While most teenage boys are busy playing video games and scrolling through TikTok, 17-year-old Cason Dean is busy running his business: a corporation that sells inclusive, inflatable holiday decor.

With the help of his family, Dean, a high school junior in Brooklyn, NY, has designed and marketed several unique holiday decorations. In just two years, the business has grown from local holiday vending markets to now working with major retail stores, like Walmart.

Dean got the idea for Inclusive Christmas a few years ago after taking note of the holiday decorations he saw in his community. "Every year my dad goes to Home Depot and loves to buy a ton of Christmas inflatables. Some may find it tacky, but I love it. I think it's a good tradition that our family does," he explained. "I came up with this idea because I noticed there weren't any Christmas inflatables that represented anyone who celebrated Christmas that was not a white male, and I wanted a Santa figure of some sort that better represented my family and my background, which is when I came up with Inclusive Christmas."

Dean's first idea was an Asian Santa. When the Deans looked online to see what kind of Asian Christmas representation they could find, they were shocked to discover that very little existed. When they did find Asian decorations, they were distasteful at best and incredibly offensive at worst. "It was all stereotypical and borderline racist stuff," he said. "We were just like, 'Oh, we should do something about that.'"

The same year Dean launched Asian Santa, he also created Pride Santa. "We have things to represent the identities of all sorts of people. People put up their country's flags, people put up Pride flags in front of their houses," Dean explained. "People have so many things that belong to them that represent who they are, and if these people also celebrate a holiday like Christmas - or in the case of Hanukkah Hank, Hanukkah - would like an inflatable that represents themselves, obviously that's something that should exist, not just for a specific set of people but for everyone who celebrates the holiday."

Pride Santa stands six feet tall with a jolly smile and a bright red hat, but red isn't the only color on his coat. His inflatable parka is lined with all the colors of the rainbow. "This community has been historically underrepresented in media and pretty much everything," Dean said. "We thought people would enjoy having a Pride Santa to show that they celebrate this holiday and are a part of that community."

Last year, Inclusive Christmas introduced three more designs: Black Santa, Hanukkah Hank, and a female Santa, named Sandra Claus. "Santa has historically been a white man, right, who is married to Mrs. Claus, and I think since there are so many different people who celebrate the holiday, why can't Santa be someone else?" Dean asked.

Responses
Dean found that the inclusive Santa decorations make great conversation starters and allow people the space to talk about the communities they are proud of. While Inclusive Christmas has had some pushback from those who believe Santa Claus must be a white, heterosexual, man, the reaction to the products has been overwhelmingly positive.

Seeing negative responses online only made Dean more determined to expand his collection of Inclusive Santas. "We started an Instagram ad campaign, and people were writing such vulgar things in the comments," he said. "It made us realize why it was so important to make this product. These people will never realize why it's important if there's nothing like it on the market. Without these inflatables, we won't change the narrative that Santa is just a white man."

Despite designing, marketing, and selling a new line of holiday decorations, Dean still manages to go to school, where he keeps a relatively low profile. Most of his friends don't even know he is secretly an entrepreneur. Those he has shared this with are more than supportive. "Some people even come up with designs to submit in the future, like we had a Blind Santa submission, where the reindeer is the guide dog. We've had a lot of interesting submissions, mainly from my peers at school. They have their opinions about the business," he said.

Other than Walmart, Inclusive Christmas is exclusively sold online. This year, Dean hopes to get his products into Home Depot and Wayfair, but as of right now, the business still has a small local presence, appearing at neighborhood holiday markets, as well as New York's Christmas in America store and on Etsy.

Dean has found that many of his sales ship to states where culture wars continue to target inclusivity. "At a market, we had a hospital purchase a pack of Black Santas for [its] hospital gift shop, from Alabama, and that was a big surprise for us. But I would say a majority of our sales have been in states where people are less represented," Dean said.

Seeing the impact inclusive Christmas has had on marginalized people only inspires Dean to keep working hard to show the world that anyone can be Santa Claus.