Learning that Mattel is planning to immortalise you in Barbie form would be a “pinch me” moment for anyone. It feels especially surreal for me. When I was growing up, Barbie offered a narrow ideal of beauty: she was thin and blonde, with straight hair and blue eyes, and she didn’t look a bit like me. But times have changed. I’ve been lucky enough to receive a number of awards in my career, but I think having a Barbie role model made in my image may be one of the most important.
It’s funny how you don’t realise that you’ve been missing something until you see it in the flesh. Today, I play with Barbies with my 12-year-old daughter. Over the years, we have been able to collect dolls with curly hair like hers, and dolls that look like me, too. Now, she has the ultimate Barbie that truly captures my likeness: she’s wearing big gold earrings and has her hair in twists – and, best of all, she comes with her own realistic telescope. When we got the call to say that I would become a Barbie, we bounced around the living room with excitement.
In 2023, the iconic Barbie name represents women of all shapes and sizes. Long gone are the unrealistic, and often frightening, beauty standards characterised by the early dolls. In their place, real-life doctors, marine biologists and astronauts are the new aspirational ideals. This month, Mattel will celebrate me and six other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professionals from around the world, including former YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki and the founder of ETU Education, Yinuo Li.
I went to 13 different schools growing up, and was placed in remedial classes because of my dyslexia. But I always dreamed big. Now, I’m a space scientist, the chancellor of the University of Leicester, a presenter of the BBC’s The Sky at Night, and a Barbie – something I’m especially proud of, as it just shows how far we’ve come. Plus, we share a birthday (9 March, the day I was born and she was unveiled at the New York Toy Fair), so it feels like it was meant to be.
When Mattel asked me how I wanted to be depicted, I chose a favourite dress – full-skirted and navy, like the night sky, trimmed with velvet and covered with silver stars and moons. I love to wear it for special occasions, so it felt fitting that doll me should wear it too. Part of the reason I chose that dress is because when I go into schools and tell children that I am an engineer, they often say: “Oh, I expected you to be wearing overalls, carrying a greasy spanner.” Women in STEM can look however we want, it doesn’t change what we can strive for or achieve. Sometimes I like to be glamorous, sometimes I like to wear makeup because it makes me feel good. Barbie today is pioneering those ideals. Celebrating real women in all their diversity and complexity is a fitting way to move with the times.
Becoming Barbie was a multi-stage process. First, my daughter helped take pictures of me in my dress and closeups of my face. Using the photos, artisans modelled me in clay and made intricate mock-ups of me in doll form. A few weeks later, I got to see a preview and was bowled over. It was absolutely amazing. It looked just like me – on a good day.
But nothing could have prepared me for the unveiling of Barbie me in the flesh at the Winchester Science Centre this week. I was ushered into a room where doll me was waiting, packaged in the trademark Barbie box. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Am I really that beautiful?” I thought. The likeness was there. From my head shape to the intricate twists in my hair, the velvet trim of my dress, my purple highlights: the artists had managed to capture my essence with a level of detail that was awe-inspiring.
When I give talks, I encourage everyone, but especially the girls, to have a “desire to aspire”; to reach for the stars, no matter what those stars may be. It doesn’t matter what your story is – have a big crazy dream and see where it takes you. I still live by this mantra, and my dreams today are just as big as they were when I played with dolls as a child. It might be tempting to judge the Barbie brand with a retrospective gaze. But what they are doing today is inspiring the next generation of girls to be anything they want to be. By championing real women, they are showing young girls that virtually anything is possible.
As told to Lucy Pasha-Robinson
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and presenter of the BBC’s The Sky at Night
