Meet Steven and Kristin Rho: Cofounder of Big Future Toys

We had the good fortune of connecting with Steven and Kristin Rho and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Steven and Kristin, as a parent, what have you done for you children that you feel has had the most significant impact?
Growing up as kids of Asian immigrants, we were exposed to a pretty narrow definition of “success.” For our parents, success was about having a respectable job and a lot of money. Happiness and “fulfilling your purpose” were secondary.

We’ve flipped those priorities for our own kids. Thanks in large part to our parents, we’re in a pretty good place financially, and we’re confident that our kids will be able to make a decent living as well. That gives them room to focus on what they really love and are innately good at.

The most important thing we’re doing as parents then is to help our kids develop their unique passions so they can use them for a purpose bigger than themselves. We keep our eyes open for our kids’ fascinations and support them in those things by cheering them on, helping them find additional resources, and connecting them with inspiring people in those fields.

Ultimately, our kids need to decide how they’ll spend their lives, but as parents we’re providing the conditions for them to grow their talents and passions so they can share those gifts with the world.

What should our readers know about your business?
We started Big Future Toys in 2017 because we saw that so many children’s toys were cheap, plastic junk headed for the landfill or the oceans. It seemed wrong that toys, which are supposed to benefit kids, were actually harming their futures instead. We had an idea that we could do better by making long-lasting, beautiful toys from sustainable materials and maybe our success would kick off a change within the toy industry at large. So we started making toys out of our garage out of sustainable wood, using minimal packaging, and pledged to plant a tree for every toy purchase. Today, we’ve planted more than 6,000 trees throughout the world, and are planning to plant many more.

Building this company certainly hasn’t been easy, but we’ve been blessed by the support of so many friends and family members. We’re a bootstrapped company so we don’t have piles of cash laying around. Instead, we’ve used Kickstarter to raise funds for the initial production runs of our toys and have been reinvesting everything back into the company so we can continue to grow.

One key lesson we’ve learned is that the ideal of the heroic founder that achieves everything on his own is wrong. Sure, founders need to put in the work, but businesses are really built by communities. Your customers, your staff, and your friends and family are really what make your business successful. We’re so grateful for our community that has made Big Future Toys possible.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We love to eat and we could spend the whole week on Buford Highway doing just that. There’s such a variety of delicious food: Food Terminal and Mamak for Malaysian food, Nam Phuong and Lee’s Bakery for pho and banh mi, So Kong Dong and Hello Chicken for spicy tofu soup and Korean fried chicken, El Rey del Taco for tacos. The list goes on.

We also like to get outside, so we’d probably throw in some hiking at Sweetwater Creek Park and Henry Mill Falls Trail to work off some of those calories. Then get back to eating. The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Katy Mallory from Slumberpod

Website: www.bigfuturetoys.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bigfuturetoys

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bigfuturetoys

Image Credits
Johna Castro