Widline Pyrame couldn't find a doll that looked like her when she was growing up.
"We didn't really have Black dolls," the Haiti native said. "We had white dolls. I wanted my hair to be just like my dolls. The dolls' hair was straight."
As an adult in the United States, she mentored Black children while getting her degree in social work, and found that some of them were struggling with self-esteem.
"They would ask me, 'Why is my hair like this? I want my hair to be just like Susie, how come my hair is like this?'" Pyrame said.
Her life experiences led her to create dolls that look like Black children, and her company, Fusion Dolls, was born out of her home in Brockton, Massachusetts.
"I believe it's important for our kids to have dolls that represent them," she said.
Her latest creation: an outfit for her dolls inspired by new Vice President Kamala Harris.
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"And when I saw her outfit, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I need to get this on my dolls,'" she said. "I talked to my seamstress. I'm like, 'Yes, we're doing this.'"
Each of the dolls she creates has its own story and background.
Their skin color, hair texture and outfits are meant to inspire young Black children.
"Be able to be comfortable with what we look like, our hair, our skin complexion, and to be OK, and celebrate your Black beauty," she said.
Children can even braid, twist and style the doll's hair to resemble their own, part of the effort for kids to understand and be confident in their heritage.
"To know that they are enough, they are beautiful, they shouldn't be comparing themselves to the other kids that's next to them," said Pyrame.
She sells her Fusion Dolls on her company's website and in local boutiques, and she hopes to send the Kamala-inspired doll to the vice president.
"It's great to see a really positive role model in our community, so I just had to do it," she said.
