WELLESLEY, Massachusetts (AP) — A Massachusetts college student is launching a new line of dolls intended for boys of color.
Jennifer Pierre started her toy company while she’s finishing a master’s in entrepreneurship at Babson College. Her business is called Melanites, and she plans to produce dolls of different ethnicities, including African American and Indian American.
Pierre, of Pompano Beach, Florida, says her company is a celebration of brown boyhood, meant to offer boys of all races dolls that looks like them.
The dolls aren’t for sale yet. Pierre has started taking orders while she raises money to manufacture them. She hopes to have the first dolls delivered by Christmas and then sell them online and in specialty stores.
Toy industry experts say more companies have started adding diversity of all types to their products.