Ruth Handler, nee Mosko, was born to Polish Jewish immigrants in Denver, Colorado, USA, in 1916. She married Elliott Handler, her high school boyfriend, and the two moved to Los Angeles in 1938. An artistic man, Elliott made furniture for their house out of Lucite and Plexiglass, which were new materials at the time. It was Ruth, however, who suggested he turn furniture-making into a business. During World War II, Ruth and Elliott created Mattel (the name a combination of their last name and that of their partner Harold Matson). On the weekends, when he wasn’t completing wartime duties, Elliott made furniture, including furniture for dolls, and Ruth handled sales.

In 1956, the Handlers took a trip to Europe with their two children, Barbara and Ken. While there, Ruth noticed dolls that more represented grown women than little girls. While the dolls were in fact adult gag gifts, Ruth was inspired. Barbara often played with paper dolls as a little girl, changing the clothes on the dolls and creating stories about them. Though Elliott and Harold were skeptical that parents would purchase a voluptuous doll for a little girl, Ruth persevered, and the Barbie doll debuted at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. Although she wasn’t an immediate success, Mattel ran TV ads for Barbie during episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club, and sales of the doll skyrocketed. Eventually, Mattel added a boyfriend for Barbie, the famous Ken doll, and many other friend dolls followed. Barbie was unique not only because she was a representative of a grown woman, but because she had a wardrobe and could serve in many jobs.

Ruth believed “every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future.” Barbie has been a doctor, an astronaut, a lawyer, a princess, an ice skater, a veterinarian, and countless other professions. Visit an engaging timeline of Barbie’s path, still a central product of Mattel, grossing over $1 billion per year in dolls and accessories.

Ruth’s management of Mattel was not without controversy. Mattel was investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and, although Ruth maintained her innocence, she pled no contest to charges of falsifying financial documents, mail fraud, and making false statement to the SEC. But resigning from Mattel did not mean the end of her entrepreneurial career.