So Barbie is officially everything, including an Oscar winner. She’s made billions of dollars, had 250 careers – including being the first woman on the moon and the first to run for president, FYI – and, according to Mattel, her name is now known by 99% of people around the world.

You’d think that after 65 years of dominating toy aisles, Christmas lists and often – for better or worse – the cultural conversation, she’d be starting to think about a wind-down. Retirement and downsizing to a smaller dreamhouse by the sea, maybe. But the corporate company that runs her world has other plans.

If you’re one of the millions of people who went to see Barbie last year, the Greta Gerwig-directed and Margot Robbie-produced nostalgia hit that’s been credited with resuscitating cinema, you’ll already have an image in your mind of Mattel, the global toy company that owns Barbie.

The film portrayed it as a soulless, male-run conglomerate (headed by a cynical Will Ferrell) that sold impossible dreams to innocent little girls. It seemed like a stroke of marketing genius in that it was clearly a caricature, obviously not how it was in real life, right? Except, with Mattel being a historically tight-lipped business, no one could really be sure. Which is why I jumped at the chance to take a peek behind the curtain and meet the real people pulling the strings of the most influential 11.5 inches of plastic on the planet.

Where Barbies are made: tour the real Barbie HQ and go behind-the-scenes with the fashionistas