Designed Specifically for Univ. of South Carolina

On my company website http://CheerleaderDollCompany.com you will be able to view and choose between a dozen or more different color combinations where you will be able to personalize each to yourself and/or your squad! Please feel free to send me a personal email to Claudene@CheerleaderDollCompany.com. You may also email me a pic of your team or squad in uniform, and as soon as you decide to go ahead and design your

Pick Your Team Colors from Our Variety of Combinations!

uniforms for youe Fundraiser, we would like to post your picture on our site. Design Your Own Fundraiser Program Thank you for your time. Claudene Christian- Founder/Owner Cheerleader Doll Company LLC

She was a USC Song Girl for three years.  She has heard the Trojan Band play “Conquest” almost two-thousand times and she is still a cheerleader of sorts.  She graduated from the University of Southern California in 1992 with a degree in Sports Marketing.  She doesn’t come in a box and you can’t find her in a college bookstore, but she is still very much a doll.

You may have gone to school with her at USC where she was a Gamma Phi Beta or saw her on the football sidelines as one of every ABC camers man’s favorite shots.  Maybe you saw her when she was the Promotions Director at Hollywood Park Race Track in Corporate Marketing for Churchill Downs.  You may have even had the pleasure of watching her perform as the lead singer with Joe’s Band at one of their many packed South Bay shows, or with Mad Tea Party for the six years they toured throughout the USA, Canada and Mexico as the house band for LA Ski & Sun Tours.

If you haven’t already caught Claudene Christian in one of her many pursuits, don’t expect her to slow down, because she’ll run right over you.  If ambition, energy, guts and fast talking could move mountains, she makes last year’s Northridge Quake look like a mild tremor!

Claudene Christian is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Collegiate & Cheerleader Doll Company.  Founded in 1989 while a freshmen and Song Girl Cheerleader at USC, her company began producing Cheerleader Dolls with a Degree for USC in 1991.  That year, licensing and orders followed by Stanford, UCLA, the University of Washington and the University of Colorado.

An idea that originated on the sidelines of the football field had become a huge success.  To accomodate expansion, her sorority sister Amanda Maertz joined the company in 1993 as Vice President of Director of Marketing and Sales.  Together, they have sustained reorders and have active accounts with USC, UCLA, Washington, Colorado, Miami, Florida State, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, Penn State, Kansas State, Illinois, Michigan, Arkansas, Oklahoma, LSU, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, and Mississippi while gaining licenses for 90 colleges across the country.  Dealing with that many universities is a formidable task, but wait until they start asking for different shades of lipstick (one University already has).  The typical California girl is not always what many universities might want in their cheerleader doll.  With minimum orders and marketability to take into account, Christian and Maertz have opened up quite a can of worms.

These upcoming struggles are not even taking into account the fact that Mattel Toys is far from pleased about the doll’s general size and comparisons to “you know who.”  Still, these young women are more than able to fend off the wolves.  If you don’t believe me, you haven’t met them.

Christian and Maertz market the dolls as “The Original Cheerleader Doll With A Degree.”  Isn’t it every parent’s dream to have their little girl grow up to be a cheerleader who can beat them in a wholesome game of Jeopardy?  This is exactly what they are counting on.  The booming sports merchandising business and the potential for professional versions (Little Laker Girl Dolls has a ring to it) has also crossed their minds.

They have benefited from the fact that they better serve universities who are used to dealing with smaller suppliers.  They would rather pay a little more per unit and get the individual attention and customer service that the Collegiate Cheerleader Doll Company can provide.  Subtle changes in the uniform, make-up, hair color, and even the ethnicity are much more feasible with a company of their size. 

Christian and Maertz have plans for coloring books, puzzles, posters and stickers – all emphasizong the cheerleader and her pursuit of a college degree.  Despite strikes and hold-outs, professional sports are breaking new profit records each year.  The success has trickled down to collegiate sports and there is plenty of room to grow.

