She should be a household name.
Long before the days of affluent beauty influencers, Madam C.J. Walker became known as America's first self-made female millionaire thanks to her homemade line of hair care products for Black women.
The cosmetic queen’s scalp preparations, lotions, iron combs and pomades were among the first of their kind, at a time when most hair products for Black women were manufactured by white businesses. A natural entrepreneur, Walker would later employ her own “beauty culturalists” to sell her products, causing business to skyrocket. Keep in mind, this model preceded the rise of Mary Kay.
Even after her death, the Walker name was synonymous with self-care. A’Lelia Walker, C.J.’s only child, transformed her mother’s Manhattan townhouse into a salon for members of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s.
Now, Walker’s legacy gets further immortalized by getting her very own Barbie doll.
Madam C.J. Walker.
Walker might have been a savvy businesswoman, but she was also a philanthropist, activist and advocate. She helped other Black women become more financially secure by establishing clubs for her employees and would offer bonuses to those who gave back to their community.
A'Lelia Bundles, Walker's great-great-granddaughter and official biographer, worked extensively with Barbie designer Carlyle Nuera to help bring the doll to life in an authentic way, according to USA Today.
Wearing royal purple and turquoise—two of Walker’s favorite colors—the signature doll also comes with a very important accessory: a historically accurate miniature version of “Madam C.J. Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower,” a scalp conditioning and healing formula that Walker claimed had been revealed to her in a dream. Walker first sought out hair care solutions after suffering from hair loss herself.
"Inspiring Women" also includes Frida Kahlo and Jane Goodall.
"We wanted to focus on the fact that she manufactured hair care products and to make the young people and the adults who love it think about her being a businesswoman," Bundles told USA Today.
The Madam C.J. Walker Barbie is part of Mattel’s “Inspiring Women Series,” a line that “pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time; courageous women who took risks, changed rules and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before.” She’ll be joining the likes of Rosa Parks, Ella Fitzgerald and Maya Angelou. Each doll comes with a historical photo along with a short biography explaining how these female role models helped change the world.
Bundles shared the doll’s significance in an interview with NPR.
"I hope that when little girls and little boys pick up the doll, that they will see something that's a little different than just a generic doll … as an entrepreneur and as a boss and as a philanthropist and a patron of the arts and somebody who cared about social justice, that they will perhaps see themselves and take one of those narratives,” she said.
Bundles continued, "It means a lot that a child can look at a doll, can have a doll that looks like them ... so that they know that they're part of the world."
Walker's Barbie is available for purchase on Mattel, Walmart and Amazon for $35.
Also, yes, her hair care line still exists.
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"Now your fishes will be warmed."
"To have one’s eyes lined with ham."
"To lay your head in water."
"Repetition teaches the donkey."
"I only understand train station."
"To speak directly from the liver."
"Horse horse, tiger tiger."
Beaver in water. Photo by 
An actual beaver dam on the now-thriving Price River
Medusa image of giant squid in Gulf of Mexico off of Mississippi Gulf CoastPhoto credit: 
Sign warning against feeding alligators next to alligator in Mississippi marshlandsCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel
Mississippi Gulf Coast beach in BiloxiCourtesy of Jacalyn Wetzel
2009 photo of giant squid caught in Gulf of Mexico near Mississippi GulfPhoto credit: 
Thank goodness this story has a happy ending.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."