Sara Blakely
Sara Blakely
Sara Blakelyis an American businessperson and founder of Spanx, an American intimate apparel company with pants and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2012, Blakely was named in Time magazine's "Time 100" annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. As of 2014, she is listed as the 93rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth27 February 1971
CityClearwater, FL
CountryUnited States of America
I think my story says that, when women are given the chance and the opportunity, that we can achieve a lot. We deliver.
I got a call from the Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah had chosen Spanx as one of her favorite products in 2000. I had boxes of product in my apartment and I had two weeks notice that she was going to say she loved it on TV and I had no shipping department.
I'd get kicked out of buildings all day long, people would rip up my business card in my face. It's a humbling business to be in. But I knew I could sell and I knew I wanted to sell something I had created. I cut the feet out of those pantyhose and I knew I was on to something. This was it.
I shopped for body shapers for the first time in my life and I was horrified. They were thick - it was like wearing workout clothes and they all had a leg band on one side that showed through the pants.
The word 'Spanx' was funny. It made people laugh. No one ever forgot it.
If we can put a man on the moon, we can make pantyhose comfortable.
My first account was Neiman Marcus. I cold-called them just like I had cold-called businesses when I was selling fax machines for seven years.
Don't be intimidated by what you don't know.
When something I can't control happens, I ask myself : where is the hidden gift, where is the positive in this?
When I was a child, my father used to encourage my brother and me to fail. At the dinner table, instead of asking about the best part of our day, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn't have something to tell him, he would be disappointed. When we shared whatever failure we'd endured, he'd high-five us and say, 'Way to go!' The gift my father gave us by doing this was redefining what failure truly meant.
What you don’t know can be your greatest asset
I always joke and say I want to invent a comfortable stiletto and then retire.
I couldn't figure out what to wear under my clothes. The body shapers were too thick at the time.
I think very early on in life we all learn what we're good at and what we're not good at, and we stay where it's safe.