Jeff Christensen/Getty ImagesRuth Handler, the woman who created Barbie, pictured in 1999.

The Barbie doll is one of the most recognizable toys in the world, and it’s all thanks to a woman named Ruth Handler.

In 1959, when Handler introduced Barbie, the toy quickly took the world by storm. Never before had a doll like Barbie been sold on store shelves — busty, blonde, and most importantly, with adult features. Most girls had simply resigned themselves to playing with baby dolls, while a wide variety of toys marketed to young boys continued to flood the market.

Some feminists attacked Barbie for being a symbol of objectification, and others critiqued the doll for providing young girls with unrealistic aspirations.

But Barbie proved to be more than just a toy. Perhaps more than anything else, the Barbie doll showed countless young girls that they could grow up to be anything that they wanted to be. They weren’t confined to the traditional roles that had been laid out before them for so many years.

And the woman who created Barbie, Ruth Handler, was likewise inspirational.

How Ruth Handler Helped Make Mattel One Of The World’s Biggest Toy Companies

Ruth Handler was born on November 4, 1916, in Denver, Colorado to Jewish-Polish immigrants Jacob and Ida Moskowicz. She was the youngest of 10 children, and when she was just six months old, her parents left her in the care of her older sister Sarah and Sarah’s husband. Until Ruth was 19 years old, she lived with the couple and developed a passion for entrepreneurship after working at Sarah’s drugstore for a period of time.

In high school, Ruth met a boy named Izzy Handler, and the two eventually married in 1938. The couple then made their home in Los Angeles — a city that Ruth Handler was already familiar with, as she had accepted a job with Paramount Studios in her sophomore year at the University of Denver.

In California, she convinced her husband to go by his middle name, Elliot, and, later, to start a company with Harold “Matt” Matson, combining their names into one word: Mattel. But Mattel didn’t start out as a toy manufacturer. In fact, it had more humble beginnings: selling picture frames.

Ed Maker/The Denver Post via Getty ImagesRuth and Elliot Handler, the married couple who propelled Mattel to the top of the toy industry.

But according to Entrepreneur, Elliot Handler didn’t let the picture frame scraps go to waste — he used them to make tiny furniture fit for dollhouses.

Despite the success of his doll furniture side business, however, Matson sold out to Handler, believing the company was ultimately doomed to fail. It was then that Ruth Handler joined her husband as a co-owner of the business.

It didn’t take long for Mattel to pivot completely from selling picture frames to selling toys. Decreased sales of furniture and other types of home decor during World War II helped spark the fateful transition.