First Mexican-American woman in space gets her own Barbie doll
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Katya Echazarreta, also known as the first Mexican-American woman to go to space, now has her very own Barbie.
In honor of International Women's Day, Mattel, Inc. honored more than half a dozen STEM women leaders worldwide by creating their very own Barbie dolls.
Echazarreta is an electrical engineer from NASA, a space activities activist in Mexico, a Glamour Women of the Year, and in 2022 was selected to go to space out of 7,000 applicants worldwide.
Echazarreta shared her mother's reaction to the Barbie doll on TikTok which brought many to tears.
In the clip, Echazarreta comes up to her mother and tells her "Mamí, I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes," and brings the doll in front of her. The moment her mom opens her eyes, tears began to flood and both share a tight, loving hug.
The video has gotten over 80k likes, with many commenting "proud mom" and "tears of a proud mom", and many wondering when the dolls will be released.
Echazarreta commented back, "Tell Barbie you want it!! This is a special version for the campaign, but we need to tell them to put it out for everyone."
The campaign also features:
- Susan Wojcicki (United States): Longtime YouTube CEO
- Anne Wojcicki (United States): Co-Founder and CEO of 23andME
- Janet Wojcicki (United States): Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco
- Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock (United Kingdom): Space Scientist and Science Educator
- Professor Dr. Antje Boetius (DE): Marine Researcher and Microbiologist
- Yinuo Li (China): Co-Founder of ETU Education
Barbie's initiative is "seeing is believing", to prove that girls can do anything and have young girls look up to female role models to build and maintain an interest in any career field.
"Women make up less than one-third of the STEM workforce and it’s proven that girls are systemically tracked away from STEM throughout their education," Mattel, Inc. said in a release.
Mattel, Inc. added, Barbie will continue to highlight and recognize successful women in the industry from different backgrounds, nationalities, and professions.