I recently had the opportunity to connect with Dalia Dixon, owner of IttyBittyBees.com, a new online toy store. They have a great selection of black/brown action figures and dolls as well as adorable wooden toys and games. Their mission is to inspire little ones with toys that represent them and provide fun play!
IttyBittyBees came to fruition while Dalia was shopping in a predominately African-American community in Atlanta. While shopping with her two toddlers, she noticed that only white dolls were sold in stores in predominately African-American neighborhoods. She felt that this was a total disservice and almost downright indoctrination (given the history and current events of this country) to the African-American community. Then one day she decided that she wanted to make black/brown toys more available to the members of her community.
Wanting to start a toy store was also reinforced by a video of a little African-American girl on a news website. She remembers watching a video that showed the little girl choosing the white doll over the black doll because she felt the white doll was prettier and better, versus the black doll that was ugly and bad. When Delia was younger, her mom bought her white dolls at first, but she began buying her black dolls and she was very excited to receive the dolls that looked like her. They made her feel special and served as a confidence booster.
Representation is important for self esteem, awareness, and confidence. It’s also reinforcement to be a productive member in society. IttyBittyBees wants black and brown children to see more positive images of themselves so that they are more confident about themselves and who they are.
You can visit ittybittybees.com to browse their selection of toys and books. You can follow also follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The links are listed below.
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/
