Sara Treleaven Blakely (born February 27, 1971) is an American billionaire businesswoman, and founder of Spanx, an American clothing company with pants and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2012, Blakely is mentioned in the Time 100 magazine's Time of Time list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2014, he is listed as the 93rd strongest woman in the world by Forbes .
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Blakely was born on February 27, 1971, in Clearwater, Florida. She is the daughter of Ellen (nÃÆ' Â © e Ford), an artist, and trial lawyer, John Blakely. He has a brother, artist Ford Blakely. He attended Clearwater High School and graduated from Florida State University with a degree in communications, where he was a member of the Delta Delta Delta student association.
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Careers
Although he originally planned to become a lawyer, he reconsidered after putting very low on the Law School Entrance Test; he even accepted a job at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, where he worked for three months. He also occasionally worked as a stand-up comedian during this period.
After his brief assignment at Disney, Blakely took a job with Danka's office equipment company, where he sold home fax machines to home. He was quite successful in sales and was promoted to national sales coach at the age of 25. Forced to wear pantyhose in the Floridian hot climate for his sales role, Blakely does not like the appearance of the stitches when wearing open-toed shoes, but loves the way the control model removes the panty line and makes her body look firmer. For his presence at a private party, he experimented with cutting pantyhose feet while wearing them under new trousers and found that the pantyhose kept rolling his legs, but he also achieved the desired result (original pants now immortalized at Spanx headquarters).
At the age of 27, Blakely moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and while still working at Danka, spent the next two years and saving $ 5,000 researching and developing his socks idea.
Blakely then went to North Carolina, the location of most American sock factories, to present his idea. He is rejected by every representative; these companies are used to dealing with established companies, and do not see the value of their ideas. Two weeks after arriving home from her North Carolina trip, Blakely receives a call from a male-based plant operator based in Asheboro, North Carolina, who offers to support Blakely's concept, as she has received strong encouragement from her three daughters. Blakely further explained in 2011 that his experience developing his idea also revealed to him that the socks manufacturing industry is only supervised by people who do not use the products they produce.
Preliminary product prototyping was completed for one year.
Blakely then returns to a patent attorney to complete the application before submitting it to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and he agrees to assist Blakely for a sum of US $ 750. After submitting an online application, Blakely then does the packaging of the product.
Blakely then uses her credit card to purchase the "Spanx" trademark on the US $ 150 USPTO website.
Blakely arranges a meeting with representatives of Neiman Marcus Group, where she switches to a product in a women's toilet in the presence of buyer Neiman Marcus to prove the benefits of her innovation. Blakely's products were sold in seven Neiman Marcus stores as a result of the meeting; Bloomingdales, Saks, and Bergdorf Goodman soon followed. At around this time, Blakely sent a basket of products to Oprah Winfrey's television program, with a gift card explaining what she was trying to develop.
Initially initially dealt with all aspects of the business, including marketing, logistics and product positioning, preferring the location of Spanx in addition to shoes in retail outlets, not in the socks section; However, his girlfriend at the time, a health consultant, then withdrew from his job and joined Blakely in running a newborn business. Being outspoken is to contact friends and acquaintances, including those from their past, and ask them to search for their products in certain department stores in exchange for checks that they will send to them by mail as a token of appreciation.
In November 2000, Winfrey referred to Spanx as "Favorite Thing", which resulted in a significant increase in popularity and sales, as well as Blakely's resignation from Danka. Spanx reached US $ 4 million in sales in the first year and US $ 10 million in sales in the second year. In 2001, Blakely signed a contract with QVC, a home shopping channel, and sold 8,000 pairs in the first six minutes of operation.
In October 2013, Blakely explains that his ambition is to design the most comfortable high heels in the world before retiring. In 2014, he is listed as the 93rd strongest woman in the world by Forbes .
Atlanta Hawks
By 2015, Blakely and her husband Jesse Itzler are part of a group led by Tony Ressler along with Grant Hill, Steven Price, and Rick Schnall, who managed to buy the Atlanta Hawks for $ 850 million.
Television
In 2005, Blakely reached second place as a contestant at The Rebel Billionaire, a reality television series that introduced her to Richard Branson, who later supported Blakely in her efforts as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He later starred as one of the judges on the ABC reality television series, American Inventor , along with George Foreman, Pat Croce and Peter Jones.
She is a guest investor on several episodes in season 9 Shark Tank .
Philanthropy
In 2006, Blakely launched Sara Blakely Foundation to help women through entrepreneurship education and training - Blakely has considered the establishment of a nonprofit foundation prior to the founding of Spanx. Richard Branson acts as a mentor for Blakely and, at the end of The Rebel Billionaire, surprises Blakely with a $ 750,000 check to start the Foundation.
Since its launch, The Sara Blakely Foundation has funded scholarships for young women at the Community and Individual Development Association City Campus in South Africa and Blakely appeared at The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006, contributing US $ 1 million to the Academy Oprah Winfrey's Leadership for Girls. In 2013 Blakely became the first female billionaire to join "Giving Pledge", the promise of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, where the richest people in the world donate at least half of their wealth to charity.
Personal life
In 2008, Blakely married Jesse Itzler, co-founder of the Marquis Jet, at the Gasparilla Inn and Club in Boca Grande, Florida, USA. The wedding was attended by actor Matt Damon and featured a surprise show by singer Olivia Newton-John. Blakely has four children. He is a convert to Judaism.
See also
- Women in business
- Intellectual property
References
Bibliography
- L'Ambition, ou l'ÃÆ'  © popà © à © e de soi , Vincent Cespedes, Paris, Flammarion, 2013, p.Ã, 263-273.
External links
- Sara Blakely Foundation
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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