’m a little genius. Check out my check out my character. Yeah, it’s no big deal. It’s a professional character I made. It’s no big deal.

Alison : You know, I think between the pandemic and social media, this the trajectory that we are used to of reading literacy has definitely changed. You know, I have a niece and an eldest child that are teachers and, um, it’s such a challenging time. And so I think what you’re doing is like fantastic. And I have to say, when you become a dad, you’re going to be the best dad.

Scott: Oh my gosh.

Alison : Look at your stuffed animals. Joy in it, right? What is the deal with you and stuffed animals?

Scott: Oh, I mean, I honestly, uh, before I came into this, I like, I love stories, so I come from a storytelling background and was working as a filmmaker and finding stuff, um, stories around the world. I lived in, uh, Latin American, Spanish speaking countries for over a decade, well over 15 years now. And, um, just love stories of all kinds, telling them, listening to them and have done, uh, independent films and TV and documentaries and all kinds of stuff like that. And so when I was looking at kind of different paths, I, I came and I found Budsies and there happened to be an opportunity there. And so at first I was like, no, that’s not a fit. I can’t, I can’t, I’m like, you know, it’s cool. And, and then my brain just wouldn’t let it go. I had just a million ideas and I was like, oh, that’s what every kid is experiencing. And I was like, this is amazing. And so it’s been a ride, you know, for the last five years since I joined. And now we continue to do fun and cool stuff. And, you know, my whole team will tell you too many ideas.

Alison : Paranoid.

Scott: Yeah. They’re like, let’s. So now we focus on one thing at a time.

Alison : That’s good. That’s good.

Jean : Uh, so, Scott, when you took over what I read. I think I read it correctly from a man, alex.

Scott: Yeah. That’s right.

Jean : Okay. So what what did you… So now you’re the new the the CEO.

Scott: Yeah.

Jean : And and so what was your now vision? How from where Alex was and like, did you have a different vision from him or just more expansive?

Scott: No, I mean, I wanted to like, I mean, I thought the and still think that Budsies especially is this fully realized thing. And so like, have you ever talked to somebody who’s passionate about restoring old buildings or old homes? They talk about being a steward of, uh, an idea or a thing. And so, um, that’s how I feel about this. And the goal is, is to be a steward of this platform that allows kids to be creative. And, you know, I remember growing up, there was a guy, uh, who was a family friend who was, I think he, I don’t even know what he did now. He was like a toy rep or something. And he would, he’d be like, yeah, this is just some new cool toy that we’re maybe going to release. And I was like, oh, this is the coolest thing ever. So the seeds were definitely planted early. Um, you know, I think that, um, so I’ve tried to stay with the heart of, again, like what the yes’s are around it. And I think Alex did a great job of figuring that out to start the company. And I think we continue to do that and to, again, like, yeah, to, to honor what it is to be a kid to see your imagination move into reality.

Alison : Oh, that’s beautiful, that’s beautiful. And I think, you know, that that whole thing Following the yeses. That’s almost like a spiritual mantra.

Scott: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Alison : Right. Is that is that how you live your life? Like do you. Do you have any like, do you do, do you do anything in the morning, like a spiritual routine? Or is it just you’re a very heartfelt kind of guy.

Scott: Yeah. All kinds of stuff.

Alison : Too many ideas.

