Prior to starting school, 6-year-old Esi Orijin loved being Black. To her, Blackness was “normal” and an inclusive way of life. However, confidence issues surfaced three weeks after Esi began private school.
Her mother, Melissa Orijin, was devastated when Esi no longer loved her skin tone and only white dolls with straight blonde hair. After struggling to find dolls that would truly give Esi a sense of pride, mother and daughter founded Orijin Bees.
The name ‘Orijin Bees’ is an acronym: Our Representation is Just Inclusion Normalized, Beautifully Empowering Every Soul. The company’s mission is to normalize inclusion in toys, starting with dolls. They want little girls to look at a Black doll and say, “She looks like me,” according to reporting in Black News. The brand also offers educational toys, like the ‘Go Culture!’ card game, which teaches children Adinkra symbols and their meanings.
The dolls that Orijin Bees creates are as diverse as we are, with the different complexions and hair textures, offering something very different from the dolls you see in most toy stores.
The dolls are being gifted to girls through churches, NGOs, schools, orphanages, and directly to disadvantaged families.
