Visiting Artist Lecture: Carol Spencer

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Breaking through the glass ceiling in the 1960s era male-dominated toy industry, Carol Spencer has been around the world with Barbie, from Paris fashion shows to running Barbie's Hong Kong based design group, seeing Mattel grow from its mom-and-pop roots into a multinational conglomerate - not bad for a Midwestern girl who came of age when the only professions open to women were teaching, nursing and secretarial work.

Spencer faced all the workplace issues that still resonate with working women today: sexism, pay disparity, harassment, outsourcing, infighting, layoffs, and reorganizations, and she learned to adapt, survive and even thrive in a volatile working environment, where she nurtured the global iconic status of Barbie through the massive societal changes that upended popular culture, sexual mores, and civil rights.

Spencer achieved many firsts: first designer to have her signature on a Barbie doll, the first to design a limited-edition Barbie for collectors, the first to go on signing tours, as well as being the designer of the biggest selling Barbie of all time. Now, she is the first member of the inner circle to reveal the fashion world of the quintessential California girl as never before.

Sponsored in part by the Target Fund