Why do we love Madame C.J.?

Beauty is serious business to women, and Sarah Breedlove "Madame C.J." Walker was the first African-American woman to seriously succeed in the business of beauty. Orphaned at 6 and widowed at 20, Walker learned early to be self-reliant. In the process of trying to cure her own alopecia, she developed a line of cosmetics and hair products designed to do everything from curing scalp problems to straightening hair. She and her daughter moved to Denver, Colorado, and Walker began traveling around the south selling her products door-to-door and at church functions and other community gatherings. Business was soon so good that she opened a second office for her business in Pittsburgh. Madame Walker was a brilliant businesswoman, expanding her product line, revolutionizing her sales streams, and spreading the word of her products through ambitious marketing. It is little wonder that she became the first African-American woman millionaire, and among the first self-made millionaire women in American history.

Biography:

Born - December 23, 1867
Delta, Mississippi
Died - May 25, 1919
Irvington-on-Hudson, New York