Sara Blakely is an American billionaire businesswoman, and founder of Spanx, an American intimate apparel company with pants and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. In March of 2012, Founder Sara was named the world's youngest, self-made female billionaire by Forbes Magazine and one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People.

When Sara Blakely was growing up in Florida, she didn't exactly dream of designing ladies undergarments. She actually wanted to be a lawyer. But when she took her LSATs, she failed twice. So after college, she got a job at Disney World as a ride reader. And then, in the early '90s, she got another job. It was selling fax machines door to door.
The idea for Spanx came about in 1998, when Blakely wanted to eliminate panty lines showing through her cream-colored slacks. She cut the feet off a pair of pantyhose and wore the cropped hose underneath her pants to smooth out the lines.
She set aside $5,000 in savings, and that's what she started Spanx with. She started researching if the idea existed at Georgia Tech library in Atlanta every night after work researching every pantyhose patent that ever existed. She then went to Neiman Marcus down the street where her idea was validated and she found a market demand for the product.

Since its inception in 2006, the Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation has donated millions to charities around the world, focusing on charities that empower under-served women and girls. In 2013, Sara Blakely became the first self-made, female billionaire to sign the Melinda and Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half her wealth to charity. The Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation is on a mission to support women and help them SOAR through education, entrepreneurship and the arts.

2000 - 1969 CEO, Spanx, Inc.

1990 - 1993 Florida State University