LEE D. BAKER  is Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, and African and African American Studies at Duke University. His books include From Savage to Negro: Anthropology and the Construction of Race, 1896-1954 (1998), Life in America: Identity and Everyday Experience (2003), and Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture (2010). Although he focuses on the history of anthropology, he has published numerous articles on such wide-ranging subjects as socio-linguistics to race, and democracy. Dr. Baker is also the recipient of the Richard K. Lublin Distinguished Teaching Award.

TRACIE CANADA is an Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology.  She directs the HEARTS (Health, Ethnography, and Race through Sports) Lab at Duke University. She is a Black feminist anthropologist and ethnographer whose research uses sport to theorize race, kinship, care, gender, and the performing body. She is the author of Tackling the Everyday: Race and Nation in Big-Time College Football (University of California Press, 2025). In addition to her academic publications, Dr. Canada work has been featured in public venues and outlets like Andscape, Essence, TIME, and The Guardian.

TAOICK OKOYA is a Nigerian entrepreneur, creative innovator, and founder of Queens of Africa, a pioneering doll brand created to promote cultural representation and self-identity through play. Launched in 2007, Queens of Africa gained international recognition for celebrating African beauty, heritage, and storytelling, and at its peak outsold Barbie in Nigeria. Beyond dolls, Okoya’s work spans books, fashion, and character-based media focused on empowering children of African descent. His contributions have been featured by global media outlets including CNN, Forbes, BBC, and Reuters. He continues to explore the intersection of culture, play, and emerging technology.

AMITABH VIKRAM is a Harvard-certified expert in writing and public speaking, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, and faculty in the School of Languages and Literature at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, India. He works on linguistics and endangered South Asian languages, with his Bhadarwahi research featured in UNESCO’s Atlas. He has authored grammars and books held in major libraries, including Stanford University and Princeton University, and his poetry appears internationally.

RACHEL WANG (they/she) is a third-year Literature Ph.D. student at the University of California, Davis. Their work compares women's fashion and identity in eighteenth-century British literature and contemporary literature/popular culture. They are interested in how figures gendered as female use clothing to design their own identity and femininity, but also how clothing is used by society to design these figures through sign systems. In 2024, they published "Race and Orientalism in the History of Asian Barbies" in the M/C Journal.

ARIA HALLIDAY (moderator) is the Marie Rich Endowed Professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and program in African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky. She has authored and edited numerous publications, including the 2021 Cultural Studies x Stuart Hall Foundation award-winning article "Twerk Sumn!: Theorizing Black Girl Epistemology in the Body" (Cultural Studies, 2020), The Black Girlhood Studies Collection (2019), Buy Black: How Black Women Transformed US Pop Culture (2022), and Black Girls and How We Fail Them (2025). Dr. Halliday recently published an article on Mattel's collectible dolls in The Black Scholar. 

PATRICIA A. TURNER, PhD, is an emeritus professor at UCLA and the author of five books exploring topics such as rumors, legends, conspiracy theories, African American quilters, and representations of African Americans in popular culture. In Ceramic Uncles and Celluloid Mammies: Black Images and Their Influence on Culture, she documents and analyzes portrayals of people of color as depicted in dolls, sculpture, and other media. She is credited with coining the term "contemptible collectibles." Dr. Turner's expertise has been featured in several award‑winning documentaries, including Ethnic Notions (1987), Color Adjustment (1992), Black Barbie (2024), and Uncle Tom’s Cabin: From Hero to Traitor (2024).    

ARYOL PRATER Aryol (Eh-re-ooh-l) Prater (Pray-tur) (He/They) is an interdisciplinary Black Play scholar with a Master's of Arts in African American History from Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary. He has curated several digital and physical exhibitions with The Strong National Museum of Play, most notably Re-Play: Fifty Years of Hip-Hop Fun.

KIMBERLY CAMP’s exhibitions include the American Craft Museum, Smithsonian, International Sculpture Center, and University of Michigan. She received a 2020 American Craft Council Award, 2021 Gold Award from the Peters Valley Craft Fair and in 2026, the NJSCA Heritage Fellowship in recognition a lifetime achievement, artistic excellence, and contributions to our state's living traditional arts heritage. Camp’s solo show, Cross River: A Parallel Universe, was featured at the Hunterdon Art Museum in 2024-2025. Her workshops include the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Longwood Gardens, and the Smithsonian. Her dolls have appeared in Essence, Nouvel Objet, New York Times, FiberArts, National Geographic World, the Village Voice and Smithsonian.

