Welcome back to our alumni spotlight series! North Star is now in its 28th year, and we have more than 600 alumni who have gone on to do all sorts of weird and wonderful things. This series will be a chance to check in with some of those folks and talk to them about the cool things they’re up to.
Today we’re spotlighting Remy Baskin. Remy was a North Star member from 2016–2017. Now, he’s a world-ranked yoyo player and founder of his own yoyo brand, Disyoyos. I spoke with Remy to learn more about his North Star experience and how he ended up on such a unique path in life.
What brought you to North Star?
A combination of factors – I always had a pretty awful relationship with most aspects of traditional education, and I was struggling with my mental health to the point that I couldn’t be in capital S School anymore. I knew some people who had gone to North Star, and my parents nudged me towards going and seeing what it was about. It turned out North Star was flexible and fit what I needed at the time.
What are you up to these days?
Pursuing things that interest me as they come. Most recently I’ve been doing a lot of yoyo related things because it brings me joy. I started my own yoyo company a few months ago and I’ve been traveling to compete at contests worldwide.
How did you start yoyoing?
Some friends got me into it when I was around 10 years old and it instantly clicked with me. There’s a toy store in Northampton called A2Z that had (and still has) yoyo club/classes a couple times every week. I joined that community and was completely hooked.
What goes into starting your own yo-yo brand?
The first thing for me was learning how to use CAD software to model a yoyo, and then making and testing prototypes. After that it was lots of creative planning for the different aspects of my brand such as coming up with a brand identity, choosing colors, making packaging, working on promotional media, etc. More recently I’ve been doing more miscellaneous tasks like making a website, testing yoyos for quality control, and fulfilling orders.
What’s something you learned at North Star that still sticks with you?
More than anything I think North Star taught me that making your own path is not only possible but actually beneficial. Seeing other kids doing all kinds of things that they had passion for made me feel like I could do the same.
Learn more about Remy’s yoyo, the Anima, at disyoyos.com!