Queen Dollylama is the creator of the custom made Herstory Dolls that have gone viral on social media. She has created wonderful custom dolls for children of color to enjoy. Children of different races, cultures, and backgrounds should have access to toys that represent them in a positive light.

Queen was inspired by her daughter to start customizing dolls four years ago. “I was doing it for her so I could give her dolls that resembled Black women and females she could identify with.” She does more than just create unique dolls, Queen is a mother, singer, songwriter and community activist. When she is not customizing dolls she is running two community organizations “When Sistahs Get Together” and her non-profit “Be-You-tiful Girls Club Inc” were she empowers girls “through different artistic means and experiences.”

I asked Queen why she believes it is important for children of color to be exposed to dolls that look like them she said:

“Our image has always been under represented in every medium, in anything the media and marketing wants to show as God, fun, enjoyable or special [rarely have brown skin]. Children of all ages look around and see Brown skin of different hues amongst their own families, friends, neighborhoods, and cultures but when it comes to reflecting people in toys, the representation isn’t there.  In the toy human world brown skinned people don’t exist, which translates to not important, not cared for, not wanted, not needed, not special enough.

Being a Canadian whose culture is Jamaican and origin African, the label of Black being just African American in the industries needs to be fixed through education and knowledge. When you want to look for any toy that is a Black doll you have to type in African American. There are so many of us who didn’t grow up identifying as that but just as Black people from whatever culture your family is from. So for me I make sure that when I am referring to Black dolls, I make it known that they are dolls that visually represent people of African Descent or Pan African people, because Black people are everywhere on this planet. Throughout history up until now, we are and have been on every part of this planet earth.”

It is about broadening the scope and making sure that all children are represented and gain confidence from seeing themselves in a positive light. Our children love dolls, they play with them, bathe with them, travel with them and sleep with them. If these long term companions never reflect them we have to consider how this would affect their view on beauty, power, and expectations.

Soon she will be launching a campaign on Indiegogo to raise funds for her new line of Herstory Dolls. Through this campaign you can pre-order dolls for your little ones. The funds from this campaign will also be used to extend the doll line by adding two new girls and two new boys to the mix.

A lot of us are eager to know how we can get our hands on one of these custom pieces. For Herstory dolls you can support her Indiegogo campaign, email her at [email protected] or send her a message on Instagram @thequeendollylama.  She offers customization for her line of Herstory Dolls as well.

INSTAGRAM – @thequeendollylama & @herstorydoll

FACEBOOK – Queen Dollylama & Herstory Doll

TWITTER – @WSGT_queencee & @herstorydoll