She Became The First African American Female Billionaire After Starting A Line of Beauty Products
We love learning about some of America’s earliest successful female entrepreneurs. For example, do you know the story of the woman who would eventually become the first African American female billionaire after starting a line of beauty products?
Her name was Annie Turnbo Malone, and she was an inventor, businesswoman, and philanthropist.
Born in Illinois in 1869, Annie became an orphan at a young age and went to live with her older sister. During her years in public school, she discovered a love for chemistry. Another passion of Annie’s was hair and hairstyling. At home, she began experimenting with hair and haircare and created some of her own products.
Around this time, it was normal for women to use things like soap, animal fat, and even bacon grease in their hair to maintain it. They were actually doing more harm than good, and Annie wanted to create products for black women that would straighten, strengthen and nourish their hair.
By the early 1900s, Annie moved to Brooklyn, Illinois, to manufacture some of her products. One of her most popular ones was a hair stimulant called “Wonderful Hair Grower,” in which she sold bottles door-to-door.
Her products began to take off, and by 1902, she moved to St. Louis, where she employed three other salespeople to sell her products door-to-door. She only became more successful and was able to open her own shop there on Market Street.
To keep the momentum of her brand going, Annie attended press conferences, toured several states, and recruited more saleswomen to promote her products.
By 1910, she started selling under the brand name Poro and expanded her product line by selling makeup as well, like lipsticks, face powders, etc. By this time, she had opened a larger facility to sell from.
In 1914, she became Annie Turnbo Malone when she married Aaron Eugene Malone, a teacher and book salesman.
paulynn – stock.adobe.com- illustrative purposes only
In 1918, she established Poro College, a cosmetology school and learning center where students could learn about how to care for and style black hair. There was also a manufacturing plant in the building where Annie would make her products. Students at the college could also learn how to become Poro sales associates.
Poro College employed many black people, especially women, and when combined with the Poro franchise as a whole, employed around 75,000 women throughout the US, South America, Africa, and the Philippines.
By the 1920s, Annie became one of the wealthiest African American women and had an estimated net worth of $14 million. In addition, she often donated to charities and important establishments, like the Howard University College of Medicine.
In 1927, Annie and Aaron went through a brutal divorce. Since he served as President of the Poro company for some time, he demanded half of its value in court battles. Finally, after some negotiating and with support from her employees and high-status friends, Annie paid a settlement of $200,000, a massive amount of money for that time period, to declare herself the sole owner of Poro College.
Although she faced some financial hardships throughout the 1920s and 30s that decreased her overall wealth, Annie continued to develop her business and do tons of philanthropy work before she suffered from a stroke and died in 1957. She died in Chicago at 87, leaving her estate to her nieces and nephews.
In her honor, the city of St. Louis has an annual Annie Malone parade to support children’s charities, just as Annie did. Her legacy lives on through helping others.
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