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America’s Richest Self-Made Women<br />
12. Sheryl Sandberg<br />
$1.6 BILLION S<br />
AGE: 47 RESIDENCE: ATHERTON,<br />
CALIFORNIA<br />
In April, Sandberg published her<br />
new book, Option B, written with<br />
Wharton professor Adam Grant.<br />
Focused on grief and resilience, it<br />
draws on Sandberg’s experience<br />
dealing with the sudden death of<br />
her husband, Survey Monkey CEO<br />
Dave Goldberg, in 2015. The Facebook<br />
COO has also been using<br />
her platform to speak out against<br />
gender pay gaps and criticize President<br />
Trump’s travel ban and antiabortion<br />
measures.<br />
“Every woman deserves to<br />
get paid what she’s worth.<br />
When women are paid less<br />
than men, it doesn’t just<br />
hurt women. It hurts our<br />
families, our businesses<br />
and our communities.”<br />
14. Jin Sook Chang<br />
16. Sara Blakely<br />
$1.1 BILLION S<br />
AGE: 46 RESIDENCE: ATLANTA<br />
There is practically nothing<br />
America’s youngest self-made<br />
female billionaire wouldn’t do<br />
on her path to success. After<br />
scoring poorly on the LSATs,<br />
she auditioned for jobs at Walt<br />
Disney World. Two inches too<br />
short for the 5-foot-8 Goofy<br />
costume, she instead buckled<br />
kids into rides. A onetime doorto-door<br />
fax-machine salesperson,<br />
Blakely invested $5,000<br />
to come up with something to<br />
wear under white slacks. She<br />
initially shilled her new invention,<br />
which became shapewearbrand<br />
Spanx, at various Neiman<br />
Marcus stores. Today the mother<br />
of four is back to running the<br />
$425 million (estimated sales)<br />
company, which sells its apparel,<br />
including maternity wear<br />
and leggings, in 65 countries.<br />
16. Eren Ozmen<br />
$1.1 BILLION S<br />
AGE: 58 RESIDENCE: RENO, NEVADA<br />
Ozmen enters the billionaire ranks, as sales of Sierra Nevada Corp., the<br />
aerospace and defense contractor she owns and runs with her husband,<br />
Fatih, rose 15% in 2016 to $1.5 billion. SNC announced a partnership<br />
with the UN in 2016 to use its Dream Chaser spacecraft, whose folding<br />
wings allow it to land on runways, in an effort to help developing<br />
countries get into space. The company is also starting a program with<br />
the European Space Agency and two other European space companies.<br />
The couple emigrated from Turkey and got master’s degrees in Nevada;<br />
they bought the company, for which they worked, in 1994.<br />
$1.5 BILLION T<br />
AGE: 54 RESIDENCE: BEVERLY<br />
HILLS, CALIFORNIA<br />
Chief merchandising officer of<br />
$4 billion (est. sales) fashion chain<br />
Forever 21. In March, California’s Fair<br />
Employment & Housing department<br />
sued the retailer for an English-only<br />
policy at its flagship San<br />
Francisco store; it allegedly prohibited<br />
employees from speaking any<br />
other language during work hours,<br />
even to customers who spoke only<br />
Spanish. The company denies having<br />
a language policy.<br />
15. Gail Miller<br />
$1.2 BILLION T<br />
AGE: 73 RESIDENCE: SALT LAKE CITY<br />
18. Carolyn<br />
Rafaelian<br />
$1 BILLION S<br />
AGE: 50<br />
RESIDENCE: PROVIDENCE<br />
The founder of costumejewelry<br />
firm Alex and Ani<br />
expanded her business from<br />
a collection of five cocktail<br />
rings to a celestial-chic bangle<br />
company worth more than $1<br />
billion. She’s now America’s<br />
richest jeweler. (See story, p. 70.)<br />
With her husband, Larry (d. 2009), she turned a single Toyota dealership<br />
into a $4.4 billion (sales) operation with 62 dealerships. The couple purchased<br />
the Utah Jazz for $24 million in 1986; Miller transferred ownership<br />
of the basketball team, now worth $910 million, to a family legacy trust in<br />
January to deter her heirs from selling it.<br />
19. Alice Schwartz<br />
$950 MILLION S<br />
AGE: 90 RