When Like Me For Me came about 5 years ago, we knew that multicultural books and toys existed but there was a huge niche market for these products. This is due to that fact that they are limited, poorly represented or very dear in price, especially when it came to children’s black dolls.

BLACK DOLL HISTORY

In 1918, two African American females, Evelyn Berry and Victoria Ross founded Berry & Ross, Inc., a black-owned doll company, in Harlem, New York. These two women were the first African American female large-scale manufacturers of black composition dolls. The famous black dolls were designed and made by Black women, in a factory owned and controlled by Black people. The dolls went on to be sold for 29 cents to $3.50 in large department stores in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and even Africa. Berry & Ross, Inc., remained in business until 1929.

Berry & Ross advertised their dolls as “Not the old-time, black face, red lip aunt Jemima coloured dolls but dolls well made and truly representative of the race in hair and features”. This comment more than likely came about as, more often than not, black dolls were stereotypically designed; caricature-like and expressed racist undertones. Some were made with exaggerated facial features and skin tone, while others were produced to act as servants to White dolls in children’s imaginative play. For example, the pickaninny and Aunt Jemima rag doll (below).

BLACK DOLLS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Here at Like Me For Me, we know the importance of black dolls and here are (just) 5 reasons:

1. Representation– When children play with black dolls, it normalizes the concept that humans come in all different colors and shades.

2. Celebration – Black dolls help children to celebrate their beauty and heritage.

3. Empowerment – Black dolls can leave powerful impressions on the minds of white children, black children and all children. They send a message of empowerment to the members of the black community. When black children bond with their black dolls, it creates pride in who they are. When white children make a special place in their hearts for their black dolls, it changes their bias and helps them use their privilege for good.

4. Positivity– Toys help children to build emotional connections and when they associate happiness and love with a black doll they hold that positive experience with them.

5. Awareness– Black dolls can help start conversations with children about racism. Toys can be powerful tools for combating prejudice.

PLAYING OUR PART

Like Me For Me is home to our Kamilah doll and the fashionable black Barbie doll. We will definitely be add into our collection in the near future.

Lyah’s TV is another platform which recognises the importance of black dolls and aims to promote black dolls and Black history in a super fun, inclusive and educational way.

Nelson Mandela was an inspirational, resilient, historical icon. One who triumphed South Africa’s apartheid regime and went on to stand firm with integrity and achieve his many accolades. Mandela was a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience and an international peacemaker. He was the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa.

NELSON MANDELA DAY

Introduced in 2009 and commemorated on July 18, which is Nelson Mandela’s actual birthday (D.O.B 18.07.18) Nelson Mandela International Day also known as Mandela Day, celebrates the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world and the ability to make an impact. The day also sets out to inspire people to embrace the values of democracy and contribute towards the ideas of ensuring a just and fair society.

In honour of Nelson Mandela’s 67 years of public service, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the U.N. ask that you spend 67 minutes of your time helping others. The duration symbolises the 67 years that the late Nelson Mandela spent fighting for social justice.

The theme for this year is “One Hand Can Feed Another”.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

• Donate your unwanted clothes/shoes, toys
• Make care kits for homeless people
• Feed the homeless
• Do a neighbourhood clean-up
• Give blood
• Create a car pool with your colleagues to cut down on carbon emissions
• Tutor a young person

No matter how small your action is, Mandela Day is all about changing the world for the better, just as Nelson Mandela did every day.

So how will you participate?

Like Me For Me Celebrates Nelson Mandela

At Like Me For Me, we have a selection of books which recognise and celebrates the life and achievements of Nelson Mandela.

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Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, is a beautifully illustrated children’s picture book and adaptation of Nelson’s biography. Celebrating how the of hero of our times started out as a little boy and went onto to be South Africa’s first black president, campaigning for freedom and justice throughout the world.

Father’s Day is around the corner. June 20th to be exact.

As apparent as it is, that children’s multicultural books and toys are out there but are limited or poorly represented in homes, libraries and schools, the same can be said when it comes to buying greeting cards in high street shops. Cards are available but they aren’t very diverse nor representative.

Since networking and vending at markets and events I’ve noticed that many Black-owned businesses have tapped into this niche market and have produced beautiful, diverse and humorous cards that represent Black African and Caribbean families and communities.

Father’s Day Cards For Black Dads

Here are just some black owned businesses who create greeting cards which celebrate dads in all their glory.

1. The Black Card Company – A one-stop online marketplace for diverse greeting cards.
2. Streetgreets – London based sisters Siobhan and Naomi created Streetgreets to celebrate Black-British culture and the language of now!
3. Noir Cards – Founder Nadia Moniz sells greeting cards that celebrate Afrocentric features, melanin and African hairstyles.

Children’s Books Celebrating Black Dads

In honour of Father’s Day, we would like to draw your attention to a collection of books sold at Like Me For Me that celebrate the unique bond between a child and a father or those that highlight positive male role models.

Happy Father’s Day!

Hair Love by Matther A. Cherry (authour) and Vashati Harrison (illustrator)

Also an Oscar winning short film, sees a little girl’s daddy steps in to help her arrange her curly, coiling, wild hair into styles that allow her to be her natural, beautiful self.

So Much by Trish Cooke (author) and Helen Oxenbury (illustrator)

A story capturing the joys of being a baby in a large extended family including uncles, male cousins and daddy who love him ‘so much’.

Little Leaders: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison

Teaches young readers (and adults too, as I learnt a thing or two) all about the exceptional black men who have broken down barriers and fought injustices to realise their dreams and make the world a better place.