Scott: Yeah. That’s right. Too many practices, all in one. Um, no, I, do like meditate and I, I think exercise is a form of medicine. Yeah. Um, I started surfing about five or so years ago. And so that’s been like therapy with nature. And, um, you know, there’s nothing like being lifted up by nature and going end over end multiple times in total chaos. And it’s like, it’s like an embrace, you know, and you come out of it and the the ocean, I firmly believe, I mean, it is is a giant battery. And we are these beings running on electricity at a mitochondrial level. And I think that there, I, there’s a measurable thing there that happens, and it can’t be like—- I was in a program for entrepreneurs in Georgia, some called leadership Georgia, shout out 2015, best class ever. Um, they, uh, you know, we got a chance to go into a nuclear submarine that was being refit. And as we’re walking out there, I saw this huge cage in, out in the I mean, it was the size of multiple, like a football field or bigger. And I was like, what in the heck is that thing? And I said, oh, it’s an electromagnet. And it turns out and I don’t think I’m giving any secrets away because there are definitely clear about what we were, you know, they were like, you’re not going to see anything you even understand. But that one, this one they told me about. And, uh, they after the submarines have been, you know, they, they’re like shielded from radar and the skin is, uh, has like a special something to it, but after it goes through the ocean for enough time, it gets a charge.

Alison : Oh.

Scott: So just the moving through the salt water battery that is the ocean, it ends up getting like a charge. And so they drive it into this giant like magnet thing and undo the charge so that it can be invisible again. And so.., I thought that was so cool. I was like, yeah, that’s like me just getting thrown over the top of a wave. I’m getting, I’m getting recharged.

Alison : Yeah.

Jean : And, and I think surfing is, is a great metaphor for life. You know, it’s all about balance.

Scott: Oh yeah.

Jean : And being part of something bigger than yourself. Yeah. And and then of course, you know, getting knocked down and then getting back up and  it’s a great.. Um who wrote…?? Oh, Danny Miller right, wrote our, our friend of ours wrote a book about surfing the….

Alison : Oh yeah. Something… And his whole metaphor about surfing through relationships, you know?

Scott: Oh that’s cool.

Alison : Yeah, it was very cool. I have to tell you. I know that you have the screen on, but there is when you move a little raccoon that keeps popping out the side of your head.

Scott: All right, I’ll show you. I’ll show you what I have going. It’s a mess. It’s a mess. Oh, man. Let’s see if I can figure it out.

Alison : I’m dying to see it, because that little thing is calling to me.

Scott:  oh. Let’s see, how do I do this? Uh, I’m not a… There we go. Oh. All right. What was it?

Alison : It’s that little. No, the other way.

Jean : Okay.

Alison : It’s him in the red.

Scott: This. Oh, this guy?

Alison : Yeah, that guy right there.

Scott: Yeah. You know, um. I don’t know the story about. I forget the story behind this one. Isn’t he cute, though?

Jean : Very cute.

Alison : So cute.

Scott: This is one of the older buddies, which I just love, like teddy bear, like, uh, San Francisco business, dude.

Jean : Okay, so as you can see, our backdrop.

Alison : Is very boring.

Jean : Oh, yeah. No. It’s lovely. I love a beautiful accent wallpaper.

Alison : How do you how does buddies do it, though? If each one is individual, do you give it to one designer to follow through to completion? Like how is the process?

Scott: Yeah. That’s the secret sauce is there’s a whole technology platform in the background.

Alison : Wow.

Scott: And that allows our like, individual designers and design teams to be able to focus and on just like one at a time.  so, um, we’re able to distribute that. And then we have internal people looking at them, each one to make sure like, oh, this, we gotta tweak this and tweak that. And then, um, some people who want to be more specific, we, you know, work with creators that are sometimes want a level of detail that can be more difficult. And, and so we have a whole, we have what’s called specialty commission. So we lots of, there’s so many artists on the internet. That’s what’s so cool now is that there’s so many groups of artists, um, and they all like, they’ll come in and make a specialty commission, which is, you know, we send to our best design teams and there’s an understanding that there’s going to be, you know, more detail. And a lot of them have made their own artistic tech pack, which is super specific. And so we try and honor each, each one. Uh, and so, yeah, it’s, I mean, it’s a process for, and we see so many, I mean, hundreds of thousands of these we’ve done. And so it’s, it’s really something else.

