Bloomfield Company Uses Disney Princesses To Promote Female Empowerment

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The days of Disney princesses “waiting for their princes to come rescue them” are over; it’s time to reclaim the childhood icons as symbols of empowerment, a Bloomfield-based business says.

Martha Peralta, the owner of Bloomfield entertainment company Bella Princess, said that she recently revamped her company’s programs to use princess-related imagery to “advocate for female empowerment and channel girls’ potential for personal growth.”

For example, the company hosts a “Royal Academy” program for girls aged four to seven that offers different activities with “themes of empowerment,” such as exploring their own superpowers and learning about their responsibilities to themselves and family.

“One of the foundations of our programs and performances is to take the modern version of a princess: daring, strong, independent and empowered, to use her ambition to make a difference,” Peralta said.

Peralta isn’t the only Essex County woman to attempt to use the changing image of the Disney Princess to promote diversity and empowerment.

In December, a Newark mother teamed up with Girls, Live, Love, Laugh, Inc., a non-profit organization focused on supporting girls in Newark and the surrounding areas, to provide 100 girls in the community with letters of inspiration from female community leaders and their own African-American versions of traditionally Caucasian Disney Princess characters such as Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Ariel.

• See related article: Black Disney Princesses: Newark Mom Empowers Girls With Doll Giveaway

Photo: Bella Princess

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