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San Diego welcomes Emmanuel "Manny" Rodriguez for media interviews and appearances, plus the second exclusive customer Zoom call — this time delivered in person, from the city Curls Poppin' Dolls calls home.
SAN DIEGO, CA — August 27, 2026 —
A few months ago, people started pre-ordering a doll modeled after a man most of them had never met. On September 19, they get to meet him.
Emmanuel “Manny” Rodriguez — the Dominican model and actor based in Miami, Florida, whose likeness became the first male doll in the Curls Poppin' Dolls collection — is coming to San Diego, September 19–21, 2026, for a curated media tour and an exclusive in-person moment with the customers who believed in Men of Culture before the rest of the world had heard of it.
THE STORY
Curls Poppin' Dolls is the world's first natural hair fashion doll line, built by a hair care company on real textured-hair expertise. Manny is its first male doll — modeled after a real person, with hair rooted strand by strand to match his actual curl pattern, and the first of an ongoing series in the new Men of Culture collection. He joins a brand that's already the first HBCU-licensed doll line in history, with partnerships across Morehouse, Spelman, Clark Atlanta, Tuskegee, Jackson State, Virginia State, Prairie View A&M, Hampton, and Howard, plus Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
WHY THIS MATTERS
A child can play with a doll. A collector can own one. Very few people can point at a doll on a shelf and say, “that's me” — and then fly across the country to meet the strangers who bought it before it ever shipped. Manny can do both, and this September, Curls Poppin' Dolls is closing that loop in person with Ashley Head, in San Diego, California.
SAN DIEGO VISIT
From September 19–21, Manny will hold media interviews and appearances built around a question the toy industry rarely gets to ask a real person: what does it feel like to become a doll? While he's in town, he'll also join the second exclusive Zoom call for presale customers — Sunday, September 19, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. EST — this time delivered in person, from the city Curls Poppin' Dolls calls home.
PRESALE
Manny is currently available through presale at www.curlspoppindolls.com. Everyone who has already ordered him is part of the earliest chapter of Men of Culture's history. For anyone who hasn't ordered yet: presale is open now.
QUOTE — CURLS POPPIN' DOLLS FOUNDER
I've spent almost two decades trying to fix something I saw on a shelf in 2009 — no dolls that looked like me or the people I love. Manny is proof that work doesn't stop with hair care or with dolls for girls. It keeps going, one real person and one real story at a time. San Diego is where we get to say thank you to the people who trusted us with that story first.
— Ashley Head, MBA, Co-Founder & CEO, Curls Poppin' Dolls
ABOUT CURLS POPPIN' DOLLS
Curls Poppin' Dolls is a San Diego-based hair product and toy brand co-founded by Ashley Head, MBA and Lindsey Head, MBA. The brand operates two pillars: Curls Poppin' natural hair care products (hero product: Curls Poppin' Amplifying Cream) and Curls Poppin' Dolls, the world's first natural hair fashion doll line and first HBCU-licensed doll line. The brand holds licenses with Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Tuskegee University, Jackson State University, Virginia State University, Prairie View A&M University, Hampton University, Howard University, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and is onboarding to Walmart.com. Manny — the debut release in the brand's Men of Culture collection and its first male doll — is currently available for presale at www.curlspoppindolls.com.
MEDIA CONTACT
Mr. Ashley T. Head, MBA • Curls Poppin' Dolls • ashley@curlspoppin.com • 646-570-7566 • www.curlspoppindolls.com
