September 10: Women Who Turned Hair Care Into Business, Ownership & Opportunity
H.O.P. Today in Female Entrepreneur History
Every woman building something today is standing on history shaped by women who refused to allow their circumstances to determine their future. At House of Peach Inc., our Today in Female Entrepreneur History series is about more than recognizing famous names. We want to understand how women created businesses, developed industries, opened doors for other women and turned everyday skills into economic opportunities.
Today, September 10, we're looking at two women whose entrepreneurial journeys crossed different racial and cultural realities but shared an important lesson: when women recognize the value of what they know, they can create businesses that extend far beyond themselves. Those women are Martha Matilda Harper and Annie Turnbo Malone.
Martha Matilda Harper: From Domestic Worker to Business Pioneer
Martha Matilda Harper was born on September 10, 1857, in Ontario, Canada. Her entrepreneurial story did not begin with investors, wealth or business connections. At only seven years old, she was sent away to work as a domestic servant and spent roughly 25 years doing domestic work.
Eventually, Harper transformed her knowledge of hair and scalp care into something she could own. She developed a hair tonic, opened a salon and created what became known as the Harper Method. Harper wasn't simply selling hair products. She developed a complete customer experience and a business system that could be duplicated.
Her company eventually expanded into an international network of hundreds of Harper Method shops. A woman who spent much of her early life working inside somebody else's home eventually created a system that allowed women to operate businesses under her brand.
Harper understood that her work represented more than personal success. In a 1928 interview, she explained the purpose of her business model:
“I wanted to give women an opportunity to become independent.”— Martha Matilda Harper, quoted in Jane R. Plitt, Martha Matilda Harper and the American Dream: How One Woman Changed the Face of Modern Business (2000)
Her story reminds today's female entrepreneurs that where you begin does not determine where you have to finish.
Annie Turnbo Malone: Black Women Were Building Too
While we celebrate women's entrepreneurial history, H.O.P. also believes we have to intentionally talk about Black female entrepreneurial history because Black women weren't standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody to invite us into business. We were building too.
One of those women was Annie Turnbo Malone. Born in 1869 to formerly enslaved parents, Malone became interested in chemistry, hair and scalp care and began developing products specifically for Black women's hair.
That distinction matters. Black women were living in a society where our beauty needs were often ignored by mainstream companies. Instead of waiting for the existing beauty industry to recognize Black consumers, women like Malone helped create a market designed around our needs.
Malone eventually established the Poro business and built a major Black beauty enterprise. But she didn't stop with products. She trained women, created employment and helped Black women develop skills that could provide financial independence.
Malone's business philosophy emphasized preparation, discipline and self-reliance. Her Poro training materials instructed agents:
“Be honest, be clean, be courteous, be prompt, be faithful.”— Annie Turnbo Malone, Poro System of Beauty Culture training materials, cited in Carolyn M. Brown, The Black Skyscraper: Architecture and the Geographies of Black Identity in Chicago (2017)
At a time when racism and sexism severely restricted opportunities available to Black women, entrepreneurship became another way to create our own doors when existing ones remained closed.
And Then Came Madam C.J. Walker
Annie Turnbo Malone's influence becomes even more interesting when we recognize another woman connected to her business: Madam C.J. Walker.
Before Walker created the business empire that would make her one of the most recognizable Black female entrepreneurs in American history, she worked as a sales agent for Malone's Poro products. Walker would eventually create her own hair care products, training programs and sales network.
Walker later described the purpose of her work in terms that connected business ownership with service and opportunity:
“I am not merely satisfied in making money for myself, for I am trying to provide employment for hundreds of women of my race.”— Madam C.J. Walker, quoted in A'Lelia Bundles, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker (2001)
This is an important piece of entrepreneurial history because sometimes we tell success stories as though successful people appeared out of nowhere. They didn't. There were mentors, employers, competitors and women who came before them. Sometimes one woman's business creates the environment where another woman discovers what she's capable of building.
Different Women. Different Realities. A Shared Entrepreneurial Lesson.
We should not pretend that Harper and Malone experienced entrepreneurship in exactly the same way. They didn't. Malone was building as a Black woman in America during segregation, navigating racial barriers in addition to the limitations women already faced.
Recognizing that difference doesn't divide women's history. It makes the history more complete.
