Catalyst for Change
Under 500 Employees
Recognizes a woman driving systemic change in the industry by promoting ethical practices and inspiring positive change in their organizations and beyond.
Dr. Amanda Gummer
FUNdamentally Children - home of the Good Play Guide
Founder and CEO
Everyday Dr. Amanda Gummer reaches out to people the importance of play. She keeps going even though it is a difficult world out there today. We need people to guide us that joy is within ourselves and that it starts with the childeren. The toys need to be interacting with the age and capability of the child. Amanda and her team are doing everything within their power to make a good connection between the manufacturer, the inventors and the buyers so that the child will have the best learning and playing possibilities out there.
Paola Dyboski
Bubbles Not Bombs
Founder
For 15 years, I built Dr Zigs as one of the world’s most sustainable bubble toy companies, proving that play can be both joyful, eco and ethically produced. In response to escalating global conflict, I formalised long-standing grassroots work into Bubbles Not Bombs, an NGO, delivering bubbles as tools for play and emotional regulation to children in war zones.
This addresses a critical gap: access to safe, simple play in crisis settings.
We are now mobilising a global network of NGOs and communities to deliver low-cost, adaptable play resources — reframing bubbles into tools for therapy, resilience, connection and hope.
Marlene Sharp
Pink Poodle Productions
KutSharp Productions
Executive Producer/Social Impact Business Strategist/Writer/Talent Manager
Marlene Sharp is one of the most impact-driven changemakers I know! She has dedicated her career to creating meaningful business connections and programs that help others, especially adults on the autism spectrum through her toy, licensing and entertainment initiatives, like her hands-on roll launching Autism in Entertainment to create jobs for neurodiverse adults in toys, gaming and entertainment, her writing about social impact issues and opportunities facing the industry in Global Toy News, and through high impact partnerships like with The Laugh Factory's Netflix is a Joke Partnership, Laughs on the Spectrum.
