Sara Blakely: Shaping the world with Spanx

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Sara Blakely grew up in Florida and dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but after failing the LSAT twice, she pivoted to sales and later entrepreneurship. Frustrated by uncomfortable hosiery, Blakely cut the feet off her tights and sparked an idea that would change fashion. With no formal business training, she cold-called hosiery mills and landed her first big break with Neiman Marcus, then with the Oprah Winfrey show. Spanx went from a scrappy startup to a billion-dollar brand that reshaped celebrity style and became a cultural phenomenon. Journalists Zing Tsjeng and Simon Jack trace Sara Blakely's journey from selling fax machines to building Spanx into a global empire. They explore how she…