She Sold Fax Machines Before Starting a Billion-Dollar Business | Bold & Untold by MAKERS

Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx

They should be household names, but instead they’re hidden figures. Not anymore. In our new MAKERS series, we highlight the activists, advocates, and all-around awesome women who have been ripped out of modern history books. These are fearless feminists who put man on the moon and girls on the pitcher’s mound; transformed male-dominated industries like finance and construction; and paved the way for others succeed.

Video Transcript

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SARA BLAKELY: If you don't let not knowing how it's done intimidate you, it's amazing what you can do.

I had set aside $5,000 in savings. I had never taken a business class. I'd never worked in fashion or retail, but I was a consumer, and I knew that I had come across a solution that would really change the way women could wear clothes.

I couldn't find women in the patent process. I couldn't find women in the manufacturers. Maybe this is why our undergarments have been so uncomfortable for so long.

When women are entrepreneurs, they're in charge of their own destiny, and the research shows that they help so much more than themselves. They help their community. When they're given the opportunity to fulfill their own potential, we all benefit greatly.