Still, Claudene wouldn’t be herself if she didn’t have a few more ideas running around.  She envisions a retail store, dedicated to one of L.A’s most celebrated traditions; “The Rivalry” A store split right down the middle, Blue and Gold on one side and Cardinal and Gold on the other.  “The Rivalry” hopes to open it’s doors sometime in the next few years.  Yes, a store dedicated to celebrating the traditions and merchandising of two of the country’s most celebrated universities.  Terry Donahue and John Robinson could Jello wrestle at the store’s opening!  Ut would be a dream come true! 

But, Claudene might not have a chance to enjoy it…she’ll already be thinking about her next project.

Although they remain friends, Amanda Maertz is no longer with the company.

As I mentioned in my first Post… I am still attempting to find my way into the “Blog-a-sphere”, so please bare with me as I learn to navigate the waters while finding my “Comfort Zone” where I am able to write FREELY in my own words.. I promise that is coming very soon.  So as I continue to bring you up to date, I want to make sure and give you as much personal and company history as possible, and by posting these articles written about me and my company, by others, helps me along the way without feeling so “self-serving”… because honestly, although I know that “blogging” per se, is “Good For My Company” and business, I still cant help but feel this is all a little “Me, Me, Me”..and THAT still, feels a bit uncomfortable. 

I ask myself.. “Why would people, strangers want to read MY Blog?”  Honestly, I ask myself this every day, which is why I have written so seldomely… I do however know the answer… My Story is one not so uncommon.. My Story is about having a DREAM and striving in life to achieve this dream… although all the while not knowing if or how achieving your dream is actually possible?  My Story is about HOPE! My Story is about CHALLENGES! My Story is about OBSTACLES!  My Story is NOT ONLY ABOUT SUCCESSES… but My Story IS ALSO ABOUT FAILURES!  And from these Successes and Failures… I HAVE GROWN & I HAVE LEARNED!!

So this morning when my mom handed me this article she had just stumbled across, appropriately titled “Trot-Trottle Goes To College”, which was an article written from an interview I gave to Jeff Trojan of the USC MBA Program back in 1992 (shortly after I had graduated from USC) I dove straight in to a long over due re-read.

Soon totally engrossed in what was funny to realize was “My Life” and entrepreneurial beginnings as seen through the eyes of another. I’d like to now share with you Jeff Trojan’s words, as I think he captured not only the essence of my spirit, but the root of my strength.

“Trot-Trottle Goes To College”

An Interview with Claudene Christian -Written by Jeff Trojan

Claudene Christian sits at a low formica desk, finishing her work day at Trot-Trottle Investments. After hours of frenzied activity, she smiles gleefully, unable to hide the enlightened sparkle in her eyes behind her light brown bangs. The company “office” is a set of cabinets for a soon to be remodeled kitchen in her grandparent’s home. It doesn’t daunt her that others cannot see the work supplies stacked in the cabinets, or the files she shuffles on the counter. Business calls are seldom returned- as she has no real customers. Still, she looks forward to the next imaginary work day. Claudene is four years old.

On the Trail of an Entrepreneur:

With any normal amount of effort, or change in any one of several random variables, Claudene Christian (the driving force behind the USC Song Girl Dolls, founder of the Collegiate Doll Company) and I would have never met.

I first wanted to interview Carolyn Greene, the entreprenuer behind 1990′s mixed-success F.R.O.Y.D. doll. My contact, head toy buyer at FAO Schwarz, had been quoted in an Inc. Magazine article on Greene as a F.R.O.Y.D. supporter. When I attempted to call his New York office, he was out of town on a buying trip for several weeks. The next candidate was an Iowa inventor who had marketed “Radio Waves,” a “Chocolate-In-Peanut-butter” combination of an AM/FM radio and a standard swimming pool air mattress. Friends at Mattel who had offered to introduce us called with the news that he was suing the company regarding other submissions, and contact was inadvisable. (I, CLAUDENE, SHOULD HAVE READ JEFF’S WORDS HERE AS FORE-SHADOWING). In exasperation, I looked up from my borrowed desk at Mattel and there she was- the USC Song Girl doll I purchased this summer to mark Trojan territory during my internship in the Barbie Marketing Department at Mattel Toys. But, Could I find her?