Jean : It’s, it is really fascinating. And it sort of reminds me, but even at a much grander level, you know, like beautiful cakes that they people make cakes into rocket ships and castles and so here you’re making anything that is, you know, that someone draws and it’s you’re…

Scott: Yeah,

Jean : It’s fascinating.

Scott: And, and we do, we do these figurines too. This is a bobblehead.

Jean : Oh my gosh.

Alison : That’s a riot.

Scott: So my, my family, we, I don’t know how this started years ago, but.

Jean : Is That supposed to be you?

Scott: It is me. It’s an actual picture of me with a lampshade on my head from a cousin’s wedding. Um, because that’s the thing that we do.

Jean : We won’t go into that. Right? You’re wearing a lampshade.

Scott: When you’re on the dance floor.  Sometimes you just gotta zero in with that lampshade on your head. No distractions, you know?

Alison : That’s exactly right. Um, now tell u do you what is like the future of Budsies? Like it like taking on this philanthropic part of, of the work. It it sounds like that’s kind of booming?

Scott: Yeah. I mean, Budsies’ Pals is the heart and soul. I mean, when I watch, uh, when I watch videos of the people have sent us and things they’ve done, like I end up in tears every time. And that’s me, like in the magic thread and shout out to the whole team there, Patrick Green and, uh, and James and Ingrid and sorry, I have, uh, and, you know, in the future, like, yeah, I mean, we want to continue to see the impact on an individual level that we’ve experienced. And like that raw emotion is everything.  Ideally, we’d find an amazing partner for Budsies Pals that helps us, you know, really bring that to every kid going through a difficult journey so they can create the avatar of strength for themselves. And also the selfies or the Budsies selfie dolls are so powerful with kids that have limb differences or a port, or they’re going through something difficult and they get to see themselves reflected in a doll that’s professionally made and give it love. And then I start crying. And then, you know, um, and we want to grow the, the whole education and teacher side, because we’re hearing back that it’s just so fun for everyone involved. Like the kids are stoked about it, but also the teachers and parents are like having a blast too. And so I think that’s definitely, you know, where we’re going.

Alison : Oh, I love that. That’s a great answer.

Jean : Are you, uh, so are you looking to partner like with a hospital or a school or anything like that? Right. Because it seems like you do, you are partnering.

Scott: Yeah. I mean, we have.

Jean : I saw your website. You have a great website, by the way.

Scott: Oh, thanks. Um.  Yeah, we’ve partnered with, uh, hospitals. You know, when we have funds, um, you know, we, we try and just give away as much as we can. Um, and so I think, you know, if we could find that right fit, that’s also like maybe a larger corporation that’s all about like building and making and, creativity. I think that there could be a really cool partnership there. Um, but we’ve, you know, we’ve brought this to hospitals. We’ve worked with, uh, Ronald McDonald House. Uh, I think we’ve done things with, uh, some Saint Jude things we’ve done. Um, gosh, I mean, the list is long, like it’s too long. Yeah. I don’t want to start to try and recite it all because I know there’s too many, but, um, CHOA has been, you know, the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, um, they’ve been an amazing partner. Uh, we’ve done some really cool things there. Um, we, yeah, we’ve had people that reach out, uh, because they’re going through something and they want to raise awareness and have kids do it. So it’s really like, you know, if we have the bandwidth, we help. But other people also say, no, we have financing and funding, and so we’ll come in and we just want to do this with our kids. So we really try and figure out a way to do it everything we can. And then, you know, and the core business is still bigger than Budsies pals by a long shot. But Budsies Pals, the heart is gigantic.

Alison : Right. Um. Do you. You said you get some videos of the kids opening these things.

Scott: Oh, yeah. Yeah. You got to check out our our socials. It’s great. The buzz on Instagram. Yeah.

Alison : I couldn’t even stand that movie.

Scott: Oh, yeah.

Alison : That one child’s journey, like, oh, I just I know exactly. It is such a like, I still have some toys from when I was little. And yeah, you hold them and you feel like I’m old and I feel like I’m little again.

