Barbie Honors Prima Ballerina Maria Tallchief with Doll for Native American Heritage Month (Exclusive)

Tallchief, who died in 2013, was America's first prima ballerina, and her daughter, Elise Paschen, tells PEOPLE how "exciting" it is to see her mother memorialized as a Barbie

Maria Tallchief is a fixture in ballet history.

The dancer, who died in 2013, was America's first prima ballerina, which is why Mattel is honoring her with an Inspiring Women Barbie doll. Tallchief's Barbie will join the likes of Florence Nightingale, Sally Ride, Maya Angelou, Susan B. Anthony and many more women in history.

"I love it that it celebrates historical and present-day female role models to inspire future generations of girls through doll play," Tallchief's daughter, Elise Paschen, tells PEOPLE of the new doll, available now.

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For the last year and a half, Paschen has been working with Mattel to create this Barbie in her mother's honor. The doll wears Tallchief's outfit from her performance in The Firebird at the New York City Ballet: as Paschen describes it, "a fiery red dress with the bejeweled hair piece, her silver earrings, sheer tights, ballet slippers with satin ribbons."

But beyond her outfit, Paschen also made sure her mom's doll had every detail correct, down to her posture and arm placement (even though she admits she's not a ballet expert).

"Mattel has been so thoughtful in this whole process," she says. "I would say to them, 'No, the arm isn't like this. It's more like this,' and they were very sensitive and attuned to all of the recommendations that I had as her daughter."

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Tallchief was Osage Nation, and Paschen tells PEOPLE that she wanted to make sure her heritage was clear from the moment someone picked up the Barbie box, which is why she included Tallchief's name in Osage orthography.

"Her name is Wa-Xthe-Thonba, which means two standards," Paschen says. "I'm very excited. This is a language that the Osage Nation has resuscitated, and it's also on the U.S. quarter, and now it's on the Barbie packaging, and now will be in the hands of millions of children, too."

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Paschen says her mother was "so proud" of her name, her Native American heritage and everything she stood for and it meant a lot to her to represent her community in the dance world. When she was rising in the ranks, other well-known dancers were primarily Russian, Paschen says, and there was pressure for her to conform. As a young woman, she was asked to change her name so she would sound more Russian, while she was part of the Ballet Russo Monte Carlo.

"She was not only the first Native American prima ballerina, but the first American prima ballerina," Paschen points out. "Her birth name was Elizabeth Marie Tallchief. When she was young, [the ballet company] asked my mother to change her name to Maria Tallchiev, and my mother said, 'I will change my name to Maria, but I will keep my name Tallchief.'"

Paschen continues, "For me, as her daughter, ever since I could understand language, I knew how proud she was to be Osage and to be Native American and how proud she was of her culture."

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Tallchief was born in Oklahoma in 1925 and died in Chicago in 2013. She danced in the New York City Ballet for several years and inspired choreographer George Balanchine's The Firebird. She danced all over the world before retiring in Chicago with her husband Henry Paschen Jr. (who died in 2004), the couple's daughter, Elise Paschen, who is an award-winning poet, and Tallchief's step-daughter, Margaret Wright.

Tallchief and her sister, Marjorie Tallchief, went on to found the Chicago City Ballet and remains influential in the dance world — especially to Native American children.

In Tallchief's honor, Mattel is facilitating a DreamGap donation to the Center for Native American Youth.

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"The Center for Native American Youth is a national education and advocacy organization that works alongside Native youth on reservations in rural villages and urban spaces across the country to improve their health, safety and overall well-being," Paschen says. "This donation will support initiatives dedicated to empowering Native American youth to lead full and healthy lives."

Paschen will also be celebrating the occasion back in Oklahoma with young dancers, which she is especially excited for.

"I know that the Osage Nation is thrilled that this will all be happening where my mother was born and raised in Oklahoma."

Shop the Maria Tallchief Barbie now.