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Hey, Wowzer fans, Mindy here.
And before we start the show, I gotta let you know that this November, with a special new episode featuring our friends at Circle Round and Terrestrials on Radiolab for Kids,
And don't miss when Elmo from Sesame Street stops by Wow in the World to make us all belly laugh on November 24th.
Oh, but that's not all, Reg.
On December 1st, we are sharing our 250th episode of Wow in the World with all of you.
We think this one is going to be music to your ears.
Literally.
Did I mention it's a musical?
And if you're a member of the World Organization of Wowzers...
Oh boy, do I have a surprise for you.
You can listen to our 250th episode early with me and other members from around the world on Saturday, November 22nd, at 7 pm.
Eastern.
That's right, we are throwing another listening party.
Join us as we dance along to our new songs.
React to the episode with other members in the chat and more.
Grownups.
If you want your wowzer to join this members-only listening party, you can sign up to become a member today at Tinkercastcom.
Slash wow.
Already a member?
Well, you can find the link and password to join the event when you sign in at Tinkercastcom.
Slash wow.
That's it.
It's going to be a November to remember.
But for now, let's get on with the show.
Woo!
It's wee-wow week.
There we go.
And a little pinch of cornstarch here.
And a few squirts of corn syrup.
And a bucket of jalapeno peppers.
Hey, Guy Raz, will you come back here and give me a hand?
Ugh.
Mindy, you're stinking up the whole ice cream truck.
What are you making back here?
First of all, it's not just an ice cream truck, Guy Raz.
I have renovated it to be our Wow on Wheels, a rolling thunder of wow and wonder.
Oh!
And I'm wondering why you're throwing a harmonica into a pot full of jalapenos and liquid soap.
So glad you asked, Guy Raz.
I was so inspired listening to the Who, When, Wow podcast on Madam C.J.
Walker yesterday that I decided to try my hand at inventing.
Inventing?
Yep.
Inventing jalapeno and harmonica scented soap dough.
Uh... See?
It feels just like Play-Doh, but it's soap.
You can still play with it and stuff, but then when you need to wash, you pinch off a small amount and use it just like soap.
Well, you know how much I love personal hygiene.
How can I help?
Well, the instructions I used for inspiration said that I just need a little cornstarch, liquid soap, coconut oil, food coloring and essential oils.
But I like to spice mine up.
So I also added some sweet potatoes, blueberries, a harmonica, and jalapenos for texture.
Okay.
You can also find a recipe for this, minus the harmonica, at Tinkercastcom slash WeWow, if you want to read it first.
Okay.
Well, maybe we should start there.
You can even do it while you're listening to the second half of Madam C.J.
Walker's story on the Who Went Wow podcast.
You mind pulling it up on your guy phone?
My hands are too sticky.
Okay, let's see here.
Who Went Wow, Madam C.J.
Walker.
The story continues now.
Welcome back to Who Went Wow.
I'm Rebecca Shear.
Who are you?
Today we're talking about pioneering businesswoman, Madam C.J.
Walker.
Of course, at this point in the story, she is still Sarah Breedlove.
And she's on to something big.
That hair-growing treatment she created the one that came to her in a dream.
It worked great when she tried it on herself.
So, she offered to try it on her friends.
My hair is so thin, Sarah.
So brittle.
So frizzy.
I hope this stuff is good.
Well...
Turns out it was more than good.
My hair is so thick, Sarah.
So healthy.
So smooth.
That's some wonderful hair grower you created.
And thus, Sarah's wonderful hair grower was born.
She was 38 now, with less than $2 to her name.
But she had something invaluable.
Ambition, passion, and a proven formula to grow women's hair and confidence.
In 1906, she was living in the gold-mining boomtown of Denver Colorado, when she married again, this time to an advertising man named Charles CJ.
Walker.
With her husband's encouragement, Sarah started focusing on marketing and publicity to spread the word about her wonderful hair grower.
First thing she did was pick a new name.
How about Madam C.J.
Walker?
Has a nice ring to it, don't you think, Charles?
It has a fancy ring to it, darling.
High class.
Then she posed for photographs with her luxurious head of hair.
Say, hair follicles.
Hair follicles.
And she plastered those photos on every tin of Madam C.J.
Walker's wonderful hair grower.
