Youngest Self-Made Billionaire in the World

The next phase involved pitching before the company interested in Spanx - Neiman Marcus. The then President of the company, Karen Katz, fondly remembers Blakely’s pitch and “Sara’s effort was to solve an age-old problem for women in a modern way” and that the company was “smitten from the beginning” by her product. As Sara could not afford ads for Spanx, she hounded almost all possible journalists from magazines and sales associates to market her product. She also did not seek a separate section for her inners but asked them to be placed along with women’s clothing and shoes.

Sara also sent samples of Spanx to Andre Walker, Oprah Winfrey’s stylist. Oprah immediately fell in love with Spanx and called it ‘her favorite product of the year’ on her ‘Favourite Things Show.’ Harpo Productions also asked for a website to be made for Spanx as customer orders would flood in after the show aired. So, Blakely had to run a “considerable web business for $18 a month.” This is when she officially resigned from Danka and Spanx went on to garner $4 million in its first year of launch.

Then for 2 years, Blakely did local news appearances and in-store demos to promote Spanx. Things slowed down then a bit but an article by Forbes turned the tables around.  A 2001 Forbes article called Sara an “accidental entrepreneur,” which again shot her to fame. She got another chance to go forth with a publicity stunt for Spanx. She was cast on ‘Rebel Billionaire,’ a reality show by Richard Branson. This show was aired by Fox in the year 2004. Branson quotes, “Sara was the runner-up overall.” He further says, “The only reason I didn’t give her the top prize was because she was already successful. She didn’t need a leg up.” And after this, there was no turning back.