That day, I could find no Los Angeles area listing for Claudene Christian. (Her name and picture are on the back of the box, with a poem titled “Athletes and Achievers” -inspired by Todd Marinovich, the USC-turned L.A. Raider quarterback. Claudene describes the athlete, a close personal friend of hers, as a misunderstood, kind-hearted, intelligent, creative and polite person.) I did listen to the answering machine messages of many unlikely-sounding C. Christians. The next day, I remembered that in the fall of 1991, the creator of the dolls was featured in the Daily Trojan Campus Newspaper. However, the “DT” could not help me with her whereabouts: I was on my own even trying to get a reprint of the earlier article. The student directory at Crocker Business Library (the very Library that Claudene later told me she had to sneak into because she was not officially in the Business School) didn’t have her listed, but they suggested I try Topping Center for a student directory.

When the desk attendant in the Topping Center told me they had never saved old directories, my heart sank. As it turned out, the new directories were to be delivered in a few days- they still had the previous year’s directory. There She Was! The old sorority house number was no longer valid, of course, but the next lead was more promising- Parents in Anchorage, Alaska? (I graduated high school in Fairbanks, Alaska.) After a few calls to Alaska, “Mom” gave me Claudene’s local number.

When we first spoke to discuss the possibility of an interview, the call lasted more than a half-hour. We had a great many interests in common, in addition to Alaska and the doll business. (The employees in the Graduate Admissions Office still regret loaning me the phone for what I promised would be a short call!)

And so it was a long shot that we would meet for lunch a few weeks later, at the sunfilled seaside restaurant “Sunsets” at a window table, watching the waves crash against the Pier of the beautiful quaint community in Manhattan Beach where Claudene now resides since her graduation a few months ago. Claudene said she loves to eat where she can see the water because its peaceful and motivating. She says it is a good daily “life marker” of where she came from, and how far she has come. That the Ocean helps her gather her thoughts and turn them into Productivity. I found this enlightening and profound. Having seen leadership trait theory studied to ridiculous extreme, I was happy when she chose to order the Beef Dip for lunch, after having a hard time deciding between Chile Fries or Nachos for an appetizer. I would have been so disappointed if she had ordered a salad!

Early Entrepreneurial Escapades:

Across the table from me, she was all energy and intensity; the “Trot-Trottle” sparkle was still there. She was excited about her story and overwhelmingly interested in any help, input or insight I could share from my background. Granted, my first impression was that she was much more petite than I had anticipated. Was this really the entreprenuer that started a business of which I was envious? Could she unlock the secrets of the doll creation business? With lunch ordered, we started the interview.

Claudene lit up, beyond her regular cheery glow, when I explained that each entreprenuer usually has a past peppered with the pursuit of various small-scale ventures such as lemonade stands or paper route.

She related the earlier account of Trot-Trottle, a fictious investment firm that was a recurring theme throughout her childhood. To this day she is determined to use that name in some appropriate business. She had multiple full scale Kool-Aide stand operations with a small army of friends as crew. She raked leaves and mowed lawns in the summer (with a non-motorized push mower) and shoveled the snow from neighbors driveways in the winter. She also had a paper route and worked at McDonald’s Playland as a birthday party hostess because she felt that “everyone should be a Crew Kid.” Early in high school, Claudene was known as “the candy girl,” a moniker that helped her sell M&M and other inventory out of her locker between classes. The first large-scale money-making activity began when she saw how successful a city-wide school dance had been was held downtown at the Anchorage Convention Center. Claudene immediately decided to beat them to the punch by taking the initiative to pre-book monthly dates at the convention center, hiring the best DJ in town, and posting flyers at all the local high schools in town. She said it was just that simple, as no one knew she was behind the operation and everyone still believe the city was putting on the dances… she was making $3000-$5000 per dance.