She also developed other products shampoos oils, creams then printed catchy ads for them in local black newspapers.
Is your hair short, breaking off thin, or falling out?
You wouldn't expect the flowers in your garden to grow fast and bloom profusely if choked by weeds.
Thick, healthy hair can grow only on a scalp that is free from dandruff and scalp diseases.
Use Madam Walker's hair preparations.
Supreme in quality, fit for a queen.
Madam C.J.
Walker visited nearby states, showing off her products in black churches.
Good morning, Oklahoma.
I am Madam C.J.
Walker.
Social clubs.
Good afternoon, Texas.
I am Madam C.J.
Walker.
Lodge halls.
Good evening, Mississippi.
I am Madam C.J.
Walker.
Then she trained the women in the audience to be door-to-door hairdressers and saleswomen.
She called them hair culturists and walker agents.
Ladies, we have been stuck in low skill, low paying jobs for far too long.
But I, Madam C.J.
Walker, am setting out to be the first person ever to employ large numbers of black women in business.
If you join my company, ladies, you can be independent, confident, and earn up to $15 a day.
Which sure beats the heck out of the $1.50 I brought in scrubbing socks.
By December 1907, when Madam C.J.
Walker turned 40, she was earning an impressive $3,600 a year.
That's more than $100,000 in today's dollars.
By 1908, her income nearly doubled.
Not only that, but she made a big splash when she built her first brick-and-mortar school near her new home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Who When Wow News presents The Hallowed Halls of Academia. and elegance.
Pittsburgh, famous for its steel, is now famous for its style, as Madam C.J.
Walker opens the Lelia College of Beauty Culture.
Thousands of African-American women will train to become hair culturists and Walker agents.
And as Madam C.J.
Walker herself says, prospective students needn't worry about money.
Can't afford the $25 tuition?
I'll give you a scholarship.
Or location.
Live too far away to take classes in person?
I'll offer a correspondence course.
In other words, a class by mail.
Which is basically the early 20th century equivalent of a Zoom or Skype class today.
With this newest achievement, you could say that Madam C.J.
Walker is in a league of... Heron.
Uh, no you can't.
That pun is terrible.
It's hair finest hour.
Oh, that one's even worse.
Suffice it to say, we can hardly wait to see what's next for Madam C.J.
Walker.
Are you kidding me?
I am out of here.
You mean out of hair?
Okay, that's enough.
How do you turn this thing off?
Is it this button right here?
Madam C.J.
Walker's next move was to the railroad hub of Indianapolis Indiana, where she built her first factory.
Now she could mass produce her products and ship them all across the country.
She gave her company the official name Madam C.J.
Walker Manufacturing Company.
And by 1910 the 44-year-old dynamo was running one of the most profitable black-owned companies in the country, bringing in a substantial 1000 a month.
Madam CJ Walker had her share of detractors, including religious leaders in the African American community.
It is natural for a black woman's hair to be kinky and curly.
But Madam CJ Walker's products make their hair smoother and straighter.
They are going against what God intended.
To which Madam CJ Walker replied...
Let me correct the erroneous impression held by some that I claim to straighten hair.
I deplore such an impression because I have always held myself out as a hair culturist.
I grow hair.
I have absolute faith in my mission.
I want my people to take a greater pride in their appearance and to give their hair proper attention.
Another of Madam C.J.
Walker's naysayers was none other than influential black leader Booker T. Washington.
As head of the National Negro Business League, Washington was skeptical of Madam C.J.
Walker's growing empire.
So skeptical, he turned down her request to be a speaker at the league's annual meeting in 1912.
But Madam C.J.
Walker would not take that decision lying down.
These men were prone to look down on hairdressers, as they called us.
So I had to go down and dignify this work.
In a convention hall in Chicago Illinois, in front of 2000 attendees, Washington was giving a speech about the role Black-owned banks should play in their community's economic development.
And so, when it comes to the role Black-owned businesses should play in their community's economic development, it is my wholehearted belief that Surely you're not going to shut the door in my face.
2,000.
Thousand pairs of eyes swiveled toward the proud woman who had shot up from her seat with an elegant feathered hat perched atop her luxurious head of hair.
I am a woman who started in business seven years ago with only a dollar and fifty cents.
I went into a business that is despised, that is criticized and talked about by everybody.
