Black Women in Beauty Series: Madame C. J. Walker

With the launch of La La's new cosmetic line Motives for La La on the first day of Black History Month. It got me to thinking about all of the great impact African American woman have made to the beauty industry. So in honor of those great beautiful women, I will be posting the ladies I feel have made huge contributions towards shaping what we've known to be as beauty in America.

Madame C.J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) 
I'd be remise if I did not mention the Madame C.J. Walker. The beauty industry today has become a billion dollar industry. Madam C.J. Walker was fortunate to see its potential profits on beauty trends for Blacks while working for Annie Malone, a Black hair care product manufacturer. Through science, she used her inventions to become a hair care entrepreneur. She was the first female to become a millionaire by her own achievements, starting with selling and demonstrating her hair treatments with well thought out marketing strategies. She created a college to train her employees, which at one point was as large as 3,000 people. Madame C.J. Walker did more for the Black community than just sell us products for our hair... She created educational opportunities, served as a political advocate for the advancement of Blacks and found honest ways to put the dollars back in their hands.