From Me To You

Children’s books with black and ethnic minority characters celebrating dads and male figures, as well as diverse representative greetings cards are available. Slowly but surely with the help of social media, business owners like myself and pop up culture markets, these niche products are getting out there to our own community and the masses. And we will continue to make them available because #representationmatters

Dorraine xoxo Like Me For Me

It’s been a long time coming and on 5th & 6th June we saw @Black Culture Market open their doors to their very first market since the dread C word and allowed Like Me For Me to vendor at our first event in foreverrrr…

The indoor event took place in the heart of Brixton. Supporting emerging entrepreneurs and new black businesses of African & Caribbean decent with the opportunity to showcase and sell their products, network and support other small black business owners.

The weather was beautiful, the atmosphere was buzzing and to top it off it was #BlackPoundDay. And boi, the business owners and shoppers didn’t come to play! If know you know!

What Is Black Pound Day?

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, UK music artist Swiss from the music group So Solid Crew created a grass roots solution based initiative, to support the growth of the UK’s Black economy and with that the Black Pound Day was birthed.

Black Pound Day aims to address the economic inequalities affecting Black Businesses by inviting cultures and ethnicities to promote and spend with Black businesses both locally and online. Black pound Day takes place on the first Saturday of every month.

From Me To You

I absolutely loved the two days of the Black Culture Market and I am grateful for all the people who stopped to check out my stall, who purchased, networked with me and left me with words and blessings of encouragement.

Myself and Like Me For Me have a lot in store for the remained of the year and can’t wait to share them with you… stay tuned!

All the best,

Dorraine xoxo Like Me For Me

Firstly, I would like to say I’m GUILTY! Guilty of backsliding into procrastination. And here’s why – I had intended to do a blog every month, but my last one, was my first one and that was back in January. Yess, I know we’re now in March LOL I had all the right intentions and did actually start writing but just kept putting it off and off- I’m sorry! So here’s my new blog…

I Mean Business

As well as my day to day job within secondary education, I am also a small business owner of a multicultural books and toys company called Like Me For Me. The vision for Like Me For Me started about six years ago, after noticing a niche in the market for culturally diverse books and toys for babies and children of black and mixed heritage. It became apparent to me that such products were out there, but were limited or poorly represented in homes, libraries and schools. You know, the stereotypical book of single mother, no dad around or the ‘golliwog’ looking black doll. Boring, out dated and not a true representation of my life or others like me. Then voilà. In 2016, I decided to turn my vision into reality…

So Why The Name?

I had two rationales behind the name. The first was I wanted children to positively identify with our products, whilst thinking and saying to themselves “Wow this looks like me! It’s for me!”. The second being, for children to simply say “It’s like me! It’s for me! even if my skin is dark or my hair is thick and kinky!” I believe it’s paramount that our children see representations of themselves in their everyday lives.

Like Me For Me’s mission, is to promote multicultural books and toys which captures imaginations, sparks curiosity, inspires creativity and installs respect for cultural and social diversity. In turn, producing babies and children with high self-esteem and a strong sense of gratification with themselves, their culture and their heritage.

The books and toys at Like Me For Me can be purchased as learning aids or mere gifts for babies and children but all products sold at Like Me For Me certainly lend a hand into the positive growth and development of your loved one’s childhood. Take a look below at just some of the multicultural books and toys sold at http://www.likemeforme.co.uk.

#RepresentationMatter

I think it’s extremly important for children and adults alike, to see positive represntations of the world that we live in. These representations must be inclusive of race, gender and disability and NOT just stereotypical representations. This was one of many drives for me in starting up Like Me For Me. To me, representations and inclusivity is about making room at the table for everyone and giving them the space to share their stories and contribute to the discussions around topics such as race and culture etc. And what better way to start these discussions than through books and toys for our babies and children?

It has been proven that representations of minority groups in mass media has a powerful educational impact on audiences. Yet in 2018, The Guardian reported that only 1% of children’s books featured BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) main characters and discribed it as “stark and shocking” – I too, was gobsmacked to say the least!

Like Me For Me Journey

My journey with Like Me For Me has been one that has brought me surprises, excitement and a tad bit of procrastination – just a tad, I promise LOL. My very first vending opportunity was at a Black Culture Pop-Up Market in Pop Brixton back in September 2019. I was nervous and excited but had a great suppourt system consisting of my sister and girlfriends: Amberlee of Line and Honey and Chantelle of @iam.presents – check them out on the socials. They all helped me out in different ways, from planning and preparing to building up my self-esteem for the day. All of which helped the day to run smoothly. And after my first event I thought, yesss girl, you got this! And signed up to do another and another! And I’m now ready to host my own pop up event… stay tuned!! My journey has given me the opportunity to collaborate with the UK’s very first Black Santa’s Grotto experience called Noir Kringle and talk on an online radio station called Tribe Urban Radio. I’m ready to do much more, so holla at your girlll.

From Me To You

I like ending my blogs with a few lessons I’ve learnt along the way and want to share with you all. So here goes:

1) No matter how big or small an idea that you have is, do lots of research and get your version of your business idea out there.

2) Surround yourself with like minded people. A strong support system can be the be-all or end-all for you and your business. And don’t be alarmed that sometimes these people aren’t family or even close friends but might actually come as strangers to you in the first instance!

3) Get yourself out there, interms of networking and using social media platforms.

4) Time and patience are your best friends! Everything won’t go to plan at first and then BOOM things start to manifest in your favour and you’ll remember why you started your business in the first place.

All the best.

Dorraine xoxo Like Me For Me