Ahead of the curve, part 1: the helmet designer bringing diversity to sports, with Tina Singh of Bold Helmets

T Singh 0:00

I think there's people who are just used to doing things the way they've always been done. And, you know, I can't tell you the number of people who told me that you'll never get to the end of this. I had a design engineer firm tell me that they wouldn't work with me because they didn't think I would get to the end of it.

TS 0:17

Welcome to Made For Us, a podcast about the intersection of innovation and inclusion. It's for anyone who's curious about how to develop products that work better for all of us. I'm your host, Tosin Sulaiman. My guest today is Tina Singh, the founder of Bold Helmets. In Twenty twenty-two, the company launched the first safety certified multi sport helmet for Sikh kids who keep the hair uncut because of their faith. As an occupational therapist who worked in the area of head and brain injuries, Tina wasn't willing to compromise on a helmet for her three boys. In our conversation, Tina tells me how she started the project without any experience or contacts in the helmet industry, and why she believes many more people beyond the Sikh community could benefit from her reinvention of the helmet.

This is the first of two episodes on inclusive helmets. Look out for my conversation with Randy Swart, director of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, and advocacy program explaining helmet technology to consumers.

R Swart 1:14

We've always had quite a appreciation for the need for helmets to fifth a broad range of heads. If you can't get a helmet that fits your head, you got trouble.

TS 1:29

Now here's my conversation with Tina. She started by telling me what life was like before Bold Helmets.

T Singh 1:39

So my name is Tina Singh. I'm an occupational therapist, digital content creator, mom of three and founder and CEO of Bold Helmets. So I'm an occupational therapist by profession. And so I spent many years working in the area of head injury. And so I had my own practice that I ran for for several years. And then I became a mum. And I say that's a really important part of my career trajectory, or it is for anyone, because it really does impact the way you do work and how you how you work. And so I had three kids pretty, pretty close together. And so I was continuing sort of that part time work. But in between I focused on becoming a digital content creator and religious journaling my life through through parenting and my experience with my kids. I think many people can probably relate to the feeling of, you know, the days are long, but the years are short, I felt like months were falling off the calendar. And there's no real footage or memory of me actually in anything. It was always like, well, here's a great photo of my kids. But you know, the parents are nowhere to be seen. And so I wanted to sort of document that journey. And so that's what I started doing. And I continue to do even while Bold Helmets is sort of in full force.

TS 2:48

So when did your son start cycling? And can you explain the issue that you had with traditional helmets and why they didn't fit?

T Singh 2:56

Yeah, so when my oldest son was about five years old, and now my eldest son, he was very quick to like, learn scooters, and skateboards, all those things. But when he was really young, you know, my boys are Sikh, they keep their hair. So they have, you know, a top knot, or we call it a juda, and they wear a patka, which is small cloth headcovering. And when they were really young, their hair wasn't that long. And so we used to use traditional bike helmets, and it wasn't perfect, but it was okay. But as my son hit about five years old, and he was also becoming more adventurous on bikes, I think that's when a lot of kids are learning to ride bikes. But this this one kid was like ahead of the game with that. And so when he was becoming more adventurous, and I want to encourage that, but said, you know, well, you have to wear a helmet.

And you know, of course, as an occupational therapist working in head injury, that wasn't something I was willing to compromise on. I realized what a big issue it was. And so I tried tying his hair in in different ways to get the helmet to fit. And needless to say, he hated it because he wasn't used to it. As a parent, it wasn't convenient for me, either. Every time he wanted to jump on his bike or do something different to to make that change as well. And the traditional bike helmets, they would just sit so high up on his forehead, that they weren't actually offering the level of protection that he needed, right. If he was to fall on the floor, his head would actually his face would hit the floor, because helmets are sitting so high up because of the top knot doesn't allow them to come down all the way.

TS 4:19

Given that you were an occupational therapist, were you working with kids? Can you talk a little bit about that, and how that brought the issue of safety home to you?

T Singh 4:28

Yeah, so when I was working with clients with head injury in the community, I was doing a lot of assessment and treatment for those who've been in motor vehicle accident. So not a lot of bike related injuries. However, many people with different head and brain injuries sustained from different areas. And I worked with a wide range of clients actually. So I did the full spectrum from kids all the way up to seniors, actually. So, you know, for me, I think it's more the long term impact of that. It's, you know, I think when people think of head injuries, they think of something that's like sudden and severe and it can be but there's a lot of of, you know, lifelong challenges that come from a close traumatic head injury, which is not, you know, a gash, that the head, it's a closed head injury. And so when we think about biking and cycling, I'm like it just to me, it just makes sense to wear a helmet to protect yourself, you know, and we know what helmet can protect you in every situation, but we know a wealthy helmet can help reduce your risk by up to like, sixty nine percent. And so for my kids, I wanted to make sure they had an option. And I knew that I was not the only parent dealing with the same struggle.