JOYCE STAMPS is a passionate black doll collector, curator, appraiser, dealer, lecturer, and genealogist. She became involved in doll collecting in 1996. She is a founding member of the Black Gold Doll Club of New England, one of the few clubs of color in United Federated Doll Clubs (UFDC). Joyce and her husband of 60 years co-founded the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, New England Chapter (AAGHS-NE) in the 1980s. Joyce is also a founding Board member of the National Black Doll Museum of History and Culture, the only Black Doll museum in Massachusetts.

TAMMY FISHER (moderator) is an expert/advocate who increases doll diversity and inclusion internationally by initiating collaborations between doll professionals and manufacturers. In addition, she supports diverse doll creators and donates Black dolls in the US, Britain, and Africa. Fisher has been endorsed by and published in a variety of doll magazines. Additionally, Fisher is an artist, writer, podcaster, public speaker, and member of many art and writing organizations, including the International Art Doll Registry and Black Design Collective. Fisher creates OOAK dolls and is the editor of the book, Doll Photography. Fisher’s pronouns are she/her.  For more information, visit Curiositeej.com

TIA DWANNA WHITEHURST is a custom wig maker & educator, with over five years of experience. She blends artistry, culture, and healing through hair. Her up & coming doll line, CrownTress Creations, is purpose-driven, featuring interchangeable, real lace wigs designed to empower children with alopecia, inspire future hairstylists, support cultural education, and nurture inner child healing for adults. Her mission is to normalize & celebrate versatility, and spark confidence, creativity, and self-love in a fun way. Through dolls, education, and community support, she aims to create representation, joy, and access to quality hair experiences for all, while honoring identity and beauty.

SABRINA THOMAS is a social scientist, doll collector, and doll historian whose research focuses on black doll production during the first half of the twentieth century.  Her research examining the impact of material culture and social systems on identity development has been funded by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  Dr. Thomas is currently serving as Guest Editor of the American Journal of Play's Special Issue of Black Dolls.  

ACORI HONZO is a Philadelphia-based African American contemporary artist, sculptor, and documentarian whose work bridges hip-hop culture and Black history through storytelling and collectible art. He is the co-founder of Depicting Our Peoples’ Excellence (DOPE), a collective committed to celebrating culture, legacy, and representation. His practice spans 1/6 scale figures, public art, mixed-media sculpture, and visual documentation. Through bold design and intentional representation, he reimagines dolls and figurative forms as tools for education and visibility. Honzo’s mission is to uplift, preserve history, and reflect the richness of Black creativity.

EFFLEY HOWELL is the founder of the Thankful Heritage Museum. He began collecting and sharing artifacts in his youth with a vision to preserve and teach African American history. What started as a personal collection has grown into a nonprofit traveling museum that has reached thousands of people over three decades in the North Carolina region.

MARK RUFFIN (moderator) is a Daytime Emmy Award–winning artist, puppet builder, and founder of Black Dolls Matter®, a global movement advancing representation, healing, and cultural pride through dolls and storytelling. With over three decades of experience in television, film, and theater—including work for Sesame Street and Broadway—Ruffin bridges art, history, and community activism. Rooted in ancestral craft traditions and contemporary social justice work, his practice centers the emotional power of play and the role of dolls in shaping identity, memory, and belonging.

LULU CALLOWAY serves as the President of the Black and Beautiful Doll Club and the  Reborn Dolls of Color, both  organizations are dedicated to representation, creativity, and cultural affirmation through the art of Reborn Dolls. Her work centers on celebrating diversity, uplifting communities of color, and creating spaces where artistry and identity intersect. As a leader and advocate, Calloway brings passion, vision, and a commitment to inclusion to her work and public engagements.

DEJAH of Dejavu Reborns has been painting lifelike baby dolls in a full range of skin tones, guided by the belief that Black babies come in many beautiful shades, hair and eye colors. I have been inspired by the desire to offer high‑quality ethnic reborn dolls at an accessible price, and have sold over 200 babies.  I have successfully created a unique niche within the reborn art community.  I would like to continue learning to perfect all tones of black babies because we come in all colors.  