The business of growing hair.
They did not believe such a thing could be done, but I have proven beyond the question of a doubt that I do grow hair.
I am not ashamed of my past.
I am not ashamed of my humble beginning.
Don't think because you have to go down in the wash tub that you are any less a lady.
Everybody told me I was making a mistake going into this business, but I know how to grow hair as well as I know how to grow cotton.
Those were Madam C.J.
Walker's actual words.
Isn't that awesome?
Booker T. Washington sure thought so.
The next year, he didn't just invite her to speak at the league's convention.
He introduced her as... One of the most successful businesswomen of our race.
But it wasn't just Madam C.J.
Walker's wealth that made her successful.
I mean, sure, by 1918, her company was raking in $500,000 a year.
She was employing 25000 hair culturists and agents across the United States, Central America and the Caribbean.
And she owned multiple houses across the country, including a lavish 34-room mansion north of New York City.
But much of Madam C.J.
Walker's success came from the way she shared her wealth with her community.
She became a philanthropist, giving money to Black schools, churches, orphanages, retirement homes.
Her 5000 donation to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, was the largest donation the organization had ever seen.
And in May 1919, as she lay in bed in her mansion, dying of kidney failure and high blood pressure at the tragically early age of 51, she was quoted as saying, "'My desire now is to do more than ever for my race.'"
And she did.
She called her lawyer over and set aside $100,000 to Black charities and organizations in her will.
But she couldn't have done it without a lifetime of faith persistence, creativity and believing in her dreams.
In the words of this self-made American legend, I had to make my own living and my own opportunity.
But I made it.
Don't sit down and wait for the opportunity. to come.
Get up and make them.
Wow, this is such an amazing story, Guy Raz, and it's true.
I... I know.
That makes it so much more impactful.
Guy Raz, are you crying?
Aw, you usually only get emotional about science stories.
No...
I'm not really crying, Mindy.
Uh, really?
Well, you forgot to tell your eyes that.
And your nose.
Well, the story is very powerful, but that's not why I'm crying.
Well, what is it, then?
Well, it's the jalapeno-scented soap dough, Mindy.
It's making my eyes water.
Oh, no!
Okay, uh... Can we, uh...
Uh, crack a window for a little bit?
Oh, sure.
Yeah, I was just about to do that anyway.
Oh, and will you hand me my megaphone, Guy Raz?
It's right back there.
Uh, okay.
Here you go.
Thank you.
Attention, wowzers of the world.
Meet us back here tomorrow for another episode of Who Went Wow?
It's a week-long listening party.
It is?
Mindy, I have things to do.
Ah!
You can also have your own listening party whenever you want.
Be sure to follow Who When Wow, wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll automatically be updated whenever there are new episodes.
Oh, and if you were inspired by the story of Madam C.J.
Walker and would like to make your own soap dough, just like we did here, minus the jalapeno peppers.
You can find the full instructions at Tinkercastcom.
Slash WeWow.
That's it.
We'll see you back here tomorrow.
Until then, who wows?
We wow.
Hey, grownups.
It's Mindy and Guy Raz here from Wow in the World.
Mindy and I have some We'll be right back.
Our Wow in the World toys help your wowzer learn about their world through play.
Plus, you can hear exclusive audio content from me and Guy Raz to help your wowzer discover even more wows.
Grownups.
Give the gift of wow and wonder this holiday season with our latest Wow in the World toys designed with your curious wowzer in mind.
You can shop our Wow in the World toys at Tinkercast.com slash toys.
That's Tinkercast.com slash toys.
Our Who Went Wow theme song was composed and performed by The Pop-Ups.
For more on their three-time Grammy-nominated All Ages music, find them at thepopups.com.
Special thanks to this week's actors...
Evan Casey, Brandon Green, Kitty Kaboom, Erica Rose, Mike Smith, Marion N Toro, Chris Trovedor, Dawn Ursula and Charlie West.
Want to keep the Who, When, Wow experience going all week long?
Grownups, you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Our handle is at WhoWhenWowPod.
Visit WhoWhenWow.com for free activities and resources that extend the wow after each episode.
We couldn't put the wow in Who, When, Wow without you, so thanks for listening.
Now get out there and make a difference in your world.
You could be the next who to wow the future.
Who Won Wow was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
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