What connects these women is their ability to recognize an underserved need and turn their knowledge into ownership. They weren't simply doing hair. They were building systems, developing products, creating brands, training women and creating economic opportunities.
They were demonstrating something women entrepreneurs should still understand today: Your knowledge has value.
Stop Looking Past What You Already Know
Sometimes women believe entrepreneurship requires discovering some completely new invention. It doesn't. Your business idea could already be sitting inside something you've been doing for years.
Maybe you know how to style hair. Maybe you're great at organizing events. Maybe everybody calls you when they need advice about finances. Maybe you cook something nobody can duplicate. Maybe you understand social media. Maybe you know how to decorate. Maybe you've figured out how to navigate a problem that thousands of other women are currently struggling with.
Don't dismiss something simply because it comes naturally to you. What feels ordinary to you may be valuable to somebody else.
Harper and Malone took knowledge connected to hair care and transformed it into businesses. Today's entrepreneur has even more ways to transform knowledge into income. A skill can become a service. A service can become a company. Knowledge can become a course. Experience can become consulting. A recipe can become a product. A conversation can become a podcast. An idea can become intellectual property. A small business can eventually become something much bigger.
Entrepreneurship Is Bigger Than "I Made It"
There is another reason these women's stories belong in the House of Peach conversation. Their businesses created opportunities beyond themselves. That is something we should continue encouraging among female entrepreneurs today.
Success shouldn't always end with "Look what I built." Sometimes the next question should be "Who else can I help build?"
Can your company employ another woman? Can you mentor somebody? Can you teach your process? Can you partner with another female-owned business? Can you recommend another woman for an opportunity? Can your platform amplify another woman's voice? Can your success create another seat at the table?
That's when entrepreneurship begins creating community.
Black Female Entrepreneurship Is American Business History
H.O.P. will also continue intentionally highlighting Black female entrepreneurs because their stories have too often been reduced to only a handful of famous names.
Madam C.J. Walker absolutely deserves her flowers, but she wasn't alone. There were Black women building beauty companies, restaurants, newspapers, fashion businesses, real-estate enterprises, schools, entertainment companies and neighborhood businesses.
Many built while facing discrimination that restricted where they could live, work, borrow money or operate businesses. Yet they built anyway.
That's why Black female entrepreneurial history isn't separate from American business history. It is part of American business history. Today's generation deserves to know those names.
The H.O.P. Takeaway
Martha Matilda Harper's September 10 birthday gives us an opportunity to look beyond one entrepreneur and recognize a much larger story about women, beauty, business and ownership.
Harper reminds us that your beginning doesn't determine your ending. Annie Turnbo Malone reminds us that when the market ignores your community, there may be an opportunity to create the market yourself. Madam C.J. Walker reminds us that sometimes working inside somebody else's business helps prepare you to build your own.
Together, their stories remind us that entrepreneurship isn't only about making money. It's about recognizing value, creating ownership, building systems, opening doors and leaving something behind that another woman can build upon.
At House of Peach Inc., that's the kind of female entrepreneurship we want to celebrate. Women have always been entrepreneurs. Black women have always been entrepreneurs. Somewhere right now, another woman is sitting on an idea that could become the next chapter of that history.
Today's H.O.P. Question
What knowledge, skill or experience are you sitting on that could become something you own?
Don't just study entrepreneurial history. Build something worthy of being included in it.
Follow @hopempoweringwomen for more female entrepreneurial history, conversations, resources and inspiration from House of Peach Inc.
House of Peach Inc. — Learn the history. Build on the history. Make some history of your own.
Sources
Bundles, A'Lelia. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker. Scribner, 2001.
Brown, Carolyn M. The Black Skyscraper: Architecture and the Geographies of Black Identity in Chicago. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.
Harper, Martha Matilda. Interview quoted in Jane R. Plitt, Martha Matilda Harper and the American Dream: How One Woman Changed the Face of Modern Business. Syracuse University Press, 2000.
Malone, Annie Turnbo. Poro System of Beauty Culture. Poro College training materials.
National Women's Hall of Fame. “Martha Matilda Harper.” https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/martha-matilda-harper/
National Women's History Museum. “Annie Turnbo Malone.” https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/annie-turnbo-malone
National Women's History Museum. “Madam C.J. Walker.” https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/madam-cj-walker
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Madam C.J. Walker.” https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/madam-cj-walker
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