For Gamboa, Ageless Innovation much more than pet project

PBN 2023 Business Women Awards
ACHIEVEMENT HONOREE: Meghan Gamboa | Ageless Innovation LLC co-founder and senior vice president

IT WAS A COMBINATION of soccer, Hasbro Inc. and Bryant University that brought Meghan Gamboa to Rhode Island, where she now works as co-founder and senior vice president of marketing and retail sales for Ageless Innovation LLC in Pawtucket.

Gamboa mostly focused on the Ageless Innovation brand called Joy for All, which makes animatronic cats and dogs marketed as a way to bring comfort and companionship to the elderly without the fuss of owning a real pet. The Joy for All cat can purr, meow, close its eyes, open its mouth, turn its head and more. The dog barks, wags its tail and has a “heartbeat” you can feel.

Research has shown that Joy for All’s animals can help combat what has become an epidemic of loneliness among the elderly, which has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinically validated evidence also indicates positive effects for those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

“It’s not just a stuffed toy,” Gamboa said. “It’s important for us to have videos so people can see what they can do.”

Gamboa started working at Hasbro while still attending Bryant, assigned to the company’s on-site testing center. She was at Hasbro for 16 years, eventually reaching the level of senior director of U.S. marketing for franchises and new brands, including My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop. One of her projects was FurReal Friends, a line of electronic robotic animals.

By 2018, Hasbro executive Ted Fischer bought the Joy for All brand from Hasbro in a friendly management spinoff and started Ageless Innovation. A few members of the team at Hasbro who were responsible for Joy for All joined Fischer.

Gamboa had left Hasbro in 2017 to spend more time with her children, but then she heard from Fischer about this new opportunity. “I jumped right back in,” she said. “Best decision I ever made.”

The company now has nine employees, although Gamboa believes the company will be hiring more employees soon. The company, which does not disclose revenue figures, sells products in more than 40 countries. Ageless Innovation has a warehouse in the United Kingdom to serve its European customers and another in the U.S.

“I hope to be doing this a lot longer,” Gamboa said. “We’re just at the beginning of the ways we can bring fun and joy and happiness to older adults.”