er 2, 2017 Since a young age, most of us have been told the common tale of the Ugly Duckling. An ugly brown duck hatches from his egg to discover that he is not like the rest of his family. His family teases and abuses him as does everyone else he encounters. Since no one wants him, he is forced to live alone. But much to everyone’s surprise, he matures and grows into a swan, the most beautiful bird of them all. In this story the ugly duckling is shown as an outlier and as an outlier he rises above the rest. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, another successful outlier who rose above expectations was Sarah Breedlove, better known as Madam C.J. Walker. As an African American woman during her time she wasn’t given many job opportunities. …show more content…
“During the 1890s, Sarah Breedlove developed a scalp disorder that caused her to lose much of her hair, and she began to experiment with both home remedies and store-bought hair care treatments in an attempt to improve her condition (Source 1).” Experimenting with home remedies is what inspired her to start her own business. Breedlove suffered with this issue for much of her life and figured that others have this issue as well. She ended up creating a product that not only helped her scalp condition but other women’s scalp conditions, too. “In 1907, Walker and her husband traveled around the South and Southeast promoting her products and giving lecture demonstrations of her "Walker Method"—involving her own formula for pomade, brushing and the use of heated combs (Source 1).” Her so called “Walker Method” proved to be a success. Because of Breedlove's previous experience with this issue she had the advantage, which makes her an outlier. She was able to create a product that no one else had done before. Yet this product didn’t just take her around the United States. Breedlove traveled throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to advertise her product (Source 1). She travelled to these parts of the world to find more people like her and in need of her help. By sacrificing her time to market to these women in other countries, she furthered her success and became a better business owner. And for taking that next step, that makes her an