| Profession | Businesswoman |
| Born | Berkeley, VA |
| Innovation | Created multi-million dollar cosmetics empire for African American women |
| NJ Connection | Established her world headquarters in Atlantic City |
Sara Spencer Washington’s story was the typical entrepreneurial success story but there was nothing typical about this entrepreneur.
Sara Washington would become one of the first Black women millionaires of the 20th Century by filling a gaping consumer need – beauty and cosmetic products for black women.
A Virginia native, Sara Washington moved to Atlantic City in 1913 and opened her own beauty shop.
She brought with her a formidable education including advanced chemistry studied at Columbia University and beauty culture studied in York, Pennsylvania.
Sara Washington developed her own products and a specific beauty system for using them.
She worked in her shop by day, sold the products door-to-door at night and soon opened a beauty school where she taught her system to others. The beauty school would expand across the U.S. and around the world.
Each year, more than 25,000 students graduated from Sara Washington’s schools and became entrepreneurs themselves, administering Washington’s beauty system and selling her products door-to-door.
Washington made Atlantic City the site for her world headquarters and laboratory where more than 75 different products were developed and manufactured.
She was a committed philanthropist, and supported a multitude of charities.
When she died in 1953, Sara Washington's enterprise was worth millions of dollars and employed some 500 full-time employees plus 45,000 door-to-door sales people.
