Mimi Dixon. Dixon RC’95, manager of brand equity and activation at Crayola.
Photography courtesy Crayola

For decades, children’s crayons have offered a palette of skin tones bearing little resemblance to the myriad colors that reflect people around the world. But that’s all changed with a new line of crayons and markers spearheaded by alumna Mimi Dixon. Dixon RC’95, manager of brand equity and activation at Crayola, helped develop Colors of the World, comprising more than 40 global skin tones and named a Toy of the Year in 2021. “When you have a child that says, ‘I can now color myself,’ that was really important to me because that’s what I wasn’t able to do growing up,” Dixon says. “To just be able to take one crayon—it seems very simple—and make that difference for kids today was invaluable.”