Background
Greening grew up in Orange, California and was given his first Barbie dolls as a child. [1] In 1988, Greening began actively collecting Barbie dolls when he was sixteen years old. [2] His collection numbers more than 500 pieces. [1]
After high school, Greening attended Fullerton Junior College as an art major, later transferring to California State University, Long Beach where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in fashion design. [1]
Mattel career
In 1999 Greening began his career at Mattel as an assistant designer. [1] In 2006, Greening began designing for the Barbie Signature line, [3] where he was later named principal designer. [2] As principal designer, Greening was responsible for developing initial versions of Barbie dolls before toys went into production [1] as well as designing dolls based on celebrities, including Tina Turner, [4] [5] Lucille Ball, [6] Stevie Nicks, [7] and Kylie Minogue. [8] Greening also designed Barbie dolls based on imagined and fantasy characters, including The Hunger Games's Katniss Everdeen, [9] [10] She-Ra, [11] and Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider franchise. [12]
In 2020, Greening designed the 40th Anniversary First Black Barbie Doll in honor of Kitty Black Perkins, Greening's mentor and designer of the first black Barbie doll. [13] [14] [15] At the time, Mattel faced criticism that a white man was responsible for designing a black doll. [16] In response, Black Perkins publicly announced support for Greening's work on the doll, saying that “You don’t have to be Black to design Black.” [14]
In 2025, Greening and Kitty Black Perkins again collaborated to design and release the 45th Anniversary Kitty Black Perkins Barbie Doll. [17]
In March 2025, Mattel announced sweeping layoffs at the company's El Segundo headquarters, [18] firing 120 workers, including Greening. [19]
Independent designer
Greening also designs one of a kind dolls for doll conventions and collectors. [20] [21]
