sarablakely is the inventor of a product that you've probably heard of at least you females have probably heard of it called Spanx She debuts on the billionaires list She's the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world She went from five thousand dollars in savings at age twenty-nine to age forty-one running a company that's worth a billion dollars and she owns all of it
for me I feel like money just makes you more of who you already were It holds a magnifying glass up to the person that you are I don't subscribe at all to money is the root of all evil I think money's a wonderful thing and it's great to share and it's fun to spend and it's fun to make and I've always had a very positive outlook about what money can do .
I had always thought I would be a lawyer growing up and so I took the LSAT I basically failed it and I remember at that moment it being this life-changing moment that set me on a different course And the way that I initially handled it was try again I took the course I tried it again And then when it didn't go as I planned I asked myself a lot of questions you know what is life trying to tell me Do I have a different path maybe I'm supposed to be open to something else and that's what set me on the journey that ended up creating Spanx .
A good bra and a pair of Spanx is the holy grail A pair of Spanx can change your world .
I think what surprised me the most with the Spanx journey is the emotional impact that this brand and these products have had on women's lives I just didn't expect that I was looking for no panty lines and a smooth look in white pants and women literally are incredibly emotionally impacted and moved by our brand And that's an amazing feeling .
without Spanx I wouldn't be wearing this skirt They're a lifesaver Always I'm wearing them right now We thank god for Sara and Spanx .
Spanx has been around now for ten and a half years almost eleven years Can you tell us talk us through a little bit about what moments of your career so far that you're most proud of achieving ?
The things that I'm most proud of achieving are achieving this level of success that is beyond my wildest dreams and doing it in a way that I feel like I can still look myself in the mirror and feel really good about how I got here My oprah moment getting the call from her My first chance to sell my second product on QVC and selling over eight thousand in six minutes and realizing I'm not a one hit wonder and then launching internationally building a team there were different moments where it just started feeling like I was so proud of different stages of the Spanx journey .
Can you tell us a bit about who's influenced you in your path to success ?
The people that have been most influential to me other than my family have been Wayne Dyer oprah Winfrey and richard Branson Wayne dyer he mentored me from afar basically through these CDs and taught me how to think in a way that I think allowed me to live up to the potential of myself that I am at at this point in my life Richard Branson is you know all about stepping way outside of your comfort zone We have a lot of similarities with our branding of our companies and sort of the marketing and PR aspect of him being the face of the virgin brand I've learned a lot of tips by observing and speaking to him about that And Oprah she's always taught me from afar the power of paying things forward and also the power of being authentic She's just authentically who she is and that's very powerful So some examples of how I have been paying it forward is at Spanx we have a leg-up program where we highlight a female entrepreneur that's just starting out like I was and we put her in our catalog that goes out to over a million subscribers We don't gain anything from doing it other than hoping that she gets that big step forward in the beginning part of her business .
Where do you see Spanx going in the next decade ?
In the next decade I see Spanx going worldwide everywhere No butt left behind It's gonna be all over the world and it will become a aspirational brand that transcends categories We're already transcending age we're now into men So I really see there's so many things we can improve upon or make better and that's the true inspiration behind the brand Spanx