TS 5:28

So you discussed this with other parents from the same community, and how were they getting around the the challenge themselves?

T Singh 5:36

So my husband is a turban wearer as well. And so he talks about a little bit of, you know, his experience growing up, and that, you know, the kind of just may do, and I'm talking about the Eighties and Nineties, where a lot of people didn't wear helmets. And you know, we know more now, so we do more now. But, you know, I talked to him a little bit, I knew my, in my own family, my husband has four brothers, and we all have kids, or most of them have kids. And so I talked to them and got their experience. And it just seemed like a struggle we just faced. And I talked to a couple other people in the community that told me that they would just cut holes in the foam of helmets. That's what we did. So initially, we we just tried to shave out the foam a little bit the best we could, you know, knowing what I know, now, I would never do that. But at that time, it felt like the best solution.

But it seemed like parents around me were just making do and then they would, for example, change the way they tied their kids hair for things like hockey, which is a helmet mandated sport. And then at a certain age, their kids just leave hockey, right. So that's what seems to be the trend. I don't have research on that. But that seems to be the trend from the people that I've spoken to. And then you know, my husband shared his own experience of, you know, wanting to play organized baseball, right. And this was a time when the Blue Jays so our team here in Toronto was in the World Series. And so, you know, baseball was top of mind for everyone. And so he could he could play with friends, but he couldn't play in any organized fashion because of the helmet issue. And so that seems to be an issue for our community and that parents are choosing sports in which there is no mandated helmet.

TS 7:06

Do you think some people feel like they have to choose between participating in sports and observing their religious practices?

T Singh 7:15

I think there is a level of that. Yes, I do think you know, even when we talk about parents who who choose to put their kids in soccer and basketball, even though their kids might be interested in baseball, or hockey, I think there's a level of choice there. That's one thing. I do think, you know, I've noticed from people that like I said, at a certain age, they are leaving. So when they're younger, and their parents can tie their hair to the back or do something different. They'll participate in the sport, and then they start leaving the sport. I do think that there's a level of choice that they're making, the choice that they're making, is to not participate in sports. And we want to move away from kids and families and parents having to make that choice based on a piece of equipment, right? If you want to participate and you want to wear a helmet, there should be an option for you.

TS 7:58

I read in previous interviews that you've done, that you had the idea for both helmets for about five years before you actually started working on it. Can you tell me about what was going on during that time? And you know, what was it that actually made you decide to write a business plan and say, I'm going to do this now?

T Singh 8:17

Yeah, so it was a long journey from the first thought to when it actually came to life. So it's actually been more than five years, my oldest son is eleven. Now. So about six years ago, I said to my husband, there has to be a really easy modification and maintenance work. It doesn't seem that hard. That's what I said to him. And you know, him the way he grew up his experience, he said, You know, I think it's fine. And I was like, I don't think it's fine. So, you know, we went along with that for a while, then we started pulling, you know, some of the foam out of the helmet made it fit a little bit better. It wasn't perfect. But then it wasn't till about, you know, honestly, I think, you know, the whole pandemic actually helped propel this a little bit. Like, just before the pandemic, I turned to my husband said, I feel like I've sat on this for so long that I should just, you know, pull the plug on this and do it. And, you know, he kind of said to me, Well, what are you waiting for? And you know, it just felt like such an overwhelming thing. So I'm an occupational therapist. Yes, I know about head injury, but I don't know about product. I don't know about how to run this kind of business. I've run a social media business, I've run an occupational therapy business, but I don't know how to do this. And he said, you know, just well look into it. Right?

So that's, I started doing the research really, actually even before that point. So what does it take to build a helmet? I reached out to you know, different helmet manufacturers and I was just cold emailing. I didn't have contacts with anyone to say, you know, I want to build this specific type of type of helmet. Can you point me in the right direction? Is this something you are willing to help with or whatever, and I really didn't know where to start. So I collected a lot of information, did a lot of research in terms of standards, what's required? Who even does this? And so I did a lot of that then I started on it some more. Honestly, the truth is, it felt overwhelming. It still feels overwhelming. But then eventually, I found enough information. I drew out a very rough and ugly what I thought the helmet should look like, which I think should just follow the shape of the kids. But gar had covering. And you know, I talked it over with my husband. And then we, I found a design engineer. And it was extremely expensive as the startup to take that plunge. Because I made that commitment and sort of let it span over so many years. But yeah, it took a long time to actually get started from when I had the first idea of it. It's been a long time.

TS: 10:31

And when you did your research, did you sort of look to see if anyone else in the world was doing this? And like, what did you come up with?

T Singh: 10:39

Yeah, the first thing I did was try to look for a helmet like this and that I saw that there was nothing available. And I thought, how can there be nothing available? There's nothing that seemed like it would work for our kids, I kind of thought, Okay, let's just let this pass, it's fine. They're going to learn how to ride it'll be okay. And just then my boys got into hockey, my older too. And I thought to myself, Okay, this is like an ongoing thing. And so we tried to tie their hari like, super loose, so the helmet would fit on and the hockey helmet is, you know, there's a facemask involved. So there's much more involved in the fitting of that. And that's when I realized, I'm like, this is not going to stop, this is going to get worse and worse. And I want my kids to pursue whatever they want to pursue. And I'm a firm believer in having your kids in sports keeps them focused on positive things versus all the outside influences, they might be getting as be something they care about it. So I didn't want to lose that. Now my older two have kind of stepped away from hockey a little bit, but I have a feeling they're gonna go back. Still, I know many kids like mine who are in talking, I want to make sure that they have access to what they need. It was really when I realized the problem wasn't going away that I put things more into full force.

TS: 11:42

How confident were you that there were enough people with this problem, and that the market was big enough, and that this was a sustainable business?

T Singh: 11:51

I'm gonna say I didn't know, I'm going to say that I knew that there's people around me basis issue. I knew that it was bigger than me. And I went into this, I said to my husband, who was much more level headed than me that, you know, I'm worried that we're investing all this time all this money. And what if we don't get to the end of it? Like, why don't we don't get to the end of a product that's actually certified that we can use? Or what if we do and then no one wants it. And he said, you know, if we help like one family and one kid just go in with that mindset you'd go in with, you're gonna help your own kids, and one other kid. So I'm very thankful that we did get to the end of it and a safety certified product. But we went in with the mindset that even if it works for one, that's good enough, and this could be a form of seva, which we call it in in Seiki Seva, selfless community service. And so this would be my form of selfless community service, if that's all I did with it.

TS: 12:44

Okay. And I'm just curious to get your take on why do you think none of the helmet manufacturers had done this before?

T Singh: 12:55

So I think that there, I think there is as a smaller market, there's no question that is a smaller market of sick kids who are needing helmets, like we look at Canada, there's eight hundred thousands Sikhs in Canada. In the UK, there's about five hundred thousand. US there's five hundred thousand. I mean, India, it's like 26 million. Right. So I think that we are a underrepresented community in sport. And I don't think we're the only one, I'll say that I think there's many groups that could require some modified equipment who have been making do with what they have.

I'm thinking of a woman who was recently talking about the fact that she's an equestrian and can't get a big enough helmet to fit her dreads into. And that was a big conversation that her and I had. And so we're definitely not the only group. And I think that one of the reasons that the big manufacturers didn't tackle this as a could be they don't think it's a big enough market, or B, I think there's people who are just used to doing things the way they've always been done. And, you know, I can't tell you the number of people who told me that you'll never get to the end of this, I had a design engineer firm told me that they wouldn't work with me because they didn't think I would get to the end of it. So I think that there's a lot of people that don't want to change the way they do things, or they don't have one hundred percent faith in what you're doing. And so I think we, you know, we are an underrepresented community. And that is probably the biggest reason.

TS: 14:13

And you said earlier that when you started this, when you embarked on the journey, you didn't really know much about design or about the industry. Can you talk a little bit about the learning curve that you had to go through.

T Singh: 14:27

So I'm still learning every single day, every minute of every day in this space again, because it's very new for me. I think the learning curve was so steep that I am okay to admit that my mental health was really not in a great place for a lot of it because it constantly felt like every day, something was like show up in my inbox, and I'd be like, oh my goodness, I've missed this or, Oh, my goodness, this is something I had to think about. Or, you know, I didn't know about, you know, this test or that, you know, whatever it may be. I felt like I was challenged every single day. It was an extreme In the steep learning curve, and I wish that I had a mentor in this space, the helmet industry is one where there's like some really big key players. And then there's very few small, independent brands. Recently, I have reached out to some of those small, independent brands. And they've been extremely supportive and helpful, which I'm really happy to report. But I wish I'd had a mentor through the process because it would have made it so much less painful.

TS: 15:25

And I guess also, like you are trying to do something that's completely new that hasn't been done before. And you're essentially challenging people's perceptions of what a helmet should look like. What did that feel like, when you spoke to people that said, You're not gonna get to the end of this?

