If I asked you to name the first female self-made millionaire in the United States, would you correctly identify Sarah Breedlove, a.k.a. Madam C.J. Walker?
Walker was born in 1867 in Louisiana. She suffered from a scalp issue which resulted in hair loss, and with that in mind, created a line of hair care products. She sold them around the US by traveling and giving demonstrations. She “eventually established Madame C.J. Walker Laboratories to manufacture cosmetics and train sales beauticians. Her savvy business acumen led her to be one of the first American women to become a self-made millionaire.”
Did I mention that Walker was African-American, and the daughter of freed slaves? And that her product was specifically geared to the African-American market?
Breedlove went on to donate to a variety of philanthropic causes, including, in 1913, the largest donation by an African-American toward a YMCA. She died in 1919…
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