Grandma creates relatable 'Quarantine Barbies' reflective of daily life during coronavirus pandemic

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Monday, November 30, 2020
'Quarantine Barbies' reflective of daily life during coronavirus pandemic
Tonya Ruiz, known as Grandma Gets Real, is creating relatable quarantine Barbies that reflect life during 2020!Tonya Ruiz, known as Grandma Gets Real, went viral for creating quarantine Barbies. Her dolls reflect life during quarantine and include everything from a Zoom Ken doll to an essential store worker to a postponed wedding!

Grandma and social media influencer, Tonya Ruiz, has become an internet sensation after her "Quarantine Barbies" went viral!

"I started my 'Grandma Gets Real' Instagram three years ago as a project with my granddaughters and we started posting pictures of what Barbie would be like in real life," says Ruiz. "I decided to actually make quarantine Barbies that reflected what I was doing during the quarantine."

Ruiz's quarantine Barbies include everything from a DIY home salon doll to a Zoom Ken doll, and even a quarreling couple.

"I tried to reflect what was going on at my house, or my children's houses, or my friends' houses in the Barbies," says Ruiz.

Although the quarantine Barbies are not for sale, Ruiz did receive a response and dolls from Barbie manufacturer, Mattel.

She has also built a huge following on social media and has been receiving positive feedback from her followers.

"So many people have written, 'Finally a Barbie that I can relate to.' People love to be able to be represented and they love that my Barbies are realistic; doing gardening or realistic things that they can relate to [like] new hobbies or things like that,' she said.

Ruiz plans to continue making realistic Barbies, spending time with her grandkids and making her followers smile.

"The fact that I was able to make millions of people all over the world smile, it blows my mind, but I think what a great honor that during a real hard year I came up with something that made people smile," says Ruiz.

For more on Tonya's work, visit her website or Instagram.