Tuesday

Black History Moment: Queen of the Wig

It's Black History Month as we all know and I feel that we should take a moment to recognize some of the "greats" that have come before us and made things possible. This woman made hair and beauty for African Americans the forerunner of her life and now it is the epitome of what WOMEN care for most today. Madame C.J.Walker stumbled upon her creations based off of her own problems, which is why this interest me so. Walker began to suffer from a scalp ailment that caused her to lose some of her hair. Embarrassed by her appearance, she experimented with a variety of home-made remedies and products made by another black woman entrepreneur, Annie Malone.
Walker founded her own business and began selling Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower, a scalp conditioning and healing formula. To promote her products, she embarked on an exhausting sales drive throughout the South and Southeast selling her products door to door, giving demonstrations, and working on sales and marketing strategies. In 1908, she opened a college in Pittsburgh to train her very own "hair culturists."
Eventually, her products formed the basis of a thriving national corporation employing at one point over 3,000 people. Her Walker System, which included a broad offering of cosmetics, licensed Walker Agents, and Walker Schools offered meaningful employment and personal growth to thousands of Black women. Madame Walker’s aggressive marketing strategy combined with relentless ambition led her to be labeled as the first known African-American woman to become a self-made millionaire. This is all important to us. Not only does it enrich our knowledge of our past but it also let's us know that no matter what.. We can prevail.

((knowledge is power people....))

iCON :)