A'Lelia Bundles Quotes

There is a core of people who know and love Madam C.J. Walker, but there's a much larger audience who don't really know about her. I think 'Self Made' will give people a window into her life.

Through the years, Madam Walker has certainly become a staple of anything that has to do with black history, women's history and entrepreneurship.

As one of the pioneers of modern hair care and cosmetics, Madam Walker is still an inspiration to a lot of people going into the business.

I've found that once people are introduced to Madam Walker's story, they are inspired but also perplexed about why she was omitted from their history lessons.

Madam Walker's name gets thrown out as either the savior of black women's hair or she's the evil devil.

A lot of people think Oprah is channeling for Madam Walker, and there are lots of parallels.

Obama a ‘light-skinned’ African-American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.

Hollywood needs to recognise all shades of African American beauty.

There's people who I admire like... Dr. Dre, Puff Daddy, Master P, people who built their stuff and are still going.

I want to be a combination of P. Diddy and Oprah.

Since I was little, I've had that vision of a businesswoman inside me.

Black history is American history.

There was a guy by the name of Charles Schwab: actually, Charles M. Schwab. I read a lot about him, and I always hoped I was related, but I wasn't. He was a steel magnate. He worked for J.P. Morgan; then he started Bethlehem Steel. But he had no children, unfortunately, and it turned out I wasn't a relative.

My mum was a quintessential businesswoman. She taught me problem-solving. She can solve any problem.

To her credit, Madam Walker discerned that black women wanted to conform to white Victorian models of beauty. She was aware of the double- sidedness of her products - helping black women appear more European in look, with straight hair - but she always maintained that she was simply selling products that promoted hair growth.

Madam Walker's legacy lives in her philanthropy as well as in an amazing line of hair care products.

In just a few years, I have turned my small company into a multi-million dollar makeup empire.

Madam C.J. Walker was born in 1867, two years after the civil war ended. She was a daughter of a slave. She had no formal education. Both her parents died by the time she was seven. Yet, by the time she died in 1919 at age 51, she was one of the most successful businesswomen America had ever seen.

If people feel misled or deceived, then sorry that they feel that way, but I believe that's more due to their definition and construct of race in their own minds than it is to my integrity or honesty, because I wouldn't say I'm African American, but I would say I'm black, and there's a difference in those terms.

African-American history is American history.

Diane von Furstenberg is an extraordinary woman. She's modern. She's a mother, a grandmother, a leader.

I'm in a unique position, reviewing products for a living, as well as having a successful cosmetics company.

I love African American women, but I just don't like my skin complexion.

I hope that people will be inspired by Madam Walker's story. I hope that they will see her as a complex human being, and that they will want to dig more deeply, that they will want to know the details of her life.

I went to a historically black college.