Photo courtesy of Datreese Thomas / Instagram.
Twenty-two-year-old Datreese Thomas is making moves and has created her own Black doll company. The entrepreneur also wants to use profits from her line of dolls, The Melanie Dolls, to fund a non-profit, The Melanin Movement.
Thomas began the line of Black dolls in 2021 with the intent of helping Black girls empower themselves through self-love and by feeling beautiful.
“I wanted to help Black girls feel beautiful, gain courage, and just develop self-love. I do that by providing a product that helps young Black girls individually see themselves better.
Thomas said her Melanie Dolls were inspired by her experience as a Black woman and the Black Panther Party. She also noted the hairstyles worn by her dolls were inspired by her own.
“I was inspired by the Black Panther party and I know that they always wore all black,” she said. “I loved what they stood for and the values they stood on. The hair is my Black experience in life, so they’re hairstyles I’ve worn in my life or that I’ve seen a Black woman wear before.”
Thomas began her business without financial support or investors and saved money from an internship to get started in 2021. She first got the idea as a freshman at the University of Houston while majoring in economics.
“Honestly, I have not acquired any support. I am like a self-sustained small business right now,” she said. “I’ve tried to apply for grants and different things to help with my business, but I’ve never ever been able to acquire any of that. I had to make a decision to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this.’ Me saying I’m gonna do this, is me giving everything.”
The entrepreneur has a new doll, the Breonna Doll, launching later this month.