By all means, Claudene was not a “business hermit.” She trained in gymnastics at a young age and was an instrumental all-around (Beam, Bars, Floor & Vault) state champion gymnast four years in a row. She earned sixteen varsity letters in high school, was a cheerleader, President of her class, school spirit commissioner organizing all the pep rallies, special events, school dances, even a traditional Native Alaskan Snow Dance to summon snow for the annual Iditarod Dog Sled Races; incidentally the next day the snow did fall but Claudene was already on a plane to California for Spring Break with her parents.

Her accolades in youth do not end there, she was Miss Alaska National Teen-Ager, Miss Alaska All American Co-ed, the lead in her high school musicals, opening act for Marie Osmond, and one of the four founding members of the first-ever, nationally-sanctioned, female pole-vaulting team. I believed her when she said she had cleared up to nine feet. Quite an accomplishment for the 5’1″ powerhouse. She proudly told more a story about how last year she was walking by the track & field team practicing at USC when she noticed a girl with a pole-vault… “ya know, I think I am directly responsible for that.” Then she smiled, smirked a little and looked as if she could be pondering the impact she might have had on future Olympians perhaps? She still has the 13 &1/2 foot AMF Pole-vault that her dad had to purchase specially for her and her three team-mates. She explained that ten years ago there were no poles made intended for use by females, so her father had to fly with her to Seattle to the AMF Sporting Goods factory outlet where they had to personally purchase their own pole. Their only option was the smallest pole designed for a male. Claudene took the pole with her when she graduated high school. She says because of the story, the fight to compete and the bonding father/daughter trip, and the unique memories, it is truly one of her most treasured possessions. I now understand clearly that it was never about the height and how many feet from the floor she did or did not clear, it was about the journey and the future impact her efforts may someday have.

Christian Family Background: Rex and Claudene Christian (Senior) were supportive, stable parents that were young Claudene’s sole influence. Claudene was an only-child, her father a Fireman with a knack for building Classic Cars and her mother a full time “Mom”. Claudene kept them plenty busy with her multitude of unique exploits. Proud mom and dad were always there in the audience with the video camera to cheer her on.
Support is the main ingredient Rex and Claudene poured into their daughter’s early years. (Mother and grandmother helped with the paper route.) So it is not surprising that the first $15,000 invested in Collegiate Doll Company came from Rex with no strings attached. Claudene (Senior) was the first pattern-maker after Claudene called home from college during her first semester at USC and asked her mom to help create the first the first proto-type of the USC Song Girl Cheerleader Doll. Later, mother and grandmother churned out an entire batch of University of Washington and Stanford doll-size uniforms to fill a orders to small to source in the Orient.

The Inertia in an idea: How it all began The shortest USC Song Girls, under one foot tall, were conceived, created and then demanded mostly by happenstance.In her freshmen year, Claudene made the World Famous USC Song Girl squad on her birthday, October 18th. She was one of only 2 girls picked that year out of nearly 600 who tried out. I had no idea competition was so stiff and I was impressed! Even more impressive was that she wasted absolutely no time in beginning her next endeavor. Later that same fall semester of her freshmen year, Claudene read a “wish list” that was printed in the Daily Trojan newspaper: “All I Want For Christmas is… a Song Girl In My Stocking.” The reference conjured up a cute, wholesome vision with Claudene in December of 1988. By the end of that school year, Claudene had her mother make a scale model out of the USC Song Girl uniform out of the actual real sweater material, which Claudene just happen to have the bulk material for in her dorm room as she had “Volunteered” to be the rookie squad member to drive the material to the squad seamstress in Orange County. “No one else wanted to drive it all the way across LA, but for me, it couldn’t have worked out better!” Her excitement grew during this part of our interview as she explained that her plan was in motion! The problem now was getting someone to make the tiny pleated skirt. She walked the streets of the garment district in downtown LA, in and out of sweat shops showing her doll and sweater along with a picture of herself wearing her full size uniform. To her surprise, NO ONE was willing to make such a tiny single skirt. I must admit that during this point in her story I actually did not know what I myself would do in this situation. Do you think that stopped Claudene? She ended up convincing her local dry-cleaner (where apparently she was a loyal customer) to make a single tiny skirt for thirty dollars, yes, $30 for one single inch skirt only three inches in size!
For the remainder of that semester through Christmas break, Claudene proudly displayed the miniature USC doll on her dresser. As one might expect, the small scale model drew attention and praise from her perch in Claudene’s dorm room.

