It's the age of the "Celebrity Business Tycoon".

So it's easy to forget that, once upon a time, Tycoons had to toil unnoticed and unheard of by the general public.

You couldn't look them up on the Internet, or watch them on CNBC, or hear them espousing their own "brillaincy" on the radio.

And you could barely expect to find news articles written about them, unless they were the likes of John Rockefeller and such. The Rockefellers and their kind made the "Society Pages" with great regularity.

But it makes me wonder sometimes how many of today's Business Tycoons have mostly been media creations.

Not A Media Creation

That leads me to the topic today.

Right after the Civil War, in 1867, a woman was born that had not the advantage nor leisure of being a media creation.

Her name was Sarah Breedlove. And she was born in Delta, Louisiana.

Sarah was born to former slaves. And she lived quite a difficult life, as most African-Americans did at the time.

• She lost a parent very young.
• She lost another parent very young.
• She married very young.
• She had a child very young.
• She lost a husband very young.

She moved around a bit, seeking better opportunities.

Then, at a key point in her life, she was bitten by a most deadly bug that unleashes a toxic venom. To this day, experts world wide have not really been able to find a cure.

The name of the deadly bug that sunk its razor-sharp teeth deep into Sarah Breedlove's soft beautiful skin?

Entrepreneurship!!

As the story goes, Sarah began losing her hair. So she started looking for hair products that would help to solve the problem.

She had worked with another African American woman that developed and sold hair care products. And Sarah decided to develop a line of her own.

So YOU Want To Become An Entrepreneur!

Sarah had two major disadvantages as a budding entrepreneur in the United States in the early 1900s.

• First, she was a woman.
• Second, she was black.

And yet Sarah persevered. She overcame both of those tremendous obstacles. In fact, she was so successful that she became the first female of any race to become a self-made millionaire.

She became a true Business Tycoon.

She also fostered economic development by creating high-paying jobs for black women.

That was in the early 1900s!

What's That Name Again?

Oh yea, I almost forgot. After her third marriage, Sarah changed her name.

She became ...

Madam C.J. Walker!

Not only was Madam C.J Walker the first female millionaire, she grew her company to become the largest black-owned business of the time.

That was quite an accomplishement in a male-dominated and racially prejudiced society.

Well, Sarah might not get a lot of publicity to this day. But she sure gets my vote as a significant Business Tycoon that broke down barriers!

Listen to My Interviews With Compelling Emerging Growth Tycoons .. One Might Just Be The Next Madam C.J. Walker!