Rachel Cohen was born to be an entrepreneur. The youngest of nine children, she grew up in an award-winning family owned business and contributed to its success. Rachel brings the spirit of innovation and creation to everything she does.
She started as a professional photographer and now runs her own branding agency, plus a teddy bear company, My Bear Jeff, that gives back to kids going through trauma. She has learned the importance of doing work that matters. As a faith-based entrepreneur, Rachel is excited about bringing change and joy to the workplace and to the next generation of little leaders. “With each bear purchased, we give a bear to a child impacted by trauma through our nonprofit, giveback network.” – Rachel Cohen
FWM: You created My Bear Jeff after your trip to Southeast Asia. Tell us about what happened.
In 2015, I went to Southeast Asia for a mission trip. We lived in a small, very remote village for 2.5 months and got to spend a lot of time with the people in the community. We played with the village children every day and got very close to them. There was one girl in particular, Bala, who I spent a lot of time with and she almost felt like my own. When we left our village, there was something in me that didn’t sit right. Spending so much time getting close with the kids and knowing they were facing challenges I could not even imagine, I had a burning desire to support them. Coming back, it was top of mind for me to find a solution or a way to give them the emotional support the needed. I wanted them to feel like someone was there with them through it all. A few months later, I started an Instagram with a big teddy bear (Jeff) and people really caught onto it. Seeing how relatable it was, and remembering how much bears impacted me as a child with my health challenges, I thought of the idea of doing a buy one, give one teddy bear model to support kids facing any challenges they had. They should never have to go through those challenges alone.
FWM: Tell us about your personal challenges.
When I started the business, I knew nothing about the e-commerce or toy space. I dug in, did hours of research, and asked many, many questions. I was very familiar with the service industry but was completely clueless when it came to retail or selling a product. Once the prototype was completed, I decided to run a Kickstarter campaign which was successful and funded the first production order. However, the campaign ended weeks before Covid-19 became a reality. Covid caused close to 6 months of production delays. Fortunately our customers completely understood and were extremely gracious to wait for their bear.
FWM: You did a little soul searching and discovered the Teddy bears sense of security, stability, and comfort for kids. Tell us about My Bear Jeff.
I wanted to design a bear that could provide the same experience of comfort found in stuffed animals that steadied me throughout my own battle with health at a young age. I was born with a heart defect, and went through a difficult and rare procedure at 4 years old. The options were slim for my family and my life expectancy was as low as in the teens. The night before surgery they took family pictures because they just didn’t know if I was going to live through it or what was going to happen… but I had my bears with me, every step of the way. Bears were so huge for me as a child. I never really knew until I was an adult how significant they were. My Bear Jeff is named after the teddy bear I had during tough times. The name “Jeff” actually means “peace.” Each bear features a red heart on the left side to reference my experience with my heart procedure. We also have a blank name tag where kids can name their own bear. The bears are extremely soft and cuddly designed to bring as much physical and emotional support to a child as possible.
FWM: What organizations are you helping?
Children’s Mercy (a local children’s hospital), KidsTLC (works with kids in and out of foster care, facing many kinds of trauma), O.U.R. (Operation Underground Railroad) and Save Our Allies.
FWM: How many Teddy Bears have been donated?
1000 bears have been donated to nonprofits around the US.
FWM: Tell us about the community support for My Bear Jeff.
We have been fortunate to work with a number of local nonprofits and have donated well over 700 bears locally to support our community. Our community has been really excited and eagerly has jumped on board to support the initiates of My Bear Jeff. We’ve received many stories from parents sharing how their child lit up when they got their bear and how it quickly became their favorite/new best friend. We’ve also had many adults purchase bears for themselves because they’ve really resonated with the story and they love the softness and cuddliness of the bears.
FWM: What would you LOVE to see happen for the holidays?
Our goal is to donate another 500 bears during the holiday season. We will be doing pop ups at some local businesses including our local Nordstrom location.
My Bear Jeff IG/FB/LinkedIn: @mybearjeff
My personal IG: @therachelcohen
