Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Lisa Williams.
Hi Dr. Williams, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In my previous life, I was a college professor. I was blessed to become the first female professor to receive a multi-million dollar endowed chair, the first African American professor to earn tenure at Penn State University, and the first African American to receive a doctorate in Supply Chain Management from The Ohio State University. One day while watching an updated doll study, I saw a beautiful little dark-skinned girl say she didn’t think the brown doll was pretty because its skin was nasty. She then touched her own hand indicating her skin was nasty, too. As my heart broke and tears flowed down my face, I said to myself, “I have to do something. This can’t happen on my watch”. A generation of children can’t grow up not knowing their true beauty and brilliance.” At that moment, the World of EPI was born. I knew I had to create dolls for multicultural girls. To this day, every morning I wake with the vision of little girls playing on the floor, and I’m driven to create dolls, accessories and items that honor them.
In 2009, I created Positively Perfect Dolls (PPD), which includes 18″ and 14″ baby dolls. These award-winning dolls have one-of-a-kind faces, custom-blended skin tones, beautiful full lips, cute noses, with natural hair textures and styles. The line started with just two African American dolls at one retailer. The collection has grown to over 65 dolls representing black, brown, mixed and blended children. Now Positively Perfect Dolls (PPD) have expanded to fashions and accessories. The PPD Collection is being distributed in domestic mass retail stores and in international markets.
In 2017, Fresh was launched. For four years, I’d carried the dream of creating a multicultural fashion doll line in my heart. I wanted older girls to see their multicultural beauty reflected back to them during play. They are called Fresh because they’re a new “Fresh” perspective on dolls. These dolls have one-of-a-kind faces; that are truly works of art. They have custom-blended skin tones, beautifully authentic facial features, trendy fashions and hairstyles that include braids, afros, afro puffs, wavy and curly styles. Fresh doll bodies are specifically designed to be more representative by having fuller hips, thighs and more realistic waists.
I designed the dolls to be possible so girls could dream of what they want to become while posing, bending, and playing with their dolls. Since traditional dolls clothes will not perfectly fit these shapely bodies, Fresh Dolls have their own fashion line that is “elegant with an edge.”
Of course, I couldn’t leave out our young boys. So, two years later I created the Fresh Squad. The Fresh Squad are male fashion dolls that show the power and brilliance in black and brown boys. The dolls represent the men in my life who are strong, smart and chivalrous. I wanted boys to see the truth of who they are—brilliant. As characteristic of EPI dolls, each face is a unique sculpture, they have strong jawlines, full lips, real hair and muscular bendable bodies. Fresh Squad allows little boys to see themselves and dream of what they can to become.
Everything we do at the World of EPI centers around love and self-esteem. We love all children and want them to see their authentic representation in toys and accessories.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s certainly not been a smooth road. But I’ve learned that every journey has failures and disappointments. These failures are not a detour from my goal but they are a part of the journey. So, when disappointments happen, I acknowledge them, feel the disappointment attached to the failure and then pick myself up and continue moving forward. Creating a doll company without funding, mentorship, education or experience in the field has been incredibly difficult. But by seeing “failures” as learning opportunities and a part of the journey to success, we’ve been able to grow our dolls from two to dozens of dolls across multiple categories. We can be found in all major retailers from Walmart, Target, Amazon, Walgreens, HomeGoods, TJMAXX and many others. I’m so happy children can now see themselves positively reflected on toy shelves around the country.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Fresh Dolls?
We are focused on creating diverse and inclusive dolls for all children. Although we’ve been honored with numerous awards such as Oprah’s Favorite Things, Doll of The Year Finalists, etc., I am most proud when I see children smile when they see our dolls and say “Look, she looks just like me!”
What matters most to you?
As a mom and former professor, I love creating dolls that honor the beauty and intelligence of multicultural children. I want to support families in raising beautiful, confident children with unlimited possibilities. We are so mindful of everything we do to create our doll masterpieces. We custom-blend our skin tones, have a wide variety of hair textures, have fuller, more representative bodies, and we create one-of-a-kind face sculpts to represent the unique beauty and different ethnicities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thefreshdolls.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreshdolls/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFreshDolls/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFreshDolls
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD61Kpm1H7V3A7dpI3j51oQ?view_as=subscriber
Image Credits
Leo Marshall Photography(photo credit for headshot only)