Scott: Mhm.

Alison :  like that dog back there looks real to me.

Scott: The black and white one.

Alison : Yeah.

Jean : The Aussie shepherd.

Scott: Yeah. You know what’s so funny is, um, when I first came into the company, i was walking through the warehouse and it was like a sample sitting there and I was like, oh my gosh, this looks exactly like my childhood dog. Yeah.  So I got Sadie and now she’s hanging out over my shoulder. Oh,  this back here is a giraffe, a butterfly that speaking of when we were cleaning out the house.

Jean : Oh, right.

Scott: Uh, I found a drawing that my brother had done in like the third grade, and it was of a giraffe, a butterfly. So I had it made.

Alison : I loved that. Yeah. Yeah, that’s for our listeners. It’s a giraffe  and he has beautiful, beautiful, like colorful wings.

Scott: Yeah.  It’s a giraffebutterfly.

Alison : Yeah. Obviously you said it perfectly. That’s right. I love that, I love that. Um, how were you raised? Like, what do your parents do? Like, was this like ever a part of any world you would have seen yourself in?

Scott: I don’t know, I mean, I’ve, I feel like I’ve had multiple lives already and I still love, you know, kind of chasing that magic, you know? And where wherever things go.

Alison : You’re Very young to have had multiple lives. You look very young to me.

Scott: Yeah, well.  At one point, at one point, I was I was 25 years old for five years.

Alison : There you go. Okay. That makes sense to me.

Scott: Because I was too I was too young. I was working on a documentary in Chile with a band from there, and we had to do like a press tour in Spanish.   And I learned Spanish in Spain. And then, uh, anyway, it was a wild ride and my, my business partner buddy almost friend… It’s a long story… Uh, who’s a photographer trained under Ansel Adams way back in the day. Oh, um, and I corrupted him into, into video moving images. And, um, we’re, he was like, he’s like, listen, man, this is a big deal. Like you can’t be 21, like you need to be 25. So just tell everyone you’re 25. So we go on, we’d go on radio shows and stuff and be like, how old are you? 25. And then afterwards for a little while I was like, still 25? Yeah.

Alison : Exactly.

Scott: Yeah. But I don’t think about age. That’s whatever.

Jean : YOU Wear it well.

Alison : Yes. That’s great… That’s wonderful. Um, I just love what you’re doing. And we think Jean used your Petsies.

Jean : Yeah.

Scott: Oh, cool.

Alison : for her mom

Scott: Oh that’s awesome.

Jean : So my mother, you know, she’s like, at the time, she was like in her early 80s and her dog passed away and she loved this dog, Oliver, who was a Shih Tzu.

Scott: Oh, yeah.

Jean : And I came across and I think it.

Alison : I think it is.

Jean : Petsies right? And so I said to my sister, you know what, for Mother’s Day,  Let’s have this for mom. Oh, and we weren’t sure. Was this going to, like, freak her out? Because honestly, when we got it, my sister says to me, and she’s in New York and I’m in California, she goes, Jean, this thing is so life like.

Scott: Yeah,

Jean : Mom is either going to be….

Alison : Or Traumatized.

Scott: I know when I, you know, and like, that was my journey as well, coming into Petsies’s where I was like, um, excuse me now.. Like this is, you know, but, uh, then I held one and now we do them where they’re weighted and they have a heartbeat as an option.

Alison : No way.

Scott: with silicone paw pads. And I’m holding this thing and I was like, I can feel like the emotion like, like it’s a, you know, it’s, there’s no substitute for a real dog, right?

Jean : Right.

Scott:  Or a real cat. But this was like something else. I was like, this is this is powerful.

Jean : And and it she loves this dog, Ollie. And she calls it Ollie. And sometimes she’ll like when I take my mom out and she’ll say, okay, bye, Ollie. And then she looks, my mother looks at me and she says, I know it’s a stuffed animal. Like she makes sure that, um, that has been a saving grace for my mother’s emotional well-being, that she comes back into her apartment and sees Ollie sitting on the couch and it just gives her, you know, because she doesn’t walk nearly as well. So it’s it looks so lifelike.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: And that’s beautiful.

