Sara Blakely

“I've always had that gratitude that I had the opportunity to pursue my potential. So I think my story says that, when women are given the chance and the opportunity, that we can achieve a lot. We deliver. We can make the world a better place, one butt at a time.”

“I'll mix a lot of things. I'll wear a Temperley dress with flip flops, or I might be in head-to-toe Gucci and have on a ring that I got from a gumball machine for 50 cents.”

“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.”

“When I cut the feet out of my pantyhose that one time, I saw it as my sign. I had been visualizing being self employed prior to this happening. It was my mental preparation meeting the opportunity in that moment.”

“I think my story says that, when women are given the chance and the opportunity, that we can achieve a lot. We deliver.”

“Don't be intimidated by what you don't know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.”

“It's the power of the brand. We've never formally advertised.”

“I failed the LSAT. Basically, if I had not failed, I'd have been a lawyer and there would be no Spanx. I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating.”

“I grew up in a house where my father encouraged my brother and me to fail. I specifically remember coming home and saying, 'Dad, Dad, I tried out for this or that and I was horrible,' and he would high-five me and say, 'Way to go.'”

“What I most identify with is effortless fashion, looking as if someone's not put a lot of effort into their look.”

“I'm just like so many women - I was frustrated, I had these white pants that I had spent a lot of money on, and you get home and you think, 'What am I really supposed to wear under this?' So it was a frustrated consumer moment.”

“Within the first year of launching my company, Spanx, I decided to go over to England and cold-call Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Selfridges the same way I had cold-called Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdale's here in the United States.”

“We can make the world a better place, one butt at a time.”

“Where I get my energy is: 'How can I make it better?'”

“Trust your gut.”

“My first account was Neiman Marcus. I cold-called them just like I had cold-called businesses when I was selling fax machines for seven years.”

“In the next decade, I see Spanx going worldwide. Everywhere. No butt left behind. It's going to be all over the world and it's going to be an aspirational brand that transcends categories. There's so many things we can improve upon and make better.”

“I took a Fear of Flying class, and I always missed the class, because I was always flying.”

“If we can put a man on the moon, we can make pantyhose comfortable.”

“I feel like money makes you more of who you already are.”