Bear necessity: Greenwich woman hopes product line will be a must for kids

Forget Miley. Greenwich resident Mary Beth Minton hopes the next big thing is Zylie -- as in Zylie the Bear. Minton has created a line of products, "The Adventures of Zylie the Bear," built around the 18-inch and very plush Zylie, which she hopes will help "inspire learning in children." The Citizen caught up with Minton recently, via e-mail, to find out more about her business and the origins of Zylie.

What exactly is "The Adventures of Zylie the Bear"?

"The Adventures of Zylie the Bear" is the brand name for a product line of stuffed animals, which includes 18" jointed plush bears, clothing, accessories, books and an interactive website. The brand is called the "The Adventures of Zylie the Bear" because Zylie, a 12-year-old girl bear and the face of the brand, serendipitously travels the world, meeting new friends from the countries to which she travels. Some of the friends she meets become products in the line of toys, e.g., Shen the Panda from China.

How did you come up with the idea of a stuffed bear "designed to be dressed and played with like a fashion doll"?

When my middle daughter Sarah was young, she loved animals of any kind, including stuffed animals. She almost never played with dolls, preferring to play with stuffed animals as if they were dolls by dressing them up, pushing them around in a baby carriage, etc. As she got older and had friends over to play, I noticed that girls seemed to be divided pretty evenly between those who played with dolls and those who played with stuffed animals. At the same time, I noticed that there were a multitude of dolls on the market with well-developed personalities, friends and clothes but not many bears marketed in a similar way.

What were your intentions in creating Zylie the Bear?

My original intention when I started developing Zylie the Bear (who, by the way, I called Sophie the Bear initially) was to design a bear that could wear stylish clothes and yet would be just as soft and cuddly as a child's favorite stuffed animal to sleep with. In order to achieve the goal of being able to wear fashionable clothes, the bear needed to have a more human-like shape than traditional teddy bears. That's why Zylie has longer legs and a flatter tummy than most stuffed bears.

From a bigger picture standpoint, however, I wanted to market a toy that would inspire learning in children by creating a role model who is curious and smart while being fun and hip.

Zylie and the books that follow her are constantly marketed as "educational". Was your original intention of the product for it to be educational?

Current research into the reasons why fewer girls pursue careers in math and the sciences than do boys indicates that it is not the lack of exposure to curricula in those disciplines as much as girls lacking role models that they relate to. I hope I have created a character who is naturally likable and fun but who seeks out challenge and enjoys the learning process. Our website will be the forum for more in-depth educational content and games over time. The books currently set the stage for that content.

What, would you say, is Zylie's educational goal?

We're very optimistic about how far we can take the educational side of this venture.  Because of the way the stories are set up, it allows us to build out content and games that inspire learning and actually teach children about a wide range of subjects, while still maintaining a fun and engaging storyline and experience.  We're working with a learning scientist who specializes in this field.  Together we're hoping to create a kind of contextual learning experience where kids can dive into the stories because they're interested in the adventure or identify with Zylie.  While they're enjoying these stories they are also learning about geography, language, animal conservation, or even broader subjects like math and science.  It's sort of a platform approach in the long run, where the adventures provide the basis from which we build out a variety of interactive learning applications.

What made the idea of this product worth the commitment of launching an enterprise? Why did this idea for a product seem so special in its earlier stages?

The resounding response I received from everyone who saw my original prototypes inspired me to keep working on the idea. The concept evolved over time to include the books and the website. The more we fleshed out the business plan, the more I knew it would be successful.

Who is involved in the creative team behind Zylie the Bear?

My children and I were the original creative force behind the concept and continue to be today. After I had successfully sewn the first prototype and saw that I had accomplished my goal of creating a bear that would look cute in fashionable doll clothes, I realized that it needed to be more than just a generic stuffed animal. My daughter Sarah happened to be home from college that weekend and we started talking about how the bear needed to have a personality and a back story. Sarah came upon the idea of the bear traveling around the world and meeting friends, allowing us to develop a lot of educational content as well as a product line that would include bears from those countries.

After working on and off for another year or so, I was nearly ready to give up on the idea when my son Matthew suggested that we develop an interactive, online experience for children. Matthew is now my full-time partner in the business and is the creative force behind our interactive website (most of which has not yet been launched) as well as our overall marketing strategy.

Beyond our immediate family, we have developed a much larger creative team that includes a fashion designer (GHS's own Katie Fong), illustrators, writers, graphic designers, a film producer (for our upcoming YouTube short), and photographers. They each are independent contractors that work on specific pieces of the project.

Why did you choose to work with them?

We have been very fortunate to find the perfectly suited expert or creative person for each of the essential roles on our team. Each of these people has earned a spot on the Zylie project because of their self-evident talent, high-acclaimed credentials, commitment to excellence and love of Zylie.

What are your future plans for Zylie and/or your business? What can you hope for?

Zylie inspires all who work with her, including even me. I started this project with the fairly limited concept of developing one bear who could wear fun clothes, and yet it has grown to be so much more. I say this because what I thought of as my future plans for Zylie one year ago are so different from what they are today. It is hard to predict where it all will take us in the future.

However, as of today, my future plans for Zylie are for her to travel to several more countries, and roll out bears from those countries as well as books, outfits and accessories. This plan takes us to 2012. We also anticipate developing much more fun yet educational content and games on the website.

Where can you purchase Zylie items?

Zylie and her friend Shen are available for purchase in a number of different ways: on our website (zyliethebear.com), amazon.com; through an online store linked to our facebook page (facebook.com/zyliethebear); and at Smart Kids Toys, 17 East Elm Street, Greenwich.

Sabrina Herrera is a senior at Greenwich High School. She will be attending UConn-Storrs in the fall.