Presenter: Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx.
Title: Sarah Blakely teaches Self-Made Entrepreneurship
Favourite Insights:

• Self Taught, Still Owns 100% of Company,
• Started her business with $5,000
• Cross-trained as a Stand-Up Comedy act to gain confidence,
• She hustles and advocates staying scrappy.
• Grew organically as the Spanx brand did not advertise for the first 16 years.
• In 2012, according to Forbes Magazine, she became the youngest self-made female billionaire at age 41

Sara Blakely had no fashion, retail, or business leadership experience when she invented Spanx in the late 1990s. All she had was $5,000 and an idea. Back then, while hawking fax machines door-to-door in the Florida heat, 27-yearold

Sara had to wear pantyhose (a dress code enforced by the company she worked for, Danka). While Sara liked the control-top element of the hose, she didn’t like the seam that showed through her open-toed shoes. She decided there must be a way to have one without the other.