“Everyone wanted to the doll. People kept asking if they could buy it from me. Friends on my floor kept carrying it off and I was constantly tracking it down in other friend’s dorms. I even took it outside with me during fire-drills!”

The idea was just too “hot” and Claudene could not get the possibilities out of her mind. She began to investigate the prospect of having the dolls produced. And so began the journey of the “CHEERLEADER DOLL COMPANY”.

By that next Spring of 1989, still a freshmen, Claudene contacted the USC office of Trademark Licensing and applied for a license that, if approved, would grant her permission to market her USC Song Girl Dolls. At the same time she began her quest to find a manufacturer to produce the dolls. She admitted to me that she understands now how naive she was at the time and how she did not know how much she didn’t know.. and just how many obstacles and challenges that lie ahead. She stared out the window and commented just how beautiful the waves were. She told me of how she used to bonfire on the rocky beach in Alaska as often as she could. “Oh The Places You Will Go” she quoted and then laughed…

Good Days and Bad:

The next two years were an amazing roller coaster ride, testing the stamina of any entrepreneur.

Originally, decision makers at USC’s office of Trademarks & Licensing REJECTED the doll idea! When Claudene walked into their offices to retrieve her mother’s handmade proto-type, she was greeted by Liz Kennedy, who at the time was the Vice President of the Collegiate Licensing Administrators, a national governing board of Collegiate Licensing, when she was handed a letter Congratulating her on her status as an official USC LECENSEE! Claudene had overcome her first big obstacle!

to be cont….

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

*To this day, I still get a bit choked up when I think of that exact moment. It’s incredible when you can remember an exact feeling from a specific moment in time over 20 years ago and feel the very same sentiment as if it just happened to you this morning… at that moment in my life, I remember it so clearly… I knew that it was going to impact the rest of my life… because of what happened to me that day.. my life was set on a path.. and now here I sit at my computer ON-LINE BLOGGING about “Oh The Places I Have Been” What an incredible journey so far.. and Im only 20 years in… Yet I feel like I am embarking on an entirely new phase… its refreshing and exciting… Im looking forward to seeing where the next 20 years take me…

Cont. here

Claudene went to the USC Business School Library, where she was turned away because she was not an “official” student in the business school at that time.

Having an (MBA) Masters in Business Administration from USC myself, I was a bit disappointed in USC when Claudene told me this. I hope that someone from the USC School of Business reads this and re-evaluates their library policy. A CURRENT STUDENT IN GOOD STANDING AT USC… WAS NOT ALLOWED IN A CAMPUS LIBRARY??? Oh, USC! It just doesn’t make sense!Of course this did not discourage OR stop Claudene, she knew the book with the manufacturing contacts she needed was in that Library! The next day, she borrowed one of her Sorority sister’s Business School ID cards, marched right back up to the “forbidden library“, flashed it to the library attendant and walked right in!Claudene made a joke “I know, I know.. I’m such a rule breaker”Another obstacle averted!The “Big Book” and she tells me it was actually a very big book, about two and a half feet in height, was full of contacts for “Jobbers” & “Cutters” for product sourcing of toy manufacturers in China. The issue now was contacting these people. “Do they speak English?” “Do I SEND them a letter and picture of my doll?” That would take forever. She decided that sending a fax would serve her purpose quickly and efficiently.Sending faxes to Hong Kong from the local campus Kinkos was too expensive for the amount of work Claudene would have to do. She remembered a former boyfriend with whom she was still on very good terms with, lived and worked in downtown LA and had a fax machine in his home office. So Claudene brought him his favorite “Chile Cheese Fries” from USC’s famous local Mexican take-out “Manny’s,” and with her file of contacts and faxes ready, she paid him a visit.It wasn’t long before Claudene was contacted by Mr. Edmund Lung of Creata Toys International Ltd, a Hong Kong based doll manufacturer. Claudene and Mr. Lung communicated back and forth through fax and mail, using express mail to send pictures and receive sample doll bodies and uniforms.Mr. Lung processed all of the preliminary paperwork until the dolls were ready to be produced.Claudene laughed as she mocked herself again:“I wasn’t a Business Major” as she made finger AIR-QUOTES.

