
Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/via Getty Images; Mattel/via @barbie on Instagram
It’s official, Naomi Osaka is a certified Role Model. The Haitian-Japanese tennis champ received her very first Role Model Series Barbie doll and to no surprise, it sold out in no time.
The 23 year old has been in the news for more than her abilities on the court. Over the past few months especially, she has become the face for mental health awareness. She has been using her platform to promote more sustainable practices in regards to mental health. She has also become a loud voice in social justice, unapologetically fighting for the Black Lives Matter cause.
The Role Model line is designed to enshrine impactful, important, and inspiring women from around the globe, giving them their own Barbie doll. To Osaka, the collaboration is a message to all the kids out there that “they can be and do anything.”
She joins the ranks of women like Frida Kahlo, Gabby Douglas, and Dina Asher Smith, as women who have impacted their generation, and future generations to come.
“Obviously Naomi’s athletic skill is unmatched, that’s a fact,” said Carlyle Nuera, the designer working with Osaka on the doll. “But what I personally admire the most about Naomi Osaka is how she uses her platform, the spotlight on her and her voice, to raise awareness about social justice.”
Osaka is set to return to tennis at the Tokyo Olympics, after withdrawing from both the French Open and Wimbledon. She will be representing her home country Japan at the games, and looks to win the quadrennial title on home soil.
But more than anything else, she looks to inspire all those that look up to her, at home and abroad. Her new Barbie Doll is just proof of that.
Sources: TSN.CA, CNN.COM, BARBIE.MATTEL.COM, MASHABLE.COM, BET.COM