I am pleased to announce the February 2021 Indie Business Book Club pick: On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam CJ Walker by A'Lelia Bundles.
If you're not familiar with the Indie Business Book Club, you can click here for more information.
Authored by Madam CJ Walker's great-great granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles, the book chronicles Madam's journey as the daughter of former slaves — from being orphaned at age 7, to becoming married and a mother by the time she was 17, to becoming a widow by the time she was 20 — to becoming the first American woman to gross a million dollars in her own business.
She began simply enough by making hair care products in her kitchen and selling them directly to consumers. Eventually, she trained her customers to learn how to sell the products they loved. This led to the creation of “The Walker System” of hair care as taught by an army of “beauty culturalists” who sold the products nationwide. Eventually, Madam CJ Walker donated large portions of her wealth to worthy causes such as educational scholarships for women as well as non-profit organizations like the NAACP, the Black YMCA and others.
Madam CJ Walker's estate in New York was recently purchased by Dennis Richelieu, the founder of the Shea Moisture line of hair care products. Richelieu plans to turn the estate into a training center for black women entrepreneurs. You can read more about that here.
The book inspired the Netflix movie, Self Made. Released last year, the movie stars Octavia Spencer as Madam CJ Walker.
Not only is reading On Her Own Ground the perfect way to inspire Indie Business members, it is also a great read for the month of February which is Black History Month.
Reading Plan
The reading plan progresses in our private members only Facebook group. If you are not participating in the group, you can join us by follow the instructions here. The graphic below shows the easy reading schedule. If you don't want to read a written book, you can listen on Audible. If February is especially busy for you, you can watch the Self Made movie on Netflix.
About A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles is a well respected author and historian. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, and from the Columbia University School of Journalism. As aa former executive and producer with ABD News, she has worked with such well known journalists as Tom Brokaw, Connie Chung, Roger Mudd, and the late Peter Jennings.
Bundles is a trustee of Columbia University and serves as chair and president of the Board of Directors of the National Archives Foundation.
Visit A'Lelia Bundles website.
Buy On Her Own Ground
Buy this and other Indie Business Book Club picks at IBN's Amazon shop.
Of course, you can also purchase the book at your favorite local book store.
Get the audio version of the book on Audible here.
Watch the Self Made Movie Trailer
Are you ready? I am.
Join us!
If you're a member of the Indie Business Network, make sure to join us in our private member Facebook group to get started. If you're not an IBN member, what are you waiting for? Join now and enjoy the book club and tons of other benefits to help you and your business grow.
Questions for discussion and sharing
Are you inspired by entrepreneurial women millionaires? Of course you are, and how much more inspired will you be for intimately knowing the story of our nation's very first one.
Share your comments, questions, and feedback below.
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