Works in this household. I now throw out their catalogs.
I do not need to back a group that would have allowed the girls in this family to have been opted out.
I like the way they encapsulate a lot in that terse description. They really want you to think that a) a former teacher built this empire, and b) she's married to a really generous fellow. Those are both true statements - but there is so much more to the story.
Back in the day - about late 1991 - I was working my way through UW Law School by working as a financial analyst for a Fortune 50 firm that happened to have a small branch in Madison. When my job with that company was exported to Iowa I interviewed with a number of firms in the Madison area - including what was then Pleasant Company. It did seem a little strange to be considering working for a firm that made dolls - shockingly high-end dolls at that. But I went through a couple of rounds of interviews and was given a video to watch before coming back for a final interview with Pleasant Rowland herself. The video was the classic inspirational business propaganda effort - done with very high production values, and reflecting the fact that Rowland had once been a TV anchor or reporter (in San Diego, if my memory serves me). The mythic version of the creation of the firm was that it was a business created "over the kitchen table" suggesting that she hatched the concept literally at her kitchen table from modest resources. After the interview, which was a enjoyable experience, I elected to go with another firm - and for about 5 years afterward I had in mind that Pleasant Rowland had started this firm from nothing - to build it into the business that Mattel CEO (for a little while, at least) Jill Barad thought was worth $750M in 1998. In the aftermath of the sale I saw for the first time in print that Rowland had been married to one of the wealthiest individuals in Madison - Jerome Frautschi - for decades at the time of the sale. It cast the "over the kitchen table" formation scene in a different light - as in "Honey, could you write me a check for $3M to start up my business venture? Thanks!".
This is not criticism of Rowland or Frautschi - certainly their gift to Madison is an incredibly generous one. But it reminds me to take with a grain of salt many of the legendary "start-up" stories.