It's safe to say that the majority of young girls have had at least one Barbie doll in their lives. I had around a hundred Barbies when I was younger, this is probably not an exaggeration. I remember being in the store and going to the toy department and being so excited.
I would practically beg and occasionally bargain with my mom for a new Barbie to add to the plethora of dolls I had at home. There was a Barbie for just about anything and I felt that all of them should be mine. Everything from Gymnastics Barbie to Mermaid Barbie were there for me to pick from.
When I got older, it didn't occur to me that for some kids they might not feel represented or that there weren't Barbies that looked like them.
Now Barbie is definitely changing the game and introducing dolls for everyone. Over the past 58 years, Barbie has been a big supporter of girls being who they want to be and getting to do whatever they want. When you think about it, Barbie has a doll for just about every career and activity that you can think of to show this idea, 180 careers to be specific.
This is exactly what the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, had in mind when she first created the doll.
"My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through dolls, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices."
In recent years Barbie has started their own line called 'Sheroes'. These are dolls that represent women who have been inspiring and broken boundaries. The 'Sheroes' line can represent anyone from actresses, athletes, singers, dancers, models, etc. Each woman in any of these categories is honored with their own doll that is an exact replica of them and is either a permanent or limited edition in the Barbie collection. There are now 11 'Sheroes' that belong in this Barbie collection.
Eva Chen
Eva Chen was the youngest appointed editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine. Once the editor-in-chief of Lucky magazine, Eva is now the head of Instagram's fashion partnerships
Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood is a multi-award winning Country music artist, star of her own cooking show on Food Network, and author of several cookbooks.
Ava Duvernay
Ava Duvernay is an Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated writer and director. Her most well-known film is "Selma" but she has won Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 for her film "Middle of Nowhere".
Sydney "Mayhem" Keiser
Sydney Keiser is an astounding 6-year-old fashion designer. Sydney amazed the world with her paper designs of red carpet recreations. She's had designs featured in both Vogue and J.Crew.
Kristen Chenoweth
Kristen Chenoweth is an award-winning actress and singer on both the stage and screen. Her dazzling accomplishments in her performance career and founding of the Kristen Chenoweth Art and Education Fund lead to her being a 'Shero'.
Emmy Rossum
Emmy Rossum became a 'Shero' for her work as a Golden-Globe-nominated actress and singer and for being a spokesperson for Best Friends Animal Society.
Zendaya
Zendaya is an actress, singer, and dancer who was honored with her 'Shero' Barbie for her strides to stand up for her culture and representing diversity.
Misty Copeland
Misty Copeland was honored with her 'Shero' Barbie after being the first African-American woman to be named principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre.
Ashley Graham
Ashley Graham was honored with a 'Shero' Barbie for the great strides she made in the fashion industry as a plus sized model and the pushing of a body positive message to help empower young girls.
Gabby Douglas
Gabby Douglas is a USA Olympic gymnast and the first African-American woman and first woman of color Olympian to win Individual All-Around Champion in Olympic history.
Ibtihaj Muhammad
Ibtihaj Muhammad is the most recent 'Shero' to be honored. She is an Olympic fencer and the first American Olympian to compete wearing a hijab.
Each of these women has shown the remarkable things that can happen with some sort of talent, determination, or diversity. Barbie has taken great steps towards recognizing role models for young girls and showing that it's possible for them to be anything they set their minds to. By expanding this collection, Barbie will continue to represent the idea that Ruth Handler had about all the choices for women. I can't wait to see what extraordinary woman becomes Barbie's next 'Shero'.
