Sara Blakely

Sara Blakely is an American businesswoman who founded the shapewear company Spanx in 2000 after cutting the feet off a pair of pantyhose to wear under white trousers, then spending two years and her personal savings developing and patenting the product before Spanx built a following through department store demonstrations and celebrity word of mouth. She ran the company as a private, self-funded business, retaining full ownership for many years before selling a majority stake in 2021, and became known as one of the youngest self-made women billionaires; she has also pledged much of her wealth to philanthropic causes supporting women entrepreneurs.