12-Year-Old Zoe Oli, Founder Of Beautiful Curly Me, Becomes ‘The Youngest CEO To Launch A Toy Brand At Target’

12-year-old Zoe Oli is making history with Target!

As AFROTECH™ previously reported, she is the genius behind Beautiful Curly Me, a doll company empowering young Black girls. The company stemmed from a lack of confidence she had with her natural hair at the age of 6, comparing it to the straight hair her classmates had. Even after her mother purchased her a Black doll, Oli could not help but notice the doll still did not have her textured hair.

So by the age of 7, she officially became an entrepreneur.

“My mom got me a Black doll that looked like me to help, and it really did but I noticed that the doll did not have hair that looked like mine and I wanted dolls with curls and braids, so when she went back to the stores couldn’t find any,” Oli explained during ForbesBLK Summit 2024. “I decided that I wanted to make my own business and do something about it, and that’s how I got started.”

Oli hopes to impact at least one million Black girls within her lifetime, and she believes expanding her product line will help to achieve this vision, she told Forbes. So, Beautiful Curly Me has also grown to include children’s books; science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) puzzles; and an empowerment club, a press release mentions. Recently, Oli introduced a new line of dolls available at Target, featuring three characters: Binta the scientist, Bella the entrepreneur, and Imara the ballerina, each with curly hair.

What’s more, Oli’s presence at the retailer makes her “the youngest CEO to launch a toy brand at Target,” the press release states. “Seeing our dolls on the @target shelf for the first time was surreal,” she expressed in an Instagram post. “It was so emotional thinking about the journey over the past 4 years and seeing this dream come to life is amazing. Thank you all so much for your support on our journey!”