Nine-year-old Demetrius Maurice Davis Jr. is making Black and Brown boy dolls with his company, “Our Brown Boy Joy,” that look like himself. Along with help from his mother, Luciana Gilmore, Demetrius is making boy dolls of color he calls “My Friends” in Twinsburg, Ohio.
Davis Jr., who goes by his nickname Lil D, began “Our Brown Boy Joy” when he was eight years old. After his mother told him she was going to a girls’ conference with a group she mentors, Lil D asked, “Why are there just girls in the group? Why aren’t boys involved?”
Feeling left out, Lil D pushed his mom to work on a project focused on boys. Gilmore eventually had the idea to make a doll that looked like her son. She said after visiting retail stores looking for a Black boy doll, she knew she and Demetrius were on the right path.
“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….He has always liked plush animals and superhero dolls. It never occurred to me to think boys might want dolls that look like them. He has older sisters, and I knew to always look for dolls of color for them.”
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Lil D is now the company’s CEO, which he and Gilmore began in June of 2020. The dolls also honor Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, two boys who were murdered. Martin was 17 when he was killed in 2012 in Sanford, Florida, while he was on his way home from the convince store by George Zimmerman.
Rice was 12 when he was killed by police as he played with a toy gun in a Cleveland park. Martin was wearing a hoodie when he was murdered, and Rice was wearing Timberland boots. Lil D’s dolls wear hoodies and Timberlands in honor of them.
The adorable dolls range in price from $49 and $59 and can be bought online on Lil D’s website.
Lil D wants his sister to take over the business soon, though, as he has other plans.
“I want to be an actor and later get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” he said.
We’re waiting for you, Lil D!