Then a CRISIS OCCURRED:

Just as Claudene was ready to place her first order of USC Cheerleader Dolls, she received news from Hong Kong that Mr. Lung was no longer with the company at Creata. This after months of expensive correspondence with Hong Kong. Creata did, however, refer Claudene to their Los Angeles office (FOR THE FIRST TIME?).

Claudene, determined to change the course of the USC Song Girl Doll History, demanded a second meeting where she would make a formal business presentation to Mr. Slobod and other executives from the US offices of Creata International. Later that same afternoon, Claudene’s roommate and sorority sister, who was well aware everything going on regarding Claudene’s pursuit to bring the dolls to market, ran in to their room, grabbed her and said, “Come on, there is someone who you have to meet who I think might be able to help you. He is a Marketing Professor in the business school and also the campus advisor of the Sigma Chi Fraternity House. He is down there right now playing his guitar on the porch, I told him about you and he wants you to come down and sing with him.” Yes, she said SING!Did I forget to mention that Claudene is a seasoned singer who has performed live, hundreds times since her early teens.Nick Anderson was a pepper gray hair old man who looked a lot like “Chris Cristopherson.” There he sat, just as Kristy had promised, on the Sigma Chi Fraternity front porch with a crowd of forty or more singing away to classic songs like American Pie and Bobby McGee.Claudene and Nick made fast friends, and in addition to the hours of time spent singing camp fire songs, he was able to provide Claudene with some much needed advice and insight as to how to approach her first “grown-up” business presentation.Nick told her to be herself! Don‘t act like you know everything about their business because they will respect you more if you are honest in what you need from them. Every business presentation is different and serves a specific purpose. Taylor your proposal to them. Share your vision! and most important… “Go in there with all the personal charisma, intensity and charm that people love about you!”Claudene felt as if she finally had a mentor…. Her own personal mentor. Nick Anderson is a Professor of Personal Sales and Marketing in the USC School of Business. His classes always have a waiting list and he is extremely popular with students on campus. Claudene now had access to Nick and his wealth of advice on speed dial. And she wasn’t even an official student of the, coveted Business School.Dressed in a crisp red business suit, Caudene’s second meeting with Mr. Cliff Slobod and the executives at Creata International Ltd, including the National VP of Sales and Marketing, VP of Distribution and a handful of others, went off with out a hitch. Claudene emphatically explained how the USC doll was only the beginning! She explained the size of the Collegiate market and that she had plans to acquire licensing from a major portion of the 300 division 1 schools. She explained that with just one hundred universities, she could easily sell between 100,000-300,000 dolls annually.With her intensity, charisma and charm, just as Nick Anderson advised… Claudene sold her vision!Creata agreed to produce her first order of USC Cheerleader Dolls with a minimum order of 3000 dolls.She called this presentation the first of many she was to make in front of “Gray Haired Men Over 50.”

Song Girl Dolls Hit Campus:

Fast-forward to late November 1991, Claudene was now a senior. Three full years after Claudene began her pursuit to bring her doll idea into fruition, the first small shipment of dolls had been airmailed to the Gamma Phi Beta house on sorority row in Los Angeles. Her dolls would FINALLY get to market and on the shelves of the USC Bookstore, literally two days before the last home football game of the season. For the first time in three years, Claudene Christian has tangible proof in the existence of Collegiate Doll Company.

