When a mom couldn’t find a doll that looked like her daughter, she made one. Angelica Sweeting heard her 3-year-old daughter complaining that she didn’t look like her dolls . She had kinky hair and dark skin, but all her dolls had long and straight hair, fair skin, and thinner facial features. In other words, her daughter, Sophia, had dolls that looked like Barbie and the princesses from Frozen but none like her, according to NBC Parent .
Sweeting, 27, was saddened to know her daughter felt that way at such a young age. When she couldn’t find a doll to look like her daughter, she quit her job as a grants manager to make the doll. She involved Sophia in the process, asking for her opinion on details such as the doll’s eye color, hair texture, and clothing.
With Sophia’s help, Sweeting got to work on Angelica, an 18-inch doll with natural, washable kinky hair, fuller facial features, and brown eyes. The doll’s facial structure was designed from photographs of mother and daughter, and her hair looks like Sophia’s.
“We created the Angelica doll to help my daughter with self-love, so she would always see a positive reflection of herself in the toys that she plays with.”
Sweeting made a doll that looks like her daughters , Sophia, now 4, and Sydney, 2. The Angelica doll has facial features that are true to little girls of color.
Sweeting took to Kickstarter earlier this month to raise $25,000 to enable her company, Naturally Perfect Dolls, to produce the first 1,000 dolls. So far, she has raised $62,000 with 19 more days to go. This is more than double her goal. She hopes to produce and ship the $85 dolls in time for the holiday season.
Her husband, Jason Sweeting, 34, also helped with the project. He said they realized a lot of little girls as young as 3 and 4 have self-image issues already. He hopes the dolls will help them see the beauty in themselves without wanting to change their looks.
Sweeting’s daughters have been enjoying playing with the doll and styling her hair. Sophia is learning about caring for her own hair by styling her doll’s hair. Sweeting notices that this is helping Sophia accept her natural hair.
Sweeting hopes to create other dolls representing a range of dark skin tones and hair textures.
“We would like to think we’ve come a long way but we really haven’t. To find a black doll that is true to us is really difficult. We want to make this more mainstream and ensure young black girls have a positive reflection of them in store shelves or online. I can understand why little black girls would pick a white doll. It’s because that’s all they see, the only image that’s being pushed to them on stores shelves and on TV.”
The Sweetings say Sophia is happier and more confident as she no longer expresses dislike for her looks. They credit the doll for their daughter’s increased self-esteem.
What do you think about this mother creating a doll to look like her daughter?
[Images Courtesy of Angelica Sweeting]
