“Crayola actually launched multicultural crayons back in 1992, but if you look at that launch it was done using colors that mimic skin tone, not necessarily represent it,” said Dixon.

Those colors often left people feeling as though they weren’t accurately represented, but thanks to Dixon, the company was inspired to do more.

“For that line, the box of crayons were considered multicultural, however, we know that multicultural isn’t necessarily a thing,” she continued. “So, we had the opportunity to expand and work on the name, the colors, and how we bring those colors to life. We could have gone down the path like any normal company does with innovation. However, we wanted to do more.”

“More” for Dixon and her team was going beyond the research and development department because they saw it as much more than just a product, but a true force to drive diversity and inclusion.

The company worked alongside leaders in the beauty industry to create shades based on methods used to also create makeup foundation products. From there, they would come up with crayons that directly matched various skin tones.

“Kudos to the organization [Crayola] for that mindset change and being open to having an honest dialogue about where we are in our diversity and inclusion journey and where we want to be,” Dixon expressed.

Black Excecutives

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