POSITIVELY PERFECT DOLLS AIMS TO INSPIRE PRIDE IN YOUNG BLACK GIRLS
San Diego, CA (thegrio.com) - Blonde-haired,
blue-eyed Barbie dolls once took over the
isles of toy stores as they were the only plastic
playmates offered to young girls. Now, those
same aisles are gradually adding diversity with
the inclusion of dolls that reflect deeper-skin
tones and ethnic hair.
Dr. Lisa Williams is one woman who has
exerted great effort into executing this mission
to celebrate the diversity in multicultural
children.
William’s is the founder and creator
of Positively Perfect Dolls — a unique line
of baby dolls that represent and reflect the
beautiful features found in young AfricanAmerican girls.
The dolls come in a variety of specific
skin tones — including vanilla, caramel,
pecan and mocha. The skin colors are even
custom-blended to perfect the right shade,
glow and undertone that ultimately resemble
realistic results.
“It’s very meticulous chemistry but I do
to actually come up with the right skin tone,”
Williams said. “That is not done with the
dolls in the general marketplace.” Most dolls
offered in stores fail to accurately reflect the
changing demographics of America. Minority
populations continue to expand and yet, the
changing face of consumers is not being
accurately reflected in the dolls manufacturing
companies make.
“The features do not represent our
features,” Williams said. “I start from scratch,
I sketch them out. I know how those lips
should look, I know how the brown of their
eyes should be. I know about the fullness of
the lips, the shape of the face, I know that
because it’s in my heart and in my vision and
that’s what differentiates our dolls from anyone
else. So when
people see them
they see and feel
that difference.”
Williams has
a stellar record of
making history —
she graduated with
her doctorate from
Ohio University and
in doing so became
the first AfricanAmerican to
receive a PhD from
the university’s
College of Business.
“I received my
doctorate in 1992
and so the idea that
there had not been
a person of color to
receive a doctorate
until then, it’s
a bittersweet
accomplishment,”
Williams said. “I’m
proud but not happy that I was the first.”
She then went on to become a professor at
a number school institutions across the nation,
including Kent State where she was the first
African-American woman to earn tenure.
After some soul-searching, Williams
decided to leave the academy and started doing
keynotes, executive training and authored her
first book, Leading Beyond Excellence: Learn 7
Practical and Spiritual Steps to Spiral Yourself
to the Top, which gave insight on business and
leadership skills. WalMart soon sold the book
in its stores and after witnessing a high level
of success, store executives asked Williams to
launch a line of children’s books.
“I wanted to make sure that they were (1)
inspiring and (2) representative,” Williams said,
going on to share that her and her team published
15 books over the course of three years.
It was through this initiative that Williams
was approached to create a line of dolls with
the same image and likeness as t