“Favorite Things.” Twelve years later, Forbes named Blakely the youngest self-made female billionaire in history. In Getting There: A Book of Mentors, Blakely wrote, “I can’t tell you how many women come up to me and say something like ‘I’ve been cutting the feet out of my pantyhose for years. Why didn’t I end up being the Spanx girl?’ The reason is that a good idea is just a starting point.”