Who? Zatswho: Jefferson Native Creates Educational Toy

A Jefferson native is crafting a third act for her life as a business owner after years of characterizing herself as the stable source of income in the household.

Trish Ginolfi Cooper was CFO of a small telecommunications company in Parsippany, while her husband, Paul, also a former Jefferson resident, owned a business and worked construction and other jobs more dependent on outside factors.

“I figured I’d have a job forever,” she said.

That confidence ended as the economy collapsed.  She took two days for a pity party, then turned to sketching and reevaluating her skill set.

“I had a random resume,” she admitted. Not willing to go back to the corporate world, Cooper “started thinking about how the third act of my life was going to play out.”

One constant for the 1976 Jefferson High School graduate has always been her art. One new factor was Gianna Schwinof, her first grandchild, then eight months old. Never short on craft supplies or imagination, Cooper started making toys for Gianna. One was a big hit.

Christened  Zatswho™, the game grew out of Gianna’s wanting to hold photos and ending up wrinkling them.

“She ruined quite a few,” Cooper said.

The idea to protect photos turned into the flashcard game that places the photos into colorful and flexible holders. Six holders of different colors fit into a bright pouch. All are washable and the holders can either be sealed to totally protect the photo, or left open along one side so the photos can be changed.

Gianna’s first set featured photos of her dad, Bill, who was deployed first in Iraq, then in Afghanistan. Now 3, Gianna loves looking at photos of her “Poppy,” Trish’s father, Albert Ginolfi, who died last year. “Big Al” was the original Al of Al’s Sunoco on Espanong Road in Lake Hopatcong. Now Cooper’s older brother, Albert, runs the station. 

 Trish and Paul have lived in Hope for many years and Trish debuted the game at the Hope Christmas Craft Market in 2009. Zatswho was featured at Toy Fair in 2010 and has been taking off ever since.

The flash cards can be used by caregivers to teach face recognition. They are a fun way to spend quality time with infants and toddlers while teaching them about their loved ones. The photos are on one side of the flash cards. On the back are cutouts for teaching basic shape, matching and sequencing.

First promoted as a baby gift, Zatswho is proving to be more. Older children can learn about family that lives at a distance through photos of family groups, Cooper said in a recent interview. The game can also be used by senior citizens with memory issues, she added.

Recently, Zatswho was ranked in the top 10 of AblePlay toys. These toys are ranked by the National Lehotek Center, a central source for information on toys and play for children with special needs. The toys are ranked from 1 to 5 as suitable for children with four types of disability: communications, cognitive, sensory and physical. Zatswho is ranked 4 out of 5 in communication and cognative and 3 out of 5 in sensory and physical.

Cooper has received national publicity in the Wall Street Journal and on the Fox Business Network as well as notice in New York news outlets. She sells online at www.zatswho.com and hopes to be featured in specialty stores.