Many women are quite thankful since the creation of Spanx, the shape-wear undergarment that gives the illusion of a more toned body. Even actress Octavia Spencer is a fan, recently revealing that she wore three pairs of Spanx to achieve a slimmer silhouette at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards! Well thanks to its popularity, the woman behind the magic underwear, Sara Blakely, has now been inducted into the Forbes billionaires list — her company is worth $1 billion.
Blakely reportedly saved $3,000 in legal costs by learning how to write her own patent from a Barnes and Nobles book, never spent money on advertising and owns 100 percent of the company. At 41 years old, she's currently the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. Apart from a few eccentricities, the self-made business woman has been driven since she was a teenager after witnessing her best friend get run over by a car.
"I think that when you witness death at age 16, there's a sense of urgency about life," Blakely says. "The thought of my mortality — I think about it a lot. I find it motivating. It can be any time that your number's up."
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