Sara Blakely (1971- ) Spanx underwear Started: 1998 Sara Blakely was working as a sales trainer by day and a stand-up comedienne at night before she started Spanx. She had no business training and knew nothing about the underwear industry, except that she didn't like the way her bum looked in white pants. So, at the age of 29, Blakely used her $5,000 savings to develop a line of shapewear to make women look slimmer. The result: her company, Atlanta-based Spanx, became one of the best selling body shaper lines worldwide, with 2011 sales estimated at $250 million dollars and an estimated corporate value of $1 billion.
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