A Woman to Know: Brownie Wise
I wanted to be a *successful human being.* — Brownie Wise
(image via The History of Tupperware)
From the start, Brownie knew it was a good idea: cheap, sturdy, reusable containers, helping any housewife to store food and keep leftovers. But nobody was buying it — until Brownie engineered her multi-million dollar scheme: The Tupperware Party.
She began touring the country door-to-door, showing women how they could organize Tupperware Parties of their own, to empower themselves, build a mini-business and make some fast cash. Brownie's "Party Plan" model was a hit. In 1954, she was the first woman to appear on the cover of Business Week, and even today, 50 years later, the Tupperware Party remains a suburban social staple.
In 1956, Houston Post writer put it this way: "It has been estimated that Brownie Wise has helped more women to financial success than any other single living person."
Add to your library list:
Tupperware Unsealed (Bob Kealing)
How to Put Your Wishes to Work (Brownie Wise)
Brownie Wise: Tupperware Queen (Fergus Mason)
Read more:
How a Single Mom Created a Plastic Food Storage Empire (Mental Floss)
Obituary: Brownie Wise Dies at Home (The Orlando Sentinel)
Entrepreneur Brownie Wise: Selling Tupperware to America's Women in the 1950s (Christina E. Bax)
Parties for Plastic: How Women Used Tupperware to Participate in Business (National Museum of American History)
Brownie Wise (The Tupperware Collection)
Fantastic Plastic: The Rise and Fall of Brownie Wise (Go Retro)
Brownie Wise: The Brains Behind Tupperware (The New England Historical Society)
Hear more:
Meet the woman who brought you the Tupperware party (Marketplace)
Brownie Wise: Business Week Cover Woman (Stuff Mom Never Told You)
Watch more:
Tupperware! (PBS: American Experience)
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