Jean : It’s just like a beautiful companion. And she is aware. She knows it’s a stuffed animal

Alison : right..

Jean : She said to me the other day, I think Ollie has a canker sore and I’m like… But it’s the tongue that is sticking out.

Scott: Oh, that’s so funny.

Jean : So but anyway, my mother loves it. I, you know, it’s a so even for older, you know, seniors it’s.

Scott: Oh yeah.

Jean : Lovely, lovely thing to have.

Alison : Yeah.

Scott: It’s powerful. I mean, I truly believe that there is something powerful going on. And you know, when you like our social media, our social media team, Sammy shout out, they do an amazing job. But it’s the stories and the videos that people send to us this that we repost. And you can see it’s just no words, just raw emotion of people like experiencing that love again, uh, whether it’s they lost their pet or, you know, living between homes or whatever. And you can see them like, oh, and the kids immediately like, oh my gosh, it’s Ollie or, And so I’ve been saying to my team, I was like, we gotta find somebody with like a functional MRI and like, have people walk through and like put a Petsies  in their, in their hands, and you just see it light up and like, because I was like, I want scientific proof because I know that it’s there because I can feel the tingles.

Alison : Right. Yeah. I love that. I mean, I just think what you’re doing is so wonderful. And I was so moved by you from that movie. And I hope that you get lots of peopple hear this…and  get tons of budsies.

Scott: Yeah. And Jean, thank you for sharing that story about your mom, that it’s those stories too, that like mean so much because when you’re just, you know, thinking about advertising numbers and like the technical stuff and paying bills and going through the whole deal, sometimes you forget.

Jean : And it truly was the best gift we got my mother. Um, It just brings her so much comfort.

Scott: Oh. That’s awesome.

Alison : So we just have two quick wrap up questions for you…

Alison : What do you think-  our podcast is called inside wink… What do you think inside wink means?

Scott: Okay. I thought about this. And this is something I don’t know when how long ago this came up, but it resonated so much with me and it was something I’ve thought about my whole life i think, I feel like I’m in constant communication with my ancestors and a lot of beautiful people, and I’m very spiritual in that way. And, um, and always asking for advice. But there’s this clip of Maya Angelou, uh, talking Maya Angelou. I’m probably messing it up, of course, but, um, she is talking about this idea that she would use this exercise when she would go on stage or in for an interview or whatever it was, where she would summon all of her ancestors to be there, and all those people whose love made it possible for her to be there, to be right there with her. And she said, it’s the strangest thing ther’s just magic around when you do that. And so to me, that’s a bit of an inside wink.

Alison : God, that’s. You’re very deep, young man.

Jean : 25 years old.

Scott: Yeah. That fifth year is a real doozy.

Alison : Right?

Alison : That’s so beautiful.

Scott: It means a lot to me.

Alison : I have seen that clip and i think that are there specific like, why do you think you’re so connected back to your ancestors? What what is that do you think?

Scott: Um, just, uh, I’ve been super blessed and lucky to have like, really beautiful and, and intelligent and interesting people in my family and history and storytellers and business people and kind of runs the gambit. And when you when you’re fortunate enough to have good examples, it becomes easier to try and follow those footsteps.

Alison : That’s so true.

Scott: Yeah. So I feel truly grateful and blessed in that way.

Jean : I love that you recognize that. Yeah. And, um, I like to call upon angels and my, my father and my husband, like, you know, help.

Alison : Yeah.

Scott: I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to do this today.

Jean : Yes, exactly.  And, uh, it’s so true.

Jean : Yeah. There’s so much more that goes on than that meets the physical eye.

Scott: So yeah. There really is.

