Guest Blogger, Georgette Taylor, Shares Exciting News

A new feature of the Black Doll Collecting blog is to allow doll makers, artists, and others in the doll community with pertinent Black-doll information to share to become guest bloggers*.   In today's post, I am honored to present the first guest blogger.  

Audrey Bell-Kearney and Georgette Taylor with their Big Beautiful Dolls:  Dasia, Dawn, and Dena

Introduction

Hello Everyone!  First I want to thank Debbie Garrett for allowing me to guest blog on her wonderful Black Doll Collecting blog this week.

Many of you may know me already, but for some I may be new to you.  So here is a brief introduction about who I am.

My name is Georgette Taylor.  I am one of the co-founders of Big Beautiful Dolls along with Audrey Bell-Kearney.  Our company introduced the first line of full-figured fashions dolls over 15 years ago.  Wow, I cannot believe it has been that long and I cannot believe it has been over 6 years since I have written anything related to dolls. Our dolls were Dasia, Dawn, and Dena.  Dasia was nominated for the 2002 Dolls Award of Excellence and we have been featured in several doll magazines.

I also want to thank everyone out there who owns one of our Big Beautiful Dolls and who has supported our company and our dolls. We hope you have enjoyed them as much as we have enjoyed creating and showcasing them.  

Our dolls still inspire me to this day and it was one of the reasons I reached out to Debbie recently to share with her something I am now doing that I thought would be helpful to the doll community.  Being asked to be a guest blogger could not have come at a better time to share with you a little about where we originated, where we are going, who helped us in the beginning and what we are doing for the doll community that we hope will be another way for you to branch out and share what you love about dolls.

Although I have been out of the game for a while, I still manage to check up on things. I see Jason Wu wowing us with his meticulous and marvelous creations; Percy Newsum for his continued drive and creativity with Integrity Toys; and Robert Tonner is always doing an amazing job with his fashion dolls.  There are many other talented designers and doll makers that I have yet to discover. I absolutely just love it.

How It All Began

Speaking of Percy Newsum, I want to share with you something that you may not know about Mr. Newsum and Big Beautiful Dolls. Mr. Newsum was the person who was very instrumental in helping us get started on the right track. When we first started out, we had no clue how to do what it was we were going to do. So I thought I would start by going to Toys R Us to look at all the doll boxes on the shelves to get the names of the manufacturers. We thought we could call on a few to get some information on where to begin. I found a doll that I liked from Integrity Toys and was so excited when I realized that this company was driving distance from where we lived at the time.  So we called a few times and finally were able to talk with Percy.  We asked if we could meet with him and if he could share some insight about the doll business. He was extremely nice and said yes. We spent practically the whole day with him as he showed us his facility, talked with us, guided us and gave us wonderful resources that literally helped to create our line of dolls and doll company. We are deeply indebted to him for taking the time to do that for us.

That is how Audrey and I became connected to the doll business, but I already had and still have to this day a little doll collecting in my soul.

Today’s Fashion Dolls

When I look at the industry today and all the wonderful dolls that are out there, I realize a lot has changed since we started our company, but a lot still remains the same.  Fashion dolls have become so much more articulated.  There are so many more enhanced features and ethnicities, but one thing that has not changed much is the shape or should I say the curves of the dolls. Yes, some are definitely a lot less straight than they were, but there still are not many dolls representing plus size, full-figured women with curves.

After being the first company to introduce the full-figured fashion doll to the market, we were then followed by Robert Tonner's Emme doll, a plus size fashion model.  There is still a lack of other shapes represented in this beautiful arena. We are all beautiful and we all come in different shapes, sizes and colors.  I feel these should all be represented in the doll world.  Variety is what makes dolls so appealing. The thing that I do love and know about the doll business is that it allows you to lend your voice, opinions and express how you feel through the creativity of doll artists all creating dolls that inspire and empower. Our Big Beautiful Dolls represented, and still do today, a voice that is still pretty much silent in the doll world. 

Next on the Agenda and Current Collaboration

We will be introducing our dolls again next year in a Sweet Sixteen Anniversary Limited Edition to celebrate our dolls and company turning 16.  There will be a limited edition of 500 dolls, sold as a set of three.  We are very excited about this as well as some other news shared below.

I have been fortunate again to work with one of my best friends and business partner, Audrey Bell-Kearney, as Chief Content Officer for HerTube.TV, which Audrey founded.  HerTube is an online TV network for women and what women care about.  One of the things we care about is dolls and we want to be another platform for you to express your love for dolls on our network.

We have created the Doll Lovers Channel with shows that will allow the doll community (from business to collecting, from creators to artists) to share information about the dolls they love.  You can host your show and bring your form of creativity, artistry and love for dolls to a wider audience, not just online but in over 8 million households.

If interested, the first thing to do is go to www.hertube.tv  and become a free member of the community.   If you are interested in hosting your show on our network  go to www.hertube.tv  click on the tab "Host Your Own Show" and order the Premium Show Host package or  please contact me by email at:  georgette@hertube.tv directly.

I so enjoyed spending time with you and am so glad I had an opportunity to share with others my love for dolls, a little about what I am doing now, and what we are able to bring to the doll community that we love.

I also look forward to coming back to share more about our upcoming Sweet Sixteen Anniversary Limited Edition Dolls as we get closer to the release date. You can also email me at georgette@hertube.tv  if you are interested in being placed on the order list for a set of three Sweet Sixteen Anniversary Limited Edition Dolls, which will be produced in a quantity of only 500 sets worldwide.

Until next time,

Georgette Taylor

Chief Content Officer

HerTube.TV  

georgette@hertube.tv   

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*If you have pertinent Black-doll information to share and are interested in becoming a guest blogger on the Black Doll Collecting blog, for specifics contact me at

Thanks!

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