1. The Woman Who Planted Indigo: Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1722-1793)

Thank This Woman For: Your Blue Jeans

Every U.S. history textbook ever printed probably includes the words “Eli Whitney” and “cotton gin” in the Industrial Revolution section. But what about “Eliza Pinckney” and “the first successful indigo cultivation that built a multimillion-dollar cash crop industry”?

When most girls her age were preparing for marriage, 16-year-old Pinckney was managing three slave plantations in South Carolina. Determined to reduce her family’s debt, she tried growing ginger, alfalfa and other experimental crops to little success. Then, in 1739, she planted the first North American indigo plant, which was used to dye textile fabrics in England’s mills. With the help of her father’s connections, Pinckney learned how to successfully grow, cultivate, and export indigo. By 1775, South Carolina was exporting over 1 million pounds of indigo annually, with a present-day value of over $30 million.

2. The Woman Who Grew Hair: Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919)

To cut a long story short, Madam C.J. Walker was the first American woman to become a self-made millionaire. Orphaned at 7, married at 14, and widowed at 20, she was a single mother earning $1.50 a day as a washerwoman. Two decades later, she owned a million-dollar hair-care empire. How did she “do” it?

Born Sarah Breedlove, she was the first in her family to be born into freedom, but it hardly made her career any easier. According to Time magazine, even the idea that launched her entrepreneurial success arose out of hardship: she realized she was losing hair. In the 1890s she relocated to Denver (where, apparently, black women’s hair suffered from the dry climate) and developed a hair growth formula which she turned into a lucrative line of hair products: “Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower.” Off the heels of her products’ success, she expanded into more cosmetic markets from shampoos to cold creams to hot combs. All the while, she went door to door, placed ads in newspapers, trained specialized “Walker agents,” invested thousands in her company when others wouldn’t and displayed the kind of business acumen most MBAs would drool at. It’s safe to say she got her life straightened out.

3. The Woman Who Created The Little Black Dress: Coco Chanel (1883-1971)

Sold in stores, plastered on billboards, displayed on covers, and worn by society’s elite, her brand – like her name – has become ubiquitous in the fashion industry. She’s already cemented her legacy as one of the most iconic fashion designers of all time, but who was Coco before Chanel?

Her early years were anything but glamorous. Born Gabrielle Chanel, she was raised by nuns in a Catholic orphanage in France, where she first learned how to sew. She went on to pursue a career as a seamstress but also enjoyed a brief stint as a singer, during which she received her famous nickname, “Coco.” In 1910, she opened her first millinery; in 1913, her first boutique. As her business took the fashion industry by storm, she continued to design clothing (often inspired by menswear) that changed the way women dressed forever. To replace handheld purses, she invented the shoulder handbag; she would also popularize women’s trousers, the ever-so comfortable “little black dress,” and accessories such as costume jewelry and perfume. Women everywhere fell in love with Chanel’s elegant but simple style, ditching their corsets for a more comfortable and practical wardrobe. By 1919, her brand reached worldwide acclaim, and one thing was for certain: Chanel (and Coco) would never go out of style.

Source Credit: The Story Exchange
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