It's Anti-bullying Week.

Bullying and gender stereotypes are precursors to larger social issues such as domestic violence. My puppy life exposed me to conflict where my human Mummy couldn’t always be there to protect me. I was loved dearly and the only way Mummy felt she could protect me, and the rest of my family was to pluck up the courage to move far, far away, so that we could make a new life and recover from our trauma.

As an experienced survivor of bullying, I love learning languages and is a stand against bullying. I am all about healthy communication and helping my friends to feel understood and to understand them. My understanding and use of foreign language and experience in living within different cultures and difficult situations gives me compassion and the ability to understand others and resolve issues quickly. I want to show the world what I have learnt and share my experiences to help others, so they don’t have to experience what I did.

I believe that by teaching children, with the help from my pals, about healthy communication, conflict resolution and acceptance of diversity, we will break down traditional gender stereotypes and learn about equality and consent. Creating healthy relationships while raising good self-esteem and eliminate bullying from the inside out.

It’s only by educating children from an early age that we can create a loving and tolerant generation and put an end to bullying and I will aim to be that role model of love, tolerance and the anti-bullying go to for children.

‘A bully won’t stop until his mindset is dropped.’

Much Love

Zuma XX

Brand Licensing Europe 2018 - What a show!

Seems like weeks ago now that we visited BLE, but we are still excited from the buzz and opportunities that are following. Another day where everyone gets to talk about me all day and we really did have a lot of fun. Yay! The weeks after BLE are always busy with follow up meeting and talks with our agent and marketing team and it’s not until November that everyone will be back in the office full time to get on with the next phase.

Some highlights from the show and look.....there's a Pikachu
on Mummy's head.

It’s the third time we’ve attended BLE and this time we had some wonderful meetings and met some great people and we would like to thank those who took the time to meet with us and talk about licensing opportunities with Zuma the Dog going forward.

We’d like to tell you all about these meeting but unfortunately, bound by secrecy until contracts are signed. At least I can give you some highlights and thank those who met with us personally.

HIGHLIGHTS

We won! Yes, that’s correct. We won a prize from the Twitter competition leading up to BLE. It was very exciting going to pick up our personalised ‘Love Island’ water bottle from ITV Studio. The fact we’ve never seen an episode of Love Island didn’t deter us.

Dragging the boy around a big show like BLE, did make us stand out and it can be a little monotonous at time for him, but when we passed by the Sega stand (the boy being a big Sonic the Hedgehog fan besides me of course), we were delighted when Toby Rayfield handed the boy a Sega goodie bag. Totally made his day.

The characters are always the best part of BLE for us. Meeting them, hugging them and having our photos taken. I'm hoping that next year Rainbow Productions will have seen the light and realise they need my in their line up too.

THANK YOU

Martin Lowe from Roy Lowe &Sons Ltd. Always a pleasure to meet with Martin. Socks are a fun necessity and we love his ‘Keep it British’ philosophy.

Marcie Kubik from Emoji One. So friendly and fun to meet. Thank you for allowing us to show you our ideas for Zuma the Dog emoji’s and hope to see you again at future events.

Brain Smith from Popagami. We love your enthusiasm and working with you is always a pleasure.

Ruth Leonard and Johnathan Rose from Hello Communications. We loved meeting you………. finally. Your energy and ideas really bring live to Zuma the Dog’s brand philosophy.

Stephen Gomez from Ty Toys. What an absolute pleasure. We loved your passion for TY and positivity for Zuma the Dog. Thank you for your time and energy.

And finally……………….

Sarah Camp from Weird Lime. She worked tirelessly the whole time. Meeting with licensors, publishers, toy manufacturers, talking all things Zuma the Dog. Hustling, wheeling and do deals all for our benefit.

What a star you are!

We are already looking forward to next year and who knows, we might even have a stand of our own.

 Much Love

Zuma XX

SMALL DOG HEADING FOR THE STARS

A new press release put out by Mummy, Zuma the Dog and its' a whopper. You're gonna want to read this one.

Bertish & Company Ltd, owners of the children’s character brand Zuma the Dog are celebrating today as they announce their new partnership agreement with media production company Transcendent Media Capital Ltd. The two companies are coming together in partnership to create a Zuma the Dog motion picture production company with the same name as the character IP.

Transcendent Media Capital managed by award winning writer, director and producer Peta Milan, who has strong connections with Hollywood, specialises in social and environmental impact content. They use media production and technology initiatives to affect change. 

An animated TV show for children between the ages of 4 and 10 is being developed for Zuma the Dog, intended to teach children communication and conflict resolution skills, tolerance and diversity with strong anti-bullying messaging. Zuma and his pals will encounter all kinds of tricky life situations during their adventures and search for solutions that involve non-violence, boundary setting and effective communication. Full of laughs and mishaps, Zuma and the wisdom of his friends will give practical guidance and teach kids important lessons throughout each episode.

“This is such an exciting step for Zuma the Dog”. Says Samantha Bertish, director of Bertish & Company Ltd and creator of the IP. “Being able to put my character to good use for such a great cause, means so much to me and we are delighted to be partnering with such a prestigious media company.”

Work on the animation development starts later in the Autumn.

Bertish & Company Ltd and Transcendent Media Capital partnering for greater impact. 

