Growing up you couldn't get much girlier than me. I had all things Disney Princess, American Girl, and of course, Barbie. I had the dream house, I had the movies, I had Ken, and I even had a real hot pink Barbie Jeep that my sister and I cruised around the neighborhood in. To say I loved Barbie was an understatement. She had the cutest clothes, a hot boyfriend with plastic abs, a big house, and was a mermaid/fairy/princess. But, what I think I liked the most about her was the fact that I thought she was beautiful. She had long blonde hair, big blue eyes, perfect teeth, and all the "right" proportions.

She was everything that I wasn't and everything I wasn't going to grow up to be.

Just a few days ago the streaming company Hulu debuted a documentary titled, "Tiny Shoulders" that brought the viewer into famous toy company Mattel's "Operation Dawn." Operation Dawn was a top-secret plan created by the Mattel company. The mission? Give the most well-known blonde and blue-eyed woman in the entire world a makeover. Not just any makeover, a makeover that was to determine the fate of the Barbie brand. We weren't just talking about changing Barbie's 'do or eyeshadow color. The company was ready to do something that had been requested by mother's all over the world for years: change Barbie's body type to a more realistic one.

The documentary takes the viewer into the company's entire thought process as they took one of the biggest risks the brand had ever seen. Many of the employees working on the operation said that they believed that Barbie's body transformation was long overdue. What I found to be the most shocking was that the company had previously tried to put a bigger Barbie doll on the market, but never did due to poor reception from children in focus groups.

When given both a regular sized Barbie doll as well as a bigger doll, little girls were told to point to which one was Barbie. All of them pointed to the thinner model, with most saying that the other one was fat and that they didn't want to play with a fat person. Or that her legs were too big and that this wasn't a good change for Barbie. While this broke my heart to hear young girls say this it really made me understand why the brand hadn't made this change sooner. They were worried that they could lose everything if young girls weren't willing to play with what they weren't familiar with.

Despite this, the Barbie brand finally got the green light to develop a new Barbie in 2015. The idea was not only to create a curvier Barbie, but also a tall Barbie, and a petite Barbie in order to showcase to young boys and girls that every woman is a different shape and size.

The company spent months developing the perfect dolls. They even setback the launch date three months in order to make sure that everything was correct and that they were fully prepared to handle potential backlash to Barbie's new appearance. After many anxiety-infused months, the company was finally able to release the new dolls in January of 2016. To their delight, for the most part, the dolls were received well by both children and adults. Many took to Twitter to express their joy in seeing a Barbie that looked more like them and what their daughters may grow up to be.

The end of the documentary shows videos of both boys and girls explaining why they like the new dolls. One girl explains that the new curvier doll looks like she has muscles and can take care of herself, unlike old Barbie. While a little boy says that newer, curvier one is prettier. Hearing these responses from kids absolutely warmed my heart in every aspect.

While I believe the company took a much-needed step forward in the right direction I still think Barbie has some changing to do. I strongly believe that we need to expose children to a Barbie of not only different sizes but a Barbie with freckles, tattoos, scars, braces, and even bald Barbie. They say that when children are young they believe that their mother is the most beautiful woman in the world, so why not make a doll that represents real women and real moms?

Let's give children a Barbie that reminds them that not only blonde and blue-eyed women and men are beautiful, but that anyone and everyone, no matter what is on the outside is.