“Ok, but why?” It’s such a basic question. It’s the nagging, unsettling feeling that something could be better than it is and that you can fix it. It’s the voice of our 5-year-old self, trying to figure out the world that sometimes doesn’t make sense. Some of us ignore the voice and move on. Some of us stop in our tracks and use it to change the world.
That’s what Sara Blakely did. And it’s what a LOT of talented, creative innovators all across Florida are doing every day. It’s that common drive to ask “why” and push our selves to make something better. To innovate.
That’s why hosting Sara Blakely at Synapse Summit 2020 is such a special moment. It will shine a light not just on her success, but also on the fact that Florida is overflowing with talented, generous, driven innovators just like her.
Not everyone knows Sara or SPANX by name — but honestly, ask almost any woman and she most likely will. SPANX started by making slimming undergarments for women, and has expanded to dozens of under and outerwear for women and men. Sara is a Clearwater native and FSU alum. She is an entrepreneur at heart and speaks about how her dad asked her every week what she had failed at, followed with a high five, reframing failure as a useful tool for self-reflection.
Sara launched SPANX while working a 9 to 5 job selling fax machines door to door; she learned about patenting, manufacturing and marketing using her grit and determination to get her product made, which ended up in front of Oprah Winfrey and into Neiman Marcus. She kept asking “why” and challenged traditional manufacturing practices to finally create the product she wanted. She is a self-made billionaire, turning her own $5,000 into a brand that changed her industry and is now sold in 65 countries.
Sara is paying it forward. Since its inception in 2006, the Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation has donated millions to charities around the world, focusing on charities that empower underserved women and girls. In 2013, she became the first self-made, female billionaire to sign the Melinda and Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half her wealth to charity. She is a source of positivity, showing off her humor and honesty about her goals (and collection of inspirational coffee mugs) in interviews and her social media accounts.
Sara’s success is extraordinary, but one thing I know from the hundreds of people I’ve met since we launched the Synapse movement is that our community is filled with amazing, talented leaders. Each of them have challenged the status quo and met their “OK, but why?” moment with action to make something better. It’s the same question that drives us at Synapse everyday: why don’t we know more stories of success in our communities? Why is it so hard for innovators to make the right connections to what they need at the right time? Why can’t we do more to help each other find what we need, and share what we have?
When upwards of 6,000 of us fill Amalie Arena February 11th and 12th at Synapse Summit 2020, we’ll each be there with our own story of “why.” We built Synapse Summit as a platform to shine a bright spotlight on the amazing innovators working hard every day all across Florida. More than 300 companies will exhibit and give us all a chance to celebrate their creativity. In nearly 100 sessions, we’ll discover, educate and inspire each other. For those two incredible, uplifiting and exciting days, we’ll celebrate our talented and accomplished community and thank them for inspiring us to keep asking “why.”
I can’t wait to meet you there.
To join the Synapse movement and attend the Synapse Summit, February 11-12, 2020 visit synapsefl.com.