TEMPESTT WOODS  has  a passion for poetry and performance art. After being told she was "too old" for dolls, she rediscovered her love for them at 30. After navigating the world of authentic reborns and avoiding the many "scam sites" out there, she finally held her first real doll—and she was instantly hooked! Now, as a wife of nine years and a mother to a beautiful daughter, she has turned her passion into a thriving creative business. She specializes in curated "Baby Shower" box openings and hosting raffles to make these expensive, high-end pieces more affordable for everyone. With over 1,000 YouTube subscribers and 500 Facebook members, she loves using her "eye" for art to connect collectors with their forever babies. For her, this hobby is all about the wonderful community and the joy of authentic artistry.

SABRINA THOMAS (moderator) is a social scientist, doll collector, and doll historian whose research focuses on black doll production during the first half of the twentieth century.  Her research examining the impact of material culture and social systems on identity development has been funded by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  Dr. Thomas is currently serving as Guest Editor of the American Journal of Play's Special Issue of Black Dolls.

LASHON DALEY is an assistant professor of English and Comparative Literature, and the director of the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at San Diego State University. Her research focuses on representations of Black girlhood in American children’s literature, media, and merchandising. She has been published in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society and Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism.

LATIANA RIDGELL is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, Camden. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from California State University, Chico, and a Master of Science degree in Public Health from Drexel University. Her research interests include Black girlhood studies, children’s consumer culture, and the cultural politics of childhood. Currently, she is completing her dissertation titled Just For Me: The Construction of Black Girlhood Through Children’s Hair Relaxer Advertisements. This research examines how Pro-Line Corporation constructed Black girls as distinct consumers while offering to ease the maternal expectations placed on Black mothers.

PAULETTE RICHARDS (moderator) is an independent researcher.  Dr. Richards co-curated the Living Objects:  African American Puppetry exhibit at the University of Connecticut’s Ballard Institute and Museum with Dr. John Bell.  Her book, Object Performance in the Black Atlantic:  The United States, won a 2024 Nancy Staub Award for excellence in writing on the art of puppetry from UNIMA-USA.  As a 2025 Transformative Truth Telling Fellow at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Richards developed Men and Mules, a video installation on convict leasing in Atlanta area quarries now on permanent display at the Hapeville Depot Museum.

SABRINA THOMAS is a social scientist, doll collector, and doll historian whose research focuses on black doll production during the first half of the twentieth century.  Her research examining the impact of material culture and social systems on identity development has been funded by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  Dr. Thomas is currently serving as Guest Editor of the American Journal of Play's Special Issue of Black Dolls.

ARYOL PRATER Aryol (Eh-re-ooh-l) Prater (Pray-tur) (He/They) is an interdisciplinary Black Play scholar with a Master's of Arts in African American History from Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary. He has curated several digital and physical exhibitions with The Strong National Museum of Play, most notably Re-Play: Fifty Years of Hip-Hop Fun.

YOLANDA HESTER  is a public historian.  She is currently the Project Director of the Arthur Ashe Oral History project at Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA. She has been featured on the PBS show Lost LA: Shindana Toy Company: Changing the American Doll Industry and Netflix's Black Barbie documentary. Other projects include:  the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Local Projects, the Urban Civil Rights Museum, The Center for Oral History Research at UCLA, Forest History Society and UCLA’s Ralph Bunche Center’s Archiving the Age of Mass Incarceration project. She has been published in The American Journal of Play, the Public Historian, and as guest editor, Contours: Muñecas Negras: Traveling in Diásporas, and is co-founder of consulting firm Frameworks and Narratives.

ROB GOLDBERG is a historian and author of the prize-winning book, Radical Play: Revolutionizing Children's Toys in 1960s and 1970s America (2023). Rob's research on Shindana Toys has appeared in the LA Times and the American Journal of Play, and he was a speaker at  The Strong Museum's 2021 panel "Black Toys and Toymakers" as well as the 2023 exhibit "Black Dolls." Media appearances include The Playground Podcast with Chris Byrne, The Brian Lehrer Show, and The Toys That Built America. Rob holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania and currently serves as Head of the History Department at Germantown Friends School.