Much Love

Zuma

XX

BACK TO SCHOOL

Showering in Old Faithful, Yellowstone

Is it back to school or back to work for you? We’ve had a wonderful vacation time and had the opportunity to see various parts of the world. Now the mornings are beginning to feel colder and there’s a hint of autumn in the air and it really is time to get our heads down and get back to work. Or should I say Mummy needs to get back to work, while I lay around all day staring at her. Just making sure she is working hard enough while cracking the occasional whip. 

Holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa

There’s lots coming up over the next few months and after my recent re brand and new look there’s new people added to Team Zuma the Dog. We welcome Sarah Camp from Weird Lime who is now our marketing, PR and licensing agent, along with Ruth Leonard from Hello Communication who is also working on Team Zuma. I am personally looking forward to them spending most of their waking hours thinking of me and I’m looking forward to working with them.

This brilliant team have years of experience working with well-known character brands and bringing them to market and their first big mission will be representing Zuma the Dog and Brand Licensing Europe, to be held and London's Olympia on the 9^th to 11^th October 2018. They have some fabulous ideas for licensing going forward that I’m sure all of you in the business will love to see.

My suggestion (and take that as more of a cheeky Zuma nudge (possibly with teeth)) 😉 is to make your appointment to see the team sooner rather than later.  

See you there!

Much Love

Zuma XX

A more serious personal note from Mummy

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary since I was violently attacked for the last time in my own home by the one person who vowed to protect me. It was the last time he would physically attack me, although the mental abuse continued to follow years after we divorced. After surgery to repair the damage he caused to my face, I laid in my hospital bed for days baffled as to how, me, a successful, intelligent woman from a middle class background would find myself in this situation. Every day since, I run the events over in my head trying to figure out a way in which I could have reacted differently to prevent such an attack. It was not the first, though I made sure (as he was so close to ending my life) that it would be the last. I live with the memories of that horrific day and the others that lead up to that final attack everyday and although diagnosed with PTDS, I will never allow what he did to me rule my life and take credit for what I have become. Unfortunately my perpetrator went on to attack others leaving them also with terrible emotional and physical scars and because of the amazing UK justice system, this man is still walking the streets (that's a whole other conversation). 

The point I would like to make is that we all go through difficult times, but it's what you take from those experiences and make them work for you is what counts. Life is a series of lessons and its about owning them and learning from them no matter how terrible and using them for your own personal growth. Yes, I still have nightmares and there are times where to go out of the front door makes me want to vomit, but I will never allow one persons heinous actions depict how I live my life, after all it was him with the problem. My therapy is to keep pushing forward with my business to make it a success. I know seeing my brand on TV and in stores all over the world will be a constant reminder to him of what he did. He will never get away from it and my revenge (for want of a better word) is success within my personal and professional life.  

Domestic violence does not discriminate. The after effects do not disappear. I WILL always speak out about my experience because I have nothing to be ashamed of. It's about education, speaking out and breaking down barriers to stamp out domestic violence and bullying of any kind.This experience lead me to write my books, create my award winning brand  and character everyone loves and take me on an incredible journey. I am proud of that! 

I am proud of me!

 #stopdomesticviolence
#metoo

What's out there?

“Zuma! It’s bed time. Do you want wee wees?”

The front door to our log cabin opened as it did every night, ready to let me out for my evening wee before I snuggled with my family in our beanbag for the night. I was met with the usually deep darkness that comes with living in the middle of nowhere. The winter was tough and the cooling spring air was fresh as a night lay still. The blackened forest opposite was quiet, until…..

“Shhhh. Can you here that?” My human breathed gently.

My senses kicked in as my tails stood to attention, twitching in the dark. I couldn’t see a thing in the black, though my nose picked up a smell as my ears pricked up and turned my head to its side to make sense of what I was hearing. Out of the blackness I could hear it. Behind the felled tress and piled up logs cut down by the woodsman, not 10 meters from our secluded home was the start of the forest and a deep thump of a heavy footstep as it cracked sticks and logs in its wake. Something was out there. Something big. We had seen many deer come close to our home before and we had heard of various creatures living out there in the dark, but this, this was nothing we would expect. It was a deep, booming footstep from something large, something heavy, something unusual, something scary. 

What's out there? 

First snow fall in October made for pretty photo's of our forest

-16 degrees in the Swiss Alps. Everything Froze

Zuma has never known it so cold.

The snow didn't stop him from enjoying his walks. 

President Zuma the Dog refuses to step down!

An important announcement 

I would like to take this moment to address the recent events in which there are rumours of my imminent resignation. So that there is no confusion I would like to confirm I am still the president and muse of the children’s entertainment brand Zuma the Dog and the rumours you hear are in fact, fake news.  

I am still just a dog who lives and plays in the Swiss Alps. Over seeing the work my Mum does that has made me the adorable character you all know and love.  The allegations of corruption are simply untrue, unless you consider my barking profusely as the postman and growling at empty plates until I am given the left overs a violation of my presidency and then, of that I am guilty. 

Merchandise for you

I hope this statement has prevented any confusion. I can confirm I work hard at being cute (and its not always easy) for the benefit of my fans and followers. I demand the best efforts of those around me and give my Mum a hard time if she doesn’t walk me enough and take enough photos of me for you all to keep up with my day to day life. I act to the best of my ability for you all, to be naughty enough to inspire my Mum to create new stories and merchandise for you all to enjoy. I pledge to you all, my beloved fans that I will continue with my outstanding work and with that I refuse to step down from my presidency.

Until next time

Much Love

Zuma xx

Ongoing President of Zuma the Dog

Entertainment character