Philly-based CEO of inclusive holiday wrapping company Black Paper Party will pitch on Shark Tank today

If you’ve strolled the holiday aisles of your local Target or Walmart stores lately, you may have seen Christmas wrapping paper featuring Black angels in white robes, or Black Nutcracker soldiers dressed in West African garb.

And then there is the gift wrap featuring small Black children who have checked one of three boxes to tell Santa whether they’ve been “Naughty, Nice, or I Tried” this year.

The wrapping paper and more Christmas holiday merchandise, such as Christmas stockings, snow globes, and Klaus family ceramic ramekin sets, are products from the Black Paper Party company, whose three owners are set to appear on Shark Tank on Friday night.

“Representation is so important,” said the company’s CEO, Madia Willis, who lives in Philadelphia.

Their products can be found on their website, BlackPaperParty.com, or at Target or Walmart. Black Paper Party products can also be found at Macy’s and Macys.com, Family Dollar, CVS and Dollar General.

“We take so much care in [how we present] the hair texture, the facial expressions and features, even through the language we use. We place a focus on an authentic Black experience,” Willis said.

“Oftentimes, we found that [with other wrapping paper] if there were people of color represented, they literally painted the white character brown, so that the hair, the skin, and features are not really authentic and were not really created with us in mind.”

All Willis could say on Thursday about the episode’s filming back in June was that they were all nervous. But Willis can’t disclose whether Black Paper Party secured a Shark Tank investor until after the episode airs Friday.

Willis lives in Philadelphia, but she met her business partners — Jasmine Hudson, chief merchandising officer, and J’Aaron Merchant, chief creative officer — when all three were working for Walmart in Bentonville, Ark.

Willis started at Walmart as a textile designer. By the time she left, she had been promoted to product developer and sourcing manager.

In 2019, Willis returned to Philadelphia to work for Five Below, but she kept in touch with her friends in Arkansas. (She had gone to graduate school at Drexel and Philadelphia University — now Thomas Jefferson University — from 2010 to 2012.)

The trio began brainstorming ideas for a business. They first tested the market for a gift wrapping company that would appeal to Black people from the African diaspora by selling their wrapping paper on a print-on-demand basis through Zazzle.com.

“The idea of wrapping paper came about as we were looking for ways to combine Jae’s [J’Aaron’s] illustrations with my textile design background,” Willis said.

“In textiles, you put a pattern that can be repeated that can be printed on fabric or some other surface.”

They also found research that showed that Black people spent 15% more than other ethnic groups on Christmas merchandise, while at the same time, very few companies were investing in providing inclusive products that featured Black people among the Santas, elves and wrapping paper they bought.

“We decided to move into that space,” she said.

Willis said the women thought their company could provide some joy and uplift to Black people who were feeling isolated during the pandemic and grieving over the killing of George Floyd.

“People were really responsive to our wrapping paper. They were saying, ‘This is great.’ It gave us enough confidence to start the business.”

So they incorporated as a company in 2020.

Black Paper Party products feature a host of “characters.” They represent the Klaus family, where Papa Klaus and Nana Klaus represent Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Those children featured on the “Naughty or Nice, or I Tried“ gift wrapping papers have names: They are Malachi, Faith, Grace and Christian.

There is another character, “Aunt Holly,” who is the single, rich auntie who spoils her nieces and nephews.

And instead of Christmas elves, there are characters, called “Gnomies”and “Gnaomies,” boy and girl gnomes featured on various decorations.

Willis noted that their company’s Black Nutcracker soldiers are dressed in West African style, in a nod to the African diaspora around the world.

Willis is Liberian American, Merchant was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Hudson grew up in Cincinnati.

The company is also inspired by the Afrofuturism movement, and that influence will be seen in products for Black History Month in February. The partners are also working on developing Valentine’s Day and Easter seasonal products, in addition to creating a line of birthday party packaging products.

Willis left her job with Five Below in September 2021 to work full time on Black Paper Party. Her partners, who still live in Arkansas, left their jobs in 2022.

“Business is booming,” Willis said.