Here is yet another creation I wish I invented…SPANX! Sara Blakely, founder of SPANX, is one of my idols…and she is the youngest woman in the world to make $1 billion on her own!
If you are unfamiliar with SPANX, it is a line of shape wear created for women (and now men!). Sara also created a lesser expensive line for Target named ASSETS (love them both!!). In the beginning, Sara didn’t have any advertising dollars so she would stand in the department stores wearing her favorite black t-shirt with the word “SPANX” ironed on the front, hoping that someone would come over and ask her what that was. How did Sara’s dream really take off? Oprah named SPANX one of her favorite things and the craze began.
Blakely has her own organization named “Giving Women a Leg Up”, a way to help women entrepreneurs get the word out about their invention. Sara “hope is that another woman gets great exposure and her much-deserved leg up!”
As the youngest self-made woman on the Forbes’ Billionaires list at the young age of 42, Blakely joined the Giving Pledge, pledging to give half of her wealth to charity. The Giving Pledge is a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.
Now that is commendable!
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