“There they were sitting on the shelves of my own campus bookstore! Physical proof of all my hard work despite all those people telling me No, No, No along the way, but I did it.. I really did it. And it was still football season, the last game, my senior year…Talk about cutting it close!”The First Lesson In Operations and Logistics:The dolls were due to arrive through the Port of Los Angeles and Claudene was quickly learning the ins-and-outs of the freight forwarding and import business. Rex flew down to help his daughter with the operational dilemmas, as 3000 dolls were being delivered, but the USC Bookstore had only placed an initial first order of 100 dolls. Rex and Claudene rented a UHAUL and Public Storage close to campus to store the other 2900 dolls. The dilemma quickly turned from a storage issue, to a fulfillment and delivery issue, as the USC Bookstore sold out within a week and ordered another 1000 dolls during the following month for Christmas. The dolls were flying off the shelves and Rex and Claudene quickly realized that this new dilemma, was a good one.While Rex was in town, Claudene had reserved a booth where she could showcase samples of the Cheerleader dolls at a Sports Memorabilia Tradeshow and Fundraiser on USC campus. At the show, the response from fans and alumni was overwhelming.Also during the show was a live auction, where Claudene had her heart set on a USC National Championship game ball from the 1960’s signed by the entire team. Rex told Claudene that she could bid up to $200. The auction came and Claudene raised her hand at the appropriate times to raise her bid as her father gave her permission. When her $200 maximum was out bid by another few interested parties, Claudene was bummed but stood there to see who ended up with the ball and at what price. Finally the auctioneer yelled out SOLD and pointed to someone at the back of the crowd… Claudene turned around to find that her own father, Rex, had been the winning bid at $340. She ran up to him and gave him a hug and then they both proudly walked up to collect their ball. She said that her dad never ceased to amaze her. She was so proud of him. He sent her to USC on a Fireman’s Salary and practically had to build and sell a car every semester to pay tuition. Claudene knows how lucky she is to have such supportive parents. She is appreciative, and it shows!Befriended? A Tough Lesson in Life:Most notable new friend from the show, and new fan of both the dolls AND of Claudene, was famed former USC football player Anthony Davis (A.D.). AD and his business partner, another USC Alum, offered to help Claudene market and sell the dolls through retail chain stores such as Target. When Claudene later received the contract the “gentlemen” expected to have her sign, granting them 50% royalty on all wholesale sales- FOREVER, she had some choice words to add, in person!After a brief period, discussing the events of the preceding two years, I got the feeling that there was another side to the cheery, engaging Claudene. There was a not-entirely-hidden “tough-as-nails” attitude beneath the chipper facade of the ex-pole-vaulting “mighty-mite!”Current Dilemmas at Collegiate Doll Company:Now, a year later (November 1992, the current date this article was written) Claudene confessed that she needed our interview to renew her infatuation with the doll business – she was at a tough crossroads.She solicited about twenty-five of the largest universities in the country, and received permission to market their representative cheerleader dolls. The dolls are now on the shelves at Stanford, The University of Washington and UCLA. The problem is: bookstores need to continually re-order all year long, but only in small quantities of (100-500) dolls at a time. Creata will only produce uniformed dolls with a minimum order of 3000. (Hence the 500 or so Washington Husky & Stanford uniforms hand sewn by the Christian family, and dressed on excess USC inventory)Not wanting (or not having the cash flow) to invest in and warehouse 3,000 of each school’s doll, Claudene must decide weather to find alternate retail outlets and/or fins another supplier of dolls. Since Creata so willingly agreed to work with her in her early stages, and the dolls have the wholesome appearance she is so satisfied with, Claudene is unwilling to leave Creata. The middle ground then is to buy 3000+ (naked) dolls from Creata while producing uniforms in smaller batches at a local garment shop. Of course, a local assembly crew would also have to pack-out the dolls for delivery.An assumption in all this is that Claudene’s family, and personal network, can fund new orders, as long as the guarantee of sales is there. This is quite a bit of research and decision making for a part-time entrepreneur without a formal business background. Claudene admits she wishes she would have been allowed to take courses in the Entrepreneur Program at USC, however since