We are ecstatic to announce that Gisela Voss (Market Research Director of the Jem Classic Toyline) will be attending at JemCon 2023!

Gisela cut her teeth in the toy industry at a time of Hasbro’s explosive growth. She directed research for marketing and R&D decisions for brands as varied as My Little Pony, Playskool’s Red Campaign, Transformers, Potato Head, MB puzzles and of course Jem!

Her team oversaw the initial market research that impacted what marketing prioritized in tandem with the toy designers. From focus groups with kids and their moms to feedback from retailers, her team played a key part in deciding what items ultimately were manufactured and remained on store shelves. One of these decisions (known widely by Jem fans) was changing the packaging layout on the second-year dolls due to shelf restrictions in stores. Another well-known initiative in the Jem fandom that her group supported was the Jem Truly Outrageous! Audition Contest that allowed kids to submit auditions of singing the Jem theme song.

From working for one of the largest toy manufacturers to one of the finest, she then created playthings based on the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and was part of the team that launched Learningsmith Stores in malls nationwide. She then set forth to create a sea change in preschool toys when she created B.toys in chocolate brown, olive green and plum with textile patterns molded and etched into the plastic.

The product line received over 50 national awards, over 12 linear feet at Target, and was featured in specialty stores and catalogs worldwide. She now runs DoodleDo, a boutique branding agency with her daughter Sydney Voss-Kernan because a doodle is just a doodle until you DO something with it. She is also the Founder of Luke’s Lights and Board Member of Unite to Light, bringing 200,000+ solar lights to 80 countries worldwide in memory of the spark of her son, Luke. 

Of course, she can still can sing most of the “Jem is Truly Truly Truly Outrageous” tune. And, in a weird twist she had forgotten about, her youngest son is named Rio. While she is only able to attend Sunday August 27th she is delighted to reconnect with former colleagues from Hasbro and meet with Jem fans at JemCon.