The Dunedin 7-year-old has every child's dream job: she is a "toyologist" who will spend a year testing toys for global toy giant Mattel.
Mattel will send her a box of toys each month, and Mia will have to write what she liked about them and what she thought would make them better.
Tired after a whirlwind trip to Mattel's ToyLab headquarters in Melbourne, Mia was yesterday looking forward to getting to work.
"I think the best thing would be to play with the toys for quite a while before I review them," she said, taking another Barbie doll out of her new toy box.
"That means I will know what the toys can do before I decide what is good about them, or what I think they could do better."
Mia landed the job in a competition to find Mattel's new toy-testing team. A company representative said her video entry - a review of her scooter- was head-and-shoulders above the rest.
This week, she met Mattel's toy designers and other toyologists in Melbourne, where she learned how to review toys and got the inside word on the hottest toys for Christmas.
Barbie dolls and accessories were her top picks for girls, and Hotwheels cars were her choices for the boys. Mia stood by what she tested - she brought dozens of samples back from Melbourne.
Playing with her new doll and doll's swimming pool at her Concord home, she said even the best children's toys sometimes needed tweaking.
"If I was reviewing the pool, I would say that the slide should be made funner and more slippery, and that the pool should have bubbles coming up out of it."
As she added a changing room and a slew of toy animals to the list, father Hayden Parsons said the toy manufacturer would always get a full appraisal from his daughter.
"Mia loves her toys - but a box full of toys every month should keep her very busy," he said, before adding Mia's surplus toys would be given to charity.
Mia said her friends at Concord School had already joked how jealous they were that she had such a great job at such a young age.
"I will probably let them play with the toys too, but I will have to do the reviews."
