I do not know if Kaya was solely a Mattel enterprise or if she was started before the buy out.

But, she is a well researched and beautiful doll. Her items are excellent quality and it seems that they are pretty accurate from a historical perspective (but I do not know much about Nez Pearce history).

The new face mold they developed for her was not cutting corners, either - and they did it for cultural reasons, i.e. showing teeth in Nez Pearce culture is aggressive.

Kaya is a beautiful and remarkable doll. The only thing I am not crazy about are her modern dance dresses, but at least they say they are modern.