Through the Sara Blakely Foundation, Spanx and her personal investments, Sara Blakely’s PAGE Signature Initiative will continue to empower women to make the world a better place. The Sara Blakely Foundation is currently focused on supporting women and helping them soar through education, entrepreneurship and the arts, and has donated millions to organizations like the Malala Fund, which advocates girl’s education; Grameen America, a non-profit providing micro-loans to low-income, female entrepreneurs; the Atlanta Film Festival, a non-profit supporting women in the arts; and more.
Her business also serves as a platform to pay forward her success and give other female entrepreneurs exposure and a boost. Through the Leg Up® program, consumers can learn more about the challenges of being a female entrepreneur and vote to allocate additional funds. Additionally, Sara spends her personal time, resources and energies to support women in creative ways, like through The Belly Art Project – an eye-catching coffee-table book featuring 100 painted pregnant bellies that seeks to raise awareness and funds for Every Mother Counts, a non-profit dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother.
“While many of the world’s natural resources are being depleted, one is waiting to be unleashed—women,” said Sara Blakely.
BIO
From the moment SPANX founder and owner Sara Blakely cut the feet out of her pantyhose to make her butt look better in white pants, she was transformed from a frustrated consumer to a fearless entrepreneur. With $5,000 she saved from selling fax machines door-to-door, she wrote her own patent, begged manufacturers to make a prototype (everyone thought it was crazy) and cold-called buyers.
After landing a meeting with Neiman Marcus, Sara flew to Dallas with her lucky red backpack. Sensing the buyer was losing interest, Sara brought her into the bathroom for a live demo. The buyer said, “I’ll buy 3,000 pairs”, changing the lives of women all over the world.
Later that year, when Oprah discovered SPANX and placed Footless Body-shaping Pantyhose on her “Oprah’s Favorite Things”, things really took off. It wasn’t long before her products were being flashed on the Red Carpet and talked about by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and Madonna. The brand grew from a single product to bras, panties, men’s, active, swim, apparel and more. In an effort to pay forward her success and empower other women to reach their potential, Sara launched the Sara Blakely Foundation in 2006 and the Leg Up® Program in 2010.
SPANX became a household name, and Sara, an inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs all over the globe. By 2012 Sara had been featured on the cover of Forbes magazine as the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire, highlighted as Diane Sawyer’s Person of the Week on ABC World News and selected as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. Her story has been showcased everywhere from The Oprah Winfrey Show, TODAY, The View, 20/20, USA Today, CNN, Fox Business, and CNBC. In 2013, she signed the Giving Pledge to donate half of her wealth to support her broader mission of empowering women and remains dedicated to this call as an entrepreneur, a woman, philanthropist and a mom.