Pretty Gangster Series
Featuring Madame C J Walker
The first self-made female millionaire of America originated from humble beginnings, the daughter of Owen and Minerva (Anderson) Breedlove, (Sarah Breedlove) was born December 23, 1867, in Delta, Louisiana.
Orphaned at age 7, married by 14 years old, a mother at age 18 and widowed at age 20, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri where she worked as a laundry facilitator until a chance encounter with Annie Pope Turnbo (Malone) changed the trajectory of her life. Soon afterwards, Sarah was able to upgrade from laundry personnel to salesperson working for entrepreneur and businesswoman, Annie Turnbo.
In 1905 (age 38), she moved to Denver, Colorado, where she continued selling Malone products. During the spring of the following year, she married Charles J. Walker, and began marketing her own products under the name Madam CJ Walker.
How did Madam CJ Walker scale her brand without social media?
Inspired by Annie Turnbo Malone, Ms. Walker incorporated her own haircare line, and with the help of her husband, created product advertisement, no TikTok or Facebook needed. The couple promoted door-to-door giving lectures on the Walker Method consisting of formalized pomade, a hot comb, and brushing of the hair to stimulate hair growth.
Could she have been the first person to create and sell vegan products? We aren’t for sure, but it seems highly likely that her Vegan Hair Collection was the first to be sold!
Growing profits and word-of-mouth traveled fast, and around 1908 Ms. Walker opened an office, and founded a school in Pittsburgh, PA, Lelia College, that offered coursework of her haircare method.
Two years later, at age 43, she moved her operation to Indianapolis, Indiana, and incorporated the company alongside daughter, A’lelia and husband, CJ Walker who were listed as the company’s board of directors.
Madam then set up a laboratory and a business school in downtown Indianapolis.
The new location manufactured the product and served as a training site for beauticians called Walker Agents. Keep in mind that this was long before Avon (1928) was incorporated, and Mary Kay (1963) existed. Using a philosophy of cleanliness and loveliness, the door-to-door sales agents became highly popular in the African American communities across the United States.
Did Madam CJ Walker reach customers outside of the US?
Yes. She began traveling to the Caribbean and throughout South America promoting her business. In addition, she recruited sales representatives outside of the United States and consistently grew her empire. With continued growth and in the black from her revenue, Harlem, New York, became her second base for manufacturing her products.
From the success of the Madam CJ Walker Manufacturing Company (Indianapolis), she built an impressive 34-room, 20,000-square-foot mansion called Villa Lewaro in Irvington New York designed by architect
Vertner Tandy between 1916- 1918. Her neighbors were the Rockefellers.
In New York, she acquired a luxury salon inside the Harlem, Dark Tower, owned by her daughter. The Dark Tower was a townhouse that served as a socializing escape and entertainment hub during the Harlem Renasissance.
Madam CJ, Walker immediately became encompassed by Harlem’s emerging culture, prompting interest with funding several organizations that spoke to the heart and purpose. Organizations including NAACP, the National Conference on Lynching, as well as donating to educational scholarships and homes for the aging.
In addition to her beauty products, she was a real estate mogul of her time, purchasing property in Indianapolis, 617 Indiana Avenue where the Walker Theatre currently stands.
While in Indianapolis she lived at 640 West Street and rented rooms operating out of her home until securing the manufacturing location at Indiana Avenue.
It is noted she had property in Los Angeles: Chicago, Illinois: St Louis: Idlewild, Michigan: Gary, Indiana and Harlem, NY (apartment house at 374 Central Park West, and a house at 1447–1449 Boston Road in the Bronx.
Anyone with eyes can see this was pretty gangster.
She built an empire during a time in American history where the odds were stacked against her. Think about it, she was of female persuasion and didn’t have a formal college education yet went on breaking glass ceilings at a time when many were using the back door to enter a building.
“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”
At the time of her death in 1919, being the sole owner of her empire, it was valued at millions of dollars, not including her personal fortune.
Ms. Walker is recognized as America’s first self-made female millionaire.
The Story of America’s First Female Millionaire (newsweek.com)
