Hair Stylist Launches Book Featuring a Black Girl with "Coily" Hair

    DURHAM, NC, December 07, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Working as a hair stylist, Robin Butler was inspired to write a book, God Created Me Coily, aimed at giving young black girls a heroine, Nia, they could readily identify with.

"A major cornerstone of every culture, hair is never just hair – as Nia, the main character in my book God Created Me Coily, is starting to realize," says Butler. "My book follows Nia, a smart and curious young girl, as she asks BIG questions about her hair – like, 'Why is my hair coily and curly?'"

As a curl specialist, Butler is well aware how important our hair is to our whole identity and the way we see ourselves. For young black girls, seeing predominantly white females portrayed both in books and in dolls makes it difficult for them to find representative examples that they can identify with. Butler's research showed that in the last 24 years, only 13% of children's books contained multiracial content, despite 37% of the US population being people of color.

As a result, she was motivated to write a book featuring Nia, a black heroine. She also plans to launch a collection of curly- and 'coily'- haired dolls, the 'Nia' collection (watch a short video here) and more books. By combining the story with the representation, Butler has created a world where black children can learn and feel empowered by their identity.

Butler is launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise $10,000 to cover the costs of publishing, marketing, and distributing God Made Me Coily, and to enable at least 300 pre-sales of the first edition of her 'Nia' doll collection.

"I need to be able to hit my minimum order goals on the first edition of 'Nia' dolls; this is the priority of my crowdfunding campaign," says Butler.

As well as donations, Butler asks people to share links to her campaign on social media.

# # #