There’s no age limit to promoting change and positivity in the Black community. You could be nine or 90. That’s exactly what a young Black boy is doing in Twinsburg, Ohio.
According to Cleveland.com, Demetrius Maurice Davis, Jr., who’s nine years old, and his mother, Luciana Gilmore, started the business Our Brown Boy Joy, which makes dolls of young Black boys, to pay homage to those who have been killed by police violence like Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice.
Seeing positive images and representations of products that look like you and are targeted towards you is important. Even at a young age, Demetrius realizes that.
From Cleveland.com:
In early spring of that year, Gilmore planned a weekend girls conference with a group of young ladies she was mentoring. Although Lil D, a nickname given at birth, always supports his mom’s outreach ventures, this time he had questions. Why are there just girls in the group? Why aren’t boys involved?
“I was the only boy at these conferences,” Demetrius said. “My mom was also doing these Zoom meetings with them, and I felt left out.”
Soon thereafter, Demetrius became obsessed with his mom developing a project geared toward boys his age. After days and weeks of exploring ideas, Gilmore began to pray for answers. One evening she came up with the concept of boy dolls, but not just any boy doll — one that looked like Demetrius, she said.
After a significant amount of research, Gilmore discovered what she already knew.
“I started shopping around for dolls of color and discovered there was nothing that looked like my son,” she said. “I knew then we were on the right track and began all the legalities of starting a business.”
“I started shopping around for dolls of color and discovered there was nothing that looked like my son,” she said. “I knew then we were on the right track and began all the legalities of starting a business.”
She worked hard to keep the venture under wraps. The plan was to have everything in place for a gift for Lil D’s 8th birthday.
Lil D saw a market where there were not enough products that looked like him and he did something about it. Not only is it promoting a positive image, but it’s also a smart business decision.
The dolls are called “My Friends” and many of the dolls that are made resemble the CEO himself. They also come in many different shades of Black and brown. The dolls are also dressed in hoodies and Timberland boots, to honor Trayvon Martin, who was wearing a hoodie the night he died per the story from Cleveland.com.