Only You Can Stop Your Dream

Married at the age of 14, became a widow at the age of 20, she consented to the marriage because she wanted to escape the violence from her sister’s husband. She is the first female millionaire independently without any inheritance, of course, you know slaves don’t have inheritance, her only inheritance was slave parents and slave siblings.

Sara Breedlove was born in 1867 in the USA in a cotton field by a slave, she earned her freedom at the age of 7, after her parents died she moved in with her married sister. She worked as a maid, had no time to go to school, the only formal education was at Sunday school(Bible studies which normally take place in some churches before the main service) it lasted for three months. Despite her predicament, Sara had great dreams, to become a millionaire in order to help the poor people who are suffering in America.

In 1882 she moved to Saint Louis with her daughter and brothers, her brothers worked as barbers, she worked at a laundromat and as a cook to pay for her daughter’s education in a public school, she earned about $1.50 a day. After long exposure to chemicals she got very sick, she almost lost her entire hair, her brothers taught her the basis of hair care, she picked an interest in hair products because of her situation, she learned the Eni Malon series of hair products, later met Eni in person to sell her products.

While she was selling the products from street to street and house to house she made some savings. At 35 she moved to Denver with her daughter Alleluia, as she planned to develop her own line of cosmetics for African-American women. After many experiments she succeeded, she produced her own formula and started building her own business.

After a short time, she opened a beauty salon at Pittsburgh and a beauty school where she taught people about hair care using Sara’s formula. In 1910 she moved to Indianapolis where she opened a headquarter, by 1917 she employed about 20,000 women, she paid them $5 – $10 daily. Sara desired African American women to be financially independent, so she encouraged them on how to handle money and think about business, she held seminars across America.

Before she moved to Pittsburgh, she married again, Charles Walker. The richer she became the more she spent on charity and the poor, she fought against social injustice and donated over $100, 000 to humanitarian organizations, $100, 000 as of 1900 will build estates, buy a city in America, this is for you to know how rich she was and how richer she gave.

Before she died at 51 she stated in her will that 2/3 of her future profits should be given to charity. Her net worth was $500,000, two years after her death her wealth increased to $1000,000, this made her the first female millionaire.

She desired to become a millionaire not because she needed all the millions, but because she needed to give to the poor, touch many lives and do more good. Without any support or formal education, she produced her own line of business, without any job she employed 20,000 people, despite the oppression she faced being born by slave parents who passed away too early as a result of hard labour she conquered every resistance.

No one can stop you, only you can stop your dreams, your background can’t stop you, we’ve thousands of billionaires in the world today who came from a very poor homes, who you aren’t or what you aren’t can’t stop you, only you can stop yourself.

Every part of your body was given to assist you to achieve your dreams, if you’ve got no hands, search there are people without hands using their legs, without ears, use your eyes, without nose use your mouth, we’ve people without upper and lower limbs(hands and legs) doing wonderful things, every living has what it takes to exist productively, only the dead lacks the will of productivity.

Dreams will never come true when your hands are folded, dreams are dreamt by the mind, but your effort brings them into an objective reality. Your dreams will come true when you take a step to do something, take that step today, your dreams await you.

– Kanayo Ebuka