By Dr. SELENA SEABROOKS The Dallas Examiner
Afro Unicorn is spreading magic this season with its holiday collection. Creating a new holiday tradition, the company released the Holiday Magic Afro Unicorn, a one-of-a-kind gift box that includes the fluffy, festive “Unique the Unicorn” plush with a colorful scarf. The stuffed unicorn comes in a brown shade and is designed to remind children of color how unique, divine, and magical they are.
The gift box also includes a Holiday Magic Unicorn Advent calendar and Afro Unicorn reward stickers to capture acts of kindness leading up to Christmas.
In addition, it offers seasonal products, such as Afro Unicorn wrapping paper, available in four holiday colors.
“We are thrilled to start new holiday traditions centered around spreading acts of kindness and creating holiday magic for others,” April Showers, founder and CEO of Afro Unicorn, said in a statement released to the press.
This past summer, Afro Unicorn hit the shelves of over 3,800 Walmart stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico with party supplies and apparel, moving the company from a direct-to-consumer e-commerce business to being sold at a major retailer. The summer release features everything needed to host a magical unicorn party, whether a birthday, graduation or barbecue. The collection includes plates, napkins, balloons, decorations and pinatas. Other items include multi-color faux hair clips and sequin journals.
“My main goal for Afro Unicorn is to ensure Black girls and women feel unique, divine and magical,” she added. “Afro Unicorn is more than a line of products. It’s a movement to make sure Black people are represented and have a seat at the table.”
The unicorn features an afro-style mane in a range of Black shades – vanilla, caramel and mocha, to show the array of Black complexions.
“There are a lot of unicorns like me. There are women with multiple businesses and raising their kids, so I started using the unicorn emoji a lot. But it bothered me because none of them looked like me,” Showers expressed. “I wanted to see how I could tie in women empowerment with the different shades of unicorns. I wanted to create something that says, ‘You can.’ – You can step out and not just be pigeonholed into one area.”
Showers launched Afro Unicorn in 2019, selling direct to consumers. Since then, She has become the first Black woman to own a fully licensed character brand in a major retailer. Earlier this year, the company launched Afro Unicorn accessories. She is also one of the first Black woman-owned businesses to enter Walmart’s celebrations party category.
Showers has evolved the business into a movement, sharing her story in hopes of encouraging and inspiring Black women entrepreneurs to become more passionate, purposeful and strategic along their journey.
Afro Unicorn products can be purchased on the company’s website at https://afrounicorns.com, as well as Walmart, Target, Amazon and NOVAkid