HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Sara Blakely is the Founder of Spanx and Sneex. She is an inventor, a category-creator and an industry disruptor. She’s a seeker of ideas who has spent her life building the courage and mindset to pursue them – and she’s paying it forward. Since she was a little girl, she has felt called to support and elevate women.

Before starting Spanx, she wrote in her journal that she wanted to invent a product that would make millions of women feel good. Spanx (and now Sneex!) became her way to advocate for women through better products. At the same time, it became her platform to give back. From the beginning, she set aside a portion of proceeds to give away. As Spanx grew, so did her opportunity to empower women.
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She dreams of a world where the feminine and masculine energies are more balanced. Through her work and support in entrepreneurship, invention, education and the arts, Blakely believes we can make a difference in the world… one butt – and one step – at a time.

In 2004, Sara was invited to be a contestant on the reality show the Rebel Billionaire: Richard Branson’s Quest for the Best. Everyone thought she was crazy for leaving Spanx for three months, but she trusted her gut. Sir Richard Branson traveled with Sara and the other contestants around the world, which gave her the opportunity to talk with him about Spanx, his experience with Virgin, and his new global foundation: Virgin Unite.

Sara was interested in learning how to set up a foundation, because it had been a dream of hers, even before starting Spanx. She was touched by our visit to a poor village in South Africa, and wanted more than ever to find a way to help women who may not have the same opportunities as she did.

At the conclusion of the show came a huge surprise. In an unexpected twist, Branson handed Sara a check for $750,000 – his paycheck from Fox for the show – for Sara to start her own foundation to help women! Sir Richard joined Sara in Atlanta in 2006 to launch The Red Backpack Foundation… and the rest is history!

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

LUCKY RED BACKPACK VIDEO