In 2009, the World of EPI released its' first line of dolls, Positively Perfect Dolls for younger children. We paid special attention to all the doll features and skin tones, to create authentic representations that our children could grow up seeing their beauty from the start. To continue our mission of reaching more age groups, in 2017 we created "The Fresh Dolls", an elegant fashion doll with an edge. The Fresh Dolls were intentionally created with fuller hips and thighs, and a more realistic waistline, with trendy fashion pieces. The newest addition to our doll line, The Fresh Squad, was added in 2018. They feature 13 points of articulation for more realistic movements during play time. Our dolls can be found in stores across the globe, from the U.S., Australia, Dubai to Switzerland.
Meet Dr. Lisa - Doll Creator & Founder
I never thought I would leave the academic world as a professor to pursue the life of creating dolls. My journey into retail began with my children's books. They were so successful that Walmart asked me to create dolls in the likeness of the characters. Of course, I never saw that as a part of my life’s plan, so I declined the offer three times. It wasn’t until I viewed the updated doll study, that my mind was completely changed. During the study, one of the African American girl participants was asked why the white doll was prettier. As she touched her hand, she said, “I didn’t think the brown doll’s skin was pretty because it is nasty just like mine”.
I knew then and there, that I had to change my life’s focus. What I once thought was success, no longer motivated me. There was no way I could sit comfortably behind my desk as our young girls believed the lie that their skin tone was not beautiful.
So it became my mission to inspire our African American girls, and all children for that matter, to see themselves for who they are – Beautiful.
What we see in the Future
We are excited to be in a time that retail stores are expanding, offering a breadth of merchandise that reflects the world we live in. As the Fresh Dolls continues to grow, we look forward to our line of diverse dolls being featured in more toy aisles around the world.
