While barbies are plastic and aloof, Little Souls dolls are
whimsical, lovable and, for many, even life-altering. They
certainly were for doll maker Gretchen Wilson, who started sewing
dolls for her three children because she was too poor to buy them.
The dolls caught the eye of a children's retailer, who ordered
some for her store.
Twenty-five years later, Wilson, 50, and partner Colleen
Charleston, 43, are selling some 25,000 Little Souls dolls each
year-and changing lives across the globe. Their collaborations with
women worldwide have not only resulted in the Bobita line of dolls
from Romania and Kumasi Kids from Ghana but have also taught women
in those countries income-earning skills and even provided funds
for needy children.
Wilson and Charleston also provide doll-making demonstrations at
schools and shelters in the United States, where they find their
dolls are often a window to the soul. At a workshop for
crack-addicted women, "the two women who were the most visibly
damaged made the most precious little dolls," says Wilson.
"I was so moved because I realized inside everyone there's
a sense of hope, an idea of beauty."
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The Ardmore, Pennsylvania, entrepreneurs never expected their
dolls would have as profound an effect on those who make them as on
those who buy them. "We didn't plan the company this
way," says Wilson. "I guess it's just kind of who we
are."
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