Beauty & entrepreneurship

Madam C.J. Walker Way

Honoring Madam C.J. Walker

Sarah Breedlove (1867–1919), known as Madam C.J. Walker, was born in Delta, Louisiana, the first child in her family born into freedom. Orphaned at seven and widowed at twenty, she worked as a washerwoman before developing a line of hair-care products for Black women. She built the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company in Indianapolis, trained thousands of "Walker Agents" — creating economic independence for Black women across the nation — and gave generously to the YMCA, the NAACP, and Black education. Her story is proof that our beauty, our brilliance, and our business belong together.

I got my start by giving myself a start.