“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it!” said Madam C.J. Walker. “Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”

Born into a slave family, Madam C.J. Walker rose from her humble beginnings to establish herself as the first self-made woman millionaire in America. After experiencing a personal setback, Walker turned her fate around and used that setback to create a fortune. At a time when most African Americans were struggling to find work, Walker pioneered her way to the top of the hair care and cosmetics industries.

In 1917, Walker commissioned a 34-room mansion to be built for her on the Hudson River. It was her dream house, something she had worked for years to be able to afford. But when area residents found out who their new neighbour was going to be, they were less than happy. “One of the race,” wrote one newspaper, “is invading the domains of New York’s aristocracy.” The New York Times even wrote, “No woman of her race could own such a place. Does she really intend to live there?”

Walker did intend to live there, and she did so until her death. Despite her success, she never fully overcame the discrimination that had plagued her since she was a little girl. So, how did this poor girl from the cotton fields become the country’s first self-made woman millionaire?

I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations….I have built my own factory on my own ground. I am not ashamed of my past. I am not ashamed of my humble beginning.

I got my start by giving myself a start.

I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.

God answered my prayer, for one night I had a dream, and in that dream a big black man appeared to me and told me what to mix up for my hair. Some of the remedy was grown in Africa, but I sent for it, mixed it, put it on my scalp, and in a few weeks my hair was coming in faster than it had ever fallen out. I tried it on my friends; it helped them. I made up my mind I would begin to sell it.

When we began to make $10 a day, [my ex-husband] thought that was enough, thought I ought to be satisfied. But I was convinced that my hair preparation would fill a long-felt want. And when we found it impossible to agree, due to his narrowness of vision, I embarked on business for myself.

I am not satisfied in making money for myself. I endeavour to provide employment for hundreds of the women of my race.

There is no royal flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard. Perseverance is my motto.

Evan Carmichael