She Is Barbie®
A Dream in Color
Because when you see us, you can be us.
From One Doll to a Bigger Dream
If you’ve been on a Zoom call with me, you’ve probably noticed the Barbie dolls displayed behind me. And if you’ve known me long enough, you’ve likely heard the story of why I collect them.
But She Is Barbie: A Dream in Color is about something bigger than my collection. I grew up in an all-white family. I had Barbie dolls, of course, but every one of them looked like my family and friends. None looked like me. In fact, I didn’t have a single Black doll growing up.
I love my family dearly, but that absence mattered more than I understood at the time. I grew up wishing I had blonde hair and light-colored eyes. I wanted to look like the beautiful people around me. Including my dolls.
I was in my 30s when I received my first Black Barbie doll. And something about holding a doll that reflected a part of me I’d spent so much of my childhood wishing away was profound. It made me realize just how powerful representation can be.
The Girl Who Didn’t See Herself
For generations, girls have been handed a Barbie doll and told, in so many words, this is what possibility looks like.
But what happens when that possibility doesn’t look like you?
That’s the inspiration behind She Is Barbie: A Dream in Color.
I want Black and Brown girls to see Black women in all the extraordinary forms we take. Doctors and dreamers. Founders and facilitators. Coders and creatives. Scientists, executives, entrepreneurs, artists, and everything in between.
Not imaginary women living imaginary lives. Real women doing remarkable things, reimagined through one of America’s most iconic symbols of possibility.
And yes, we’re going to have some fun with it! Meet Tech Baddie Barbie, my own doll-inspired persona and the first introduction to this project. She’s a little tech, a little glam, and unapologetically herself. Sound familiar?
A book celebrating Black women from every industry and walk of life.
MY ULTIMATE VISION
Each woman will be featured as her authentic self, alongside an inspired representation and a playful persona biography. Some dolls might be customized to resemble the women they celebrate. Others will be imaginative AI-generated creations.
I also envision artwork from talented artists and personal stories from women about their relationships with Black Barbie dolls and what those dolls meant to them.
But every dream starts somewhere.
For now, I’m bringing these stories to life here on my website. If the enthusiasm and engagement are there, perhaps one day these pages will become the book I imagine.
Because I’ve always believed that representation is not decoration. It’s infrastructure.
And when a little Black girl sees a woman who looks like her thriving in a career, building a business, breaking barriers, or simply being unapologetically herself, something shifts.
The question changes from “Can I?” to “Why not me?”
