Columbia has a new “it girl.” At 10 years old, she has a dog-walking and treat-making business and teaches other young girls how to work through obstacles, patience and how to treat people and pets as individuals — only she’s 18 inches tall and has limbs made of vinyl.

Summer McKinny, sporting a rainbow tie-dye dress and pink glasses to go with matching bracelets and colorful sandals, is the doll that was crowned the 2025 American Girl of the Year. She’s the first American Girl of the Year from Maryland after making her debut in September.

Since Pleasant T. Rowland founded American Girl in 1986, the brand has become a touchstone for millennials and generations after who grew up with the dolls. More than 36 million of the dolls, which typically cost around $125, have been sold in the last four decades, according to American Girl.

Mary Mahoney, a historian and co-host of the popular “Dolls of Our Lives” podcast that retells the stories of each American Girl Doll, said McKinny’s story is defined by her turning her passion into a business, which mirrors what is important to generations today.

“Now we have a Girl of the Year whose dream is to be an entrepreneur. … The girls in the early periods were just pursuing things because they were interested in them. They weren’t trying to make a living,” Mahoney said. “And now it’s interesting that it’s kind of a reflection of our own times that Summer isn’t just interested in making dog treats or loving animals, which is wonderful, but also wants to make a business about it.”

She said Girl of the Year is an attempt to speak to kids, and that every doll’s story can stand as a yearbook or litmus test for the values that Mattel, the company that owns American Girl, thinks are important to children at a certain point.

McKinny’s story is told through two books called “My Journal by Summer McKinny” and “Summer Gets to Work,” both written by Clare Hutton, a Columbia native.

Hutton consulted Katie Flory, the community care and advocacy director for the Maryland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Janear Garrus, founder of Chesapeake Educational Alliance, to make McKinny’s story as accurate and authentic as possible, according to American Girl.

Along with McKinny’s baking and dog-walking business, her story features her dog, Crescent, and her Aunt Olivia’s cat, Fettuccine, that bring moments of chaos into McKinny’s life. She learns how to navigate her business venture with her home life, and Hutton hopes readers see themselves in McKinny’s story.

“While Summer’s not perfect, she is willing to admit when she’s wrong, talk about her feelings, and do what it takes to get a friendship back on track,” Hutton said in an American Girl blog. “I hope that girls will recognize their own relationships in the ones that Summer values and realize that they too can resolve conflicts just as she does.”

McKinny has real emotions that many readers may relate to, and Mahoney said that is what American Girl Dolls and their stories are meant to do.

“I think it’s a really special brand because everything they do is about instilling confidence in girls to love themselves, to explore who they are, to pursue their passions and be unapologetically interested in the world,” she said.

American Girl treats girls as empowered, important people, without rushing them to grow up or rushing them to be defined by a relationship to a boy, Mahoney said.

The dolls are also a way to connect girls to other generations in their families and encourage storytelling and shared play. “And I think all of that is really special,” she said.