Samantha Ong is the Chinese-Malaysian creator of Joey Dolls, currently based in Toronto, Canada.
Samantha has made it her mission to combat Asian hate and show Asian girls that white dolls aren’t the only options out there: they will now see themselves represented in her new line of Asian dolls and build confidence knowing they, too, are beautiful.
Because of her work in making sure Asian American children no longer feel invisible, The Proud Asian has chosen to put Samantha and Joey Dolls in our Golden Spotlight.
Here is their 5-minute interview:
Watch it here.
An excerpt from the interview:
Samantha Ong:
I created this company during the pandemic. It responds to anti-Asian hate, to really celebrate Asian diversity and culture through what I call “adorable, playful dolls for children.”
Crystal Bui:
Tell me about these dolls. What are they? What do they look like? Describe them for people who don’t know about Joey Dolls yet.
Samantha:
I created the company when I started to look for adults for my daughter. I realized there weren’t many dolls out there that fully represented the diversity of the Asian diaspora. When my daughter was having her first year birthday, I was putting her in her traditional outfits, Chinese and Korean outfits, and I realized dolls don’t really display, or really celebrate these fun moments: having the traditional outfit. I decided to celebrate each of the cultures within Asia, through dolls. I wanted them to be safe for young children, just like my daughter. So they’re soft, they’re plush dolls.
Our first collection is six cultures, which are: Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipina, Japanese, and Indian. I hope to represent more cultures in the future.
Crystal:
That is such a cool idea because I was talking to some friends about being able to interview today. And I was saying when I was growing up, we had, of course, the American Girl dolls. But there were no Asian dolls within the American Girl dolls, which is problematic because I’m American as well. And I remember as a little kid, I picked up the Samantha doll because she had brown hair. That was like the closest I could get. And so I’m very excited about your line.
Do you wish you also had Asian dolls growing up? I mean, what does this personally mean to you?
Samantha:
Yeah, exactly. When I was looking for dolls for my daughter, I really reflected upon my own experience growing up. And knowing that I, too, played with blonde hair dolls, and how that really affected me growing up and seeing myself in the world. I just thought I was meant to be more on the sidelines, not really someone that can go out and achieve things that I want to. I didn’t really see myself in dolls, or toys, or media, or anything like that.
So it really made me feel self-conscious. I didn’t have good self-esteem. And I always felt that I wasn’t lucky enough to be born to be blonde.
Crystal:
Right, because you had all the pretty dolls that were blonde. I remember being upset that my hair was black because there were beautiful dolls that were blonde. And none of them looked like me. And I think you’re right, it really affected for awhile my self-confidence, even like you said, wishing that I could look like some of these dolls. And now you have the chance to provide so many Asian girls, and Asian boys with the ability to see themselves look like some of these precious dolls.
What do your children think about this? What did they feel like when they started looking at the prototype?
Samantha:
I feel like I’m such a perfectionist. A lot of the time, I don’t want to put my dolls out there for them to see sometimes because I’m like, “It’s not done yet.” One time I was hiding them away, and then my daughter found them in my office and she ran in and she was like, “Mommy, I really love these dolls. Can I play with them yet?”
Every time she sees them, and I’m working with them, designing them, she comes over my shoulder, and it’s so cute. She can’t wait to play with them. She really sees herself.
Watch the full interview here.
Editor’s note:
Joey Dolls plans to launch in May. Once they launch, use the promo code: theproudasian at check-out for a discount exclusive to The Proud Asian readers. Sign up at www.JoeyDolls.com to get an alert when they’ve launched.
www.joeydolls.com
