Exciting news: Yara Shahidi’s Barbie doll is finally available for purchase, complete with its iconic “Vote” t-shirt. The doll’s re-release was announced Tuesday in honor of National Register to Vote Day—not only to highlight the importance of registering to vote, but also to teach younger generations that no matter their age, they too, can make a difference.
Last spring, Barbie honored the Grown-ish star with the doll to celebrate the company’s 60th anniversary as well as International Women’s Month. The Yara Shahidi Barbie was one of the brand’s new line of inspiring “Shero” dolls, which also featured well-known badasses like model and activist Adwoa Aboah and tennis champion Naomi Osaka.
Mattel, Shahidi, and Shahidi’s mom worked together to design the doll, working together to find the right hair texture and skin tone and pick the perfect outfit. The actress’s choice? A gray suit paired with a colorful limited-edition Tory Burch “Vote” t-shirt and a black backpack adorned with an “I Voted” sticker. Consider this my outfit from now until Election Day.
Last year, Shahidi discussed the process of how the doll came together with Marie Claire: “[My mom] and I were walking around with parts of dolls for quite some time because we were mixing and matching, which was fun because you could tell that it’s really important to Mattel to make sure that the doll authentically represented me in a way that I really liked, and a way that I felt is genuine to who I think Yara really is. Everything from my outfit to my curls to my eyebrows were all things that we discussed.”
When asked what advice she has for young girls who feel like their voices don’t matter, the Black-ish actress reflected on her own experience and how she learned to push through.
“I think the one thing that has been crucial for me to know is that there have been support networks in place, not only for us personally, but people who are dedicated to help in our success,” she said. “People who have been dedicated to knocking down barriers. The freedom that we do experience is from other women who have invested their time, their money, their energy, their being into making sure that we have that we have space.”
Isn’t she just the coolest? To learn more about the collectible dolls, head over to Barbie.com. After you’ve registered to vote, of course.
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