Yelitsa Jean-Charles remembers crying when she received a Black Barbie doll when she was little.
"This isn't the real Barbie," she recounts as a reaction during a recent interview with the Huffington Post. "This isn't the pretty one."
In fact, it wasn't until college until the 21-year-old from Queens truly embraced her beautiful features. After damaging her hair by applying too much heat on it, she said she "felt crazy that [she] didn't know [her] own hair texture."
Now, Jean-Charles proudly rocks her natural locs. She's so proud that she's started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to create a new line of natural-hair dolls she hopes will help empower girls of color.