Jean : and that You recognize that? Okay, so the final question is, do you prefer cake, pie or ice cream?

Scott: Okay, so this one, Uh, I was born on the 4th of July, which is an interesting birthday.

Alison : Wow. Wow.

Scott: We have a gigantic family. So, um, growing up, sheet cake was always the easiest solution to have 60 kids.

Jean : True.

Scott: So the answer is, I love pie.

Jean : And I thought you were going to say pie first….And then you say cake. And I was like, oh.

Jean : I haven’t heard that, I assumed.

Scott: Okay. Yeah.  I just always thought that red icing tasted like a nuclear catastrophem… And but the pie… So then I had my, I was so lucky One year, I had my grandfather and two of his brothers out of four sitting at a table. My grandfather was in his 90s. He was probably 94. He got remarried when he was 89 to an older woman

Alison : An older woman…she was a cougar.

Scott: Oh, yeah… Mustang Sally,  and so we decided to have, we had multiple kinds of cake or multiple, we had a little cake, multiple kinds of pie and ice cream. And we decided with the four of us, what is the best possible combination?

Alison : Nice.

Scott: And all four of us landed on blueberry pie with coffee ice cream. And it’s got to be like a legit coffee ice cream.

Alison : Coffee ice cream.

Scott: Yeah. And something about that mix. You know, vanilla is a good second, uh, for blueberry. You know, chocolate’s better maybe with rhubarb, but… Yeah. and crumble crust, obviously.

Alison : I’m going to try that now… That sounds really great. And I love that that you that your grandfather was there.

Scott: Yeah. And his two brothers who were all, you know, like, like his two brothers were World War two guys. And he, you know. So really amazing stories. Yeah.

Alison : That’s fantastic. I can’t thank you enough. You’re such a sweet man. And really what you’re doing is, is fantastic. And I wish I had met you at the screening. So maybe our paths will cross sometime. So thank you so much.

Scott: yeah, let’s definitely stay in touch. And, you know, I’m, uh, we’re out in LA a decent bit for all kinds of friends and business and fun. So it’d be great to connect.

Alison : And so we would love that.

Jean : Yeah.

Alison : Thank you so, so much.

Scott: Well, thank you all. And I feel weird because I’m talking about me the whole time. And I, I’m used to being like, tell me about you, but we’ll do that next time.

Jean : We actually love it this way.

Alison : But that’s not how it works. Scott.

Scott: Yeah, yeah, I figured I figured as much podcast kind of one direction. Yeah.

Alison : Thank you very, very much and have have a great day.

Scott: All right.  You all too. Thank you very much.

Jean : Bye bye.

Jean : Wow. What a really super nice guy and he’s only 25.

Alison : It’s amazing. I keep aging and he’s getting younger. Um, he was so funny.

Jean : He was great, very humble and very smart.

Alison : And for our listeners, he was sitting in front of like a, like a cabinet and it had that giraffe with a butterfly and a little like Australian shepherd dog and, uh, just a lot of little toys behind him that must have had sentimental meanings for him. And they were all just adorable. And I, I love a guy with stuffed animals. You know?

Jean : It’s Like a guy that wears a pink shirt.

Alison : Go for it. Right, right. Go for it.

Jean :  so if you have a sentimental pet or person or anything, actually, you can send a photo to this amazing company and they will create a stuffed animal.

Alison : For you, right? Or you can give to their fund… The the pal fund, and they can share and do that with a school or a hospital or something like that. I just think it’s a really interesting idea, you know?

Jean : Yeah. Talk about giving back and, and, um, just being a force for good.

Alison : Exactly. And he was so funny to me. I just thought he was just so giggly and fun, you know? I loved him.

Jean : Yeah, he was great.

Alison : He was great. So thank you, Scott. And thank you everyone for listening. And go hug a stuffed animal now.

Jean : That’s right.

Alison : That’s that’s your mission today. Okay. Bye.

Jean : Bye.