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Spanx founder stuns Oprah with $1M donation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It takes a lot to shock Oprah Winfrey and reduce her to tears on the set of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Exactly how much?
A million dollars.
That’s the amount of a personal check Spanx founder Sara Blakely will hand the talk show queen today when she surprises her with the donation on the “How’d They Do That?” edition of “Oprah” broadcast on WSB-TV at 4 p.m. The Atlanta entrepreneur had been asked to participate as a guest on the show that was taped in December.
When Blakely decided to make the sizable donation to Winfrey’s Oprah’s Leadership Academy in South Africa, she didn’t tell her mother, her grandmother or even her accountant.
“I was afraid that someone might try to talk me out of it!” Blakely joked Thursday to Buzz. Blakely only informed a single “Oprah” producer who, in turn, prompted the talk show queen to end a segment by asking Blakely about “a new project you’re working on.” Expecting Blakely to plug a new line of products, Winfrey “just froze, put her hand on her chest and her eyes filled with tears” when the footless pantyhose pioneer made the check presentation.
For Blakely, the check was a unique way “to pay it forward.”
As it turns out, in the late 1990s when Blakely was selling copiers and fax machines door-to-door and trying to interest folks in her control-top footless pantyhose idea on nights and weekends, Winfrey gave her a much needed sign to continue her business plan.
“I was attending a sales seminar in Detroit and I was in my hotel room when I turned on ‘Oprah,’ ” Blakely recalls. “Suddenly, there she was lifting her pant leg and telling her audience how she had cut the feet out of her control pantyhose so she could wear these pants she had on.”
Years later after Spanx took off, thanks in part to a on-air plug by Winfrey in 2000, Blakely was touring South Africa as she was establishing her Sara Blakely Foundation. When she asked about a large plot of land under construction, she was told the project would become part of Winfrey’s school there.
“It was another full-circle moment for me that, here I was, halfway around the world and here is this work that Oprah was doing,” says Blakely.
The donation prompted Winfrey to invite Blakely into her office after the show.
As a producer led Blakely past two security guards and a roped-off area, she was told, “Oprah never does this.”
In her office, a grateful Winfrey met with Blakely in her pajamas. She then showed the Spanx founder 15 minutes of a documentary that she was working on about the Leadership Academy.
Blakely plans to celebrate the experience this afternoon with a viewing party at the Bucket Shop in Buckhead with her staff.
Asked if she was going to let somebody else pick up the tab for a change, Blakely laughed and replied: “I’m going to work on that!”
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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