Genna Rosenberg is a 30-year toy, licensing and entertainment industry executive, focused on the intersection of social impact, consumer products and business strategy. She is also a major foodie!
A longtime Angelino transplant from NY, Rosenberg spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her mom and dad, when she was growing up. A more conservative orthodox household, they ate lots of “Jewish” food, during and beyond the holidays.
“My mother said she cooked to provide food for us, but my father used to love to cook and to really create lots of different masterpieces in the kitchen, and I really follow suit with that,” Rosenberg, who has run GennComm for the past 13 years,told the Journal. “I love to explore, I love to create new recipes and bring fabulous dishes to the table.”
Creativity serves her well in the kitchen and as a publicist and changemaker in the toy industry. Last month, Rosenberg was named 2025 Wonder Woman Catalyst for Change by a global empowerment organization: Women in Toys, Licensing & Entertainment.
Rosenberg fell into the toy industry; she was working as a publicist for an agency in the
Pico Robertson, when they started to get a lot of toy and licensing company clients.
“I thought I was gonna go into nonprofit work; I worked at the National Organization for Women in college,” she said. “But once I fell into the toy industry, I learned a different side of philanthropy, which is corporate social responsibility; it really lit me up.”
Big and small companies have opportunities to be more inclusive in hiring, product lines and advertising; break down stereotypes and/or have extra inventory to give to people and companies that need it most. And Rosenberg loves being that conduit.
“When I was a little kid, some of my earliest toys were a play tea set or a pretend kitchen or plastic food,” she said. “Then throughout my career I’ve had a lot of really fun connections with food-based toys.”
For instance, she helped launch the Girl Scout Cookie Oven, based on the Easy Bake Oven, and worked with Duff Goldman, who came out with a Duff Goldman Cake Bakery that helped kids make little fondant cakes.
“When the Cabbage Patch Kids were turning, I think, 35 years old, we had a big birthday party for them at the Toys R Us in Times Square,’ she said. “And we had Duff Goldman come in and make a huge giant Cabbage Patch Kids cake.”
Rosenberg added, “I will say that [treats from] the Duff Goldman Cake Bakery and even the Girl Scout Cookie Oven, they tasted good.”
The toy industry also has pretend food galore!
“Compounds like Play-Doh [and others] might come with different molds, so that kids can make their pretend cakes or french fries or hamburgers,” she said.
GennComm does inventing, as well, and has six different patents on squishy toys and sensory tactile toys. They create a lot of toys with their licensing partners based on memory foam and plush. One of them is a squeezable that looks like a piece of cake.
In the video, you can see Rosenberg pull out a puzzle she has of 100 Jewish foods.
Cooking is also one of the best ways to be creative, though many people prefer to follow a recipe.
“I might look at a recipe or I might look at three or four or five different recipes for the same thing,” Rosenberg said. “Then I make it up my own way because there’s not really one way to do things.”
One of her favorite recipes to mix things up with is matzo brei; her recipe is below.
Learn more about Genna Rosenberg at GennComm.com and connect on LinkedIn.
For the full conversation, listen to the podcast:
Genna’s Matzo Brei Your Way
1 serving
This recipe is a good base for you to get creative with and can easily be scaled for a crowd.
Ingredients
1 square of matzo
1 eggs (or egg beaters or 2 egg whites)
Butter or margarine, vegetable or olive oil, or even cooking spray
Optional savory: salt and pepper to taste and/or shredded zucchini (or other shredded vegetable)
Optional savory: shredded mozzarella or meat
Optional sweet: cinnamon sugar to taste and/or
Break the matzo into little pieces with a fork or your hands in a bowl, and mix it well with the beaten egg so all the matzoh gets coated. Let it sit for a few minutes to let the matzoh soften.
Add in a little salt and pepper, or you can do that after it’s cooked for flavoring if you’re going for savory, which is how I like it; or you can add a little cinnamon sugar (after it’s cooked) if you like yours sweet. My kids love adding a small handful of shredded mozzarella and shredded zucchini into the batter. It’s a great way to get veggies in and you don’t even taste them!
Cook the Matzo Brie in a frying pan over medium heat (or higher). You can either coat the bottom with a little butter or margarine, vegetable or olive oil, or even cooking spray. I grew up with my grandparents and in-laws using quite a bit of oil and making it more fried on a higher heat, but I usually just use a little olive oil to coat the bottom and it’s enough to get it crispy. Either way, make sure it’s hot enough so the oil doesn’t absorb too quickly into the mixture. Let it cook and set til it’s browned and then flip it. Sometimes if we do it pancake style we’ll move it to a big plate and then carefully flip it (so it doesn’t splatter everywhere). Since I use very little oil, sometimes I may need to add a little more for the flip side to get crispy.
If instead you’re doing it scrambled, start cooking your batter, let it set and start to brown, and then start breaking it up with the spatula and scramble it til all the egg gets cooked throughout.
Note: If you plan to sauté some chopped onion, chopped veggie or meat in it, do that as the first step with a little seasoning, and then when it’s cooked to your liking, add the Matzo Brie batter/mixture and cook as above!
Debra Eckerling is a writer for the Jewish Journal and the host of “Taste Buds with Deb.” Subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. Email Debra: tastebuds@jewishjournal.com.