she was not in the business school, she has had to proceed with her Communications and Sports Marketing degree and common senses. Along the way she has found no shortage of advice, mostly because she is quick to ask for it, and always ready to listen. Rex Christian bought her a copy of How to Start a Business in Southern California, a complete guide that helped her with certain stages of business development.Claudene boldly states, “May be someday they will be reading my book The Student Entrepreneur.”USC, do you see the Irony?Claudene’s Other Activities:Currently Claudene is in charge of special promotions at Hollywood Park Horse Racing Track. She was hired on for this position after spending many lunch hours sitting in the rural park-like setting of the Clubhouse dining during race days, where she constantly submitted proposals for her promotional ideas directly to the race track Marketing Department. She describes her approach at that time like the annoying character in the Movie To Die For played by Nicole Kidman, where she played an over-eager weather girl who literally kept bombarding her station manager with ideas until they finally caved in and hired her on.She is also working directly with the Los Angeles Kings on an idea she came up with and proposed for an all-girl precision ice skating/cheerleading team that would perform in between periods at King’s home games. She has made significant progress and has since teamed up with Ice-Capades to assist with auditioning and training of the girls.Claudene also works special events for Superior Galleries Sports Collectibles Auction House in Beverly Hills, where she travels with a security guard to baseball card conventions around the nation as the Hostess of the “World’s Most Expensive Baseball Card” the Honus Wagner, currently owned by Wayne Gretzky and LA Kings Owner, Bruce McNall,Claudene created these jobs through networking contacts she met during her internship as a production assistant and teleprompter operator on the show “College Football Today” and as an apprentice sportscaster with Prime Ticket’s “Press Box.”With confidence and enthusiasm, she has the ability to promote her ideas to anyone she meets. A fantastic summary of her talents is the fantastic over-the-top 21^st birthday party she threw herself at the Shark Club downtown LA, in which she appropriately coordinated the evening of USC’s Homecoming Football game. She convinced the venue to host the party FREE of charge for both her birthday and as a Homecoming celebration for USC Football Players and students. She got the Trojan Marching Band to come directly from the game and play a concert at the club, had Prime Ticket produce a special USC Football highlight video including clips of her as a Song Girl, invited VIP dignitaries and current athletes from the Raiders, Kings and Lakers. Most notable in attendance was former Raider Ronnie Lott, and the owner of the Laker’s, Dr. Jerry Buss, who also lent her and her parents his private limo and driver for the evening. Also in attendance was Miss California, Paige Adams…who incidentally happened to be Claudene’s current roommate and best friend. Claudene said the party was absolutely perfect! That is was just as “Cheesie” and over-the-top as she had hoped it would be!Personal Characteristics:

Above all else. Claudene’s success, with Collegiate Doll Company and other activities, has been fueled by her intense personality. While, the USC Song Girl Doll idea had a enough demand behind it to survive it’s rocky beginnings and the ride down the learning curve, Claudene has had the fortitude to keep going, always with high spirits and optimism. All along the way, she was able to inspire others to share her vision and offer their help.

She has tremendous creativity, probably from her diverse past activities and supportive childhood. She also has the strength to get tough and the ability to be professional and businesslike when she finds a demanding occasion.The way she sums up her good fortune, “People see me as a young person, just like they once were themselves. Everyone’s been really helpful, like they want to help their daughter.”I personally think they find her interesting and her personality is someone you simply want to be around.Advice to Others:Claudene, with admirable modesty, has always hated the way the end of her interviews “sound” on the written page. I agree that other articles I have read about Claudene and her company have been ineffective in accurately conveying her infectious demeanor. You have to be there to receive the full effect of her words, and to feel the confidence she sincerely means to deliver with her unstoppable enthusiasm. When I asked what advise she would have for new entrepreneurs. She replied, “My best advice is to keep your mind on the big picture and your eyes on the goal, honestly – you really can do it! I’m dead serious, look at me, I’m living proof!”

And a living doll…