T Singh: 15:45

Honestly, it was really discouraging, because we were like the person or the one firm that said to me, and this is a design firm, I'm gonna pay money to to create this design, who was like, We won't take your money, because we don't think you're gonna get to the end of this. So that, for me was a little bit disheartening, but I think it taught me early on that you need to find the right people like I think, finding the right people who believe in your vision, who believe that it's possible, who like me felt like this wasn't a major change, and would significantly improve the chances of kids wearing helmets from this group. And it's what we've designed is one hundred percent better than not wearing a helmet, right. And so I think I learned the importance of finding the right team early on. And even though it was discouraging to hear that, ultimately, it helped me be selective as to who I work with.

TS: 16:28

And I'm curious, what was their reason? Why would they say certain that you wouldn't succeed?

T Singh: 16:33

So their email to me, which I didn't follow up on, naturally, their email to me was, like, you know, Tina, we're really happy that you're taking this on. However, we've just seen helmet projects end up in multiple iterations, and you keep having to modify and adopted that you run into money, right? Because it does get very expensive. And, you know, I knew that that was a possibility. But I was still willing to try. And so that response right away to me meant, you are already prepared to not have this succeed. And so they were not the right partner for me. And I did find the right partner eventually, but it wasn't them.

TS: 17:09

And so how, how did you fund that? Did you keep working as an occupational therapist the whole time?

T Singh: 17:16

So I was working very part time as an occupational therapist doing direct client treatment. Now I've moved to a completely non clinical role. So I consider myself non clinical OT. But it was more of a social media work is kind of what funded this project. And then on top of that, it was also personally funded by us as well. We're now at a point where it can no longer personally funded but thankfully, we have a product now.

TS: 17:38

So you eventually got to the stage where you had a final product that was ready to launch. Can you describe v1 of the product? Who can use it? What does it look like? What can it be used for?

T Singh: 17:53

Yeah, so it looks like a traditional bicycle helmet with a little bit of a dome feature on the top where their hair goes. Imagine you have your hair on top not it could be anyone, right? So right now, the very first product we have is in a size small, it's forty-eight to fifty-six centimeters. In our testing, it fits kidsbout it's five and up. So five to about tweve It really depends on the child, there could be kids who have, you know, maybe a more circular headship, which can happen and so things fit differently. So we always encourage all of our customers to measure their child's head before ordering. Because it's only currently online. We sell in three colors right now. metallic red, metallic blue and matte black. For the upcoming year, we will have it says medium as well. So the current product that is available is a multi sport helmet and that you can use it for a bicycle kickscooter inline skating and skateboarding, I would say it's currently available on our website, only triple W dot bold helmets.com We do have a few select retailers that are carrying it, but very select in select locations.

TS: 18:55

Okay, and where is it available? How much does it cost?

T Singh: 19:00

Yeah, so it's currently available online only we're hoping to get into a few smaller bike retailers in different locations to give people an opportunity to try before they buy.

TS: 19:48

And you got a lot of media attention when when this happened. And you know, I came across the story, as well here in the UK. What was that like for you and your family?

T Singh: 20:00

It was very overwhelming. I can say that. And I can also say that I'm really glad that it had like seven years of social media behind me with putting my face on the internet to prepare me for that. Because with the good comes about and and, you know, it was just a lot all at once I think in the month of January, like I think I did, I don't know, thirty, fifty interviews and like it kept going. It slowed down a little bit now, but I still have the occasional, you know, media engagements that I do. And it's wonderful. It helped propel, you know, our story, our brand, our product. And I think the reason why it got so much media attention is because, again, it's trying to do something different from the way that we've been doing it before. And so I think this whole idea of not participating in sport, because you don't have access to equipment, I think it really brought that to light. And like I said, it's we're not the only underserved sort of group. And so I think that's really why it got a lot of attention.

TS: 20:51

And what's the reaction been like, from consumers?

T Singh: 20:55

Yeah, so I think the reactions that stick with me are the feedback sticks with me as parents saying, you know, thank you, you solve the problem for my child, or, you know, people saying, I wish I had this, when I was a kid, I would have, you know, done this, or this is really important. And, you know, our kids should have this, they should have access, I think that's what stands out to me, because it makes helps me see that, you know, all of that overwhelm, or all of that work that I didn't know how to do that I was scared to take on did in the end, help at least that one person that was my initial goal. So I think for me, that's what stands out to the parents who feel like they have a solution for their kids.

TS: 21:29

And you mentioned that you had sort of the good as well as the bad. And I guess every entrepreneur has to face this. Can you talk a little bit about that? The other side of it, the criticism that you face? And how you coped with that?

T Singh: 21:42

Yeah. So for us there was when we first went into the media, there was a distinction that had to be made. And I think that maybe I should have done a better job of doing this. Those could be on me, it could be on part of the reporters and all that as well. So there is a difference between a turban so a full turban and a patka, which is a small cloth head covering. Our product is made for people who wear a patka, right, so not a full turban. So there's this idea that you're not supposed to cover a turban, or some people feel that you shouldn't cover a full turban, that was never the purpose of this product. And I think that people get worried that their rights are going to be jeopardized, right.

So I think when you say, Oh, here's a helmet for this, then people get worried that we're going to be mandated to wear helmets across the board, all ages, every sport, everything. That's not the case. And I think that that issue is going to just have to sort of like resolve itself. And the law here in Ontario, and many other places, kids under the age of eighteen riding bike need to wear a helmet. That is what it is. And then in addition to that, there was also the naming of the product. So originally, our product launched as a Sikh helmets. And although I still feel like it is one hundred percent what the product is meant to do. And so it's a good name for it, people felt like associated their religion, associating the religion with the product, created confusion. And so, you know, we wanted to be mindful of those community sentiments, and we ended up just pivoting our brand name to bold helmets. And it's actually, you know, a blessing in disguise, because it's worked out much better for us, it helps it aligns with our brand, and what we're trying to do long term. And so, you know, all these things happen, but I think they happen for the best. And, you know, we had to face those initial challenges, which were hard in the very early name pivot. But in the end, we are still doing what we need to do, which is create helmets for Sikh kids who wear patkas.

TS: 23:33

So what's next? What are what are the other products that you have lined up.

T Singh: 23:37

So we'll have a size medium option for our kids who are a little bit older, or maybe the small size didn't work for them. We also have initiated our project for hockey, so a hockey helmet design. It's very early stages, but the designing is happening right now. We also have a ski and snowboard option, which is kind of an easier one for us to tackle because it uses the same shell design as our current bike helmet. It's just the interior. That's different. And so that may be a product for Twenty twenty-four. It's still I'm still not sure yet, but the medium for sure. And hockey is in development. And I hope we have hockey towards the fall of Twenty twenty-four. But again, all these things that depend on you know how testing habits and everything else, but we are we are doing the work to make that happen.

TS: 24:23

I remember reading that there are other potential use cases. Can you talk a little bit about that.

T Singh: 24:29

Yeah. So we've actually had some people reach out to us and you know, I haven't tested this yet, this very early. And we've had people reach out to us and say that this is a product that I would actually use for myself because for example, it's so hot in Australia, we always hire hair up when we're trying to ride our bike and we've never been able to or people just with long hair like me like I like to get my hair tied up especially on a hot day. Right so you we've had people reach out with things like that we've had people with either if they have dreadlocks or some like that, depending on how their kids keep their hair. They said this would actually really work well for my child. or my mixed race child who has a lot of hair. Those are some of the specific messages that I've gotten. We have to test in those in those community groups as well. I do think that there's a potential for other people to use the product as well, which is also why I like the pivot to bold helmets, because we don't want to exclude people that could make use of the helmet, we want people to know that. We made it with Sikh kids in mind. But if it works for you, if it works for your specific, your hair, type your situation, whatever that may be, then I think that's wonderful.

TS: 25:26

And while we're on that topic, can you talk about what kind of demand and interest you've had from countries outside of Canada?

T Singh: 25:32

So we have huge demand from the US and from the UK as well. One of the challenges that I faced with the UK and which is why I want some retailers to carry our product is more like the shipping cost and timeline, right. And then plus, there's like the conversion rate all that and so I want to make it a little cost effective for our customers. And so that's one of the reasons I want to push for some more retailers in the UK. Canada and US has been pretty steady because our shipping from here is not that hard. But when we get to the UK to Germany, that gets much more challenging.

TS: 26:05

How can people follow your work?

T Singh: 26:08

So if you'd like to know more about our product here what's coming up next, we do have a newsletter, or email signup that you can do on our website, triple W dot bold helmets.com That's where we will share any new information. If you want the most up to date information be sure you follow us over on Instagram at Boldhelmets. We share any new products, new shipping locations, anything that's happening there as well.

TS: 26:32

That was Tina Singh, the founder of board helmets. You'll find all the links to learn more in the show notes.

T Singh: 26:40

Book recommendation. I can give this recommendation but I'm not all the way through yet. It's Shoe Dog Nike became a company which is incredibly interesting, especially as he goes through finding his manufacturers and all that it helps me feel not alone in my journey.

Transcribed wit the help of https://otter.ai