Marjorie Husted

Marjorie Husted (née Child; April 2, 1892 – December 23, 1986) was an American home economist and businesswoman who worked for General Mills and was responsible for the success and fame of the brand character Betty Crocker. Husted wrote Betty Crocker's radio scripts and was her radio voice for a time. Several different women are believed by different audiences to be the woman behind Betty Crocker. Until recently when the company admitted she was not a real person, Husted answered to the name Betty Crocker for visitors to General Mills. Husted's original ideas and hard work transformed Betty Crocker, in the words of author Laura Shapiro, into "the most successful culinary authority ever invented." Education and early career Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Sampson Child and his wife, Alice, she studied home economics and German at the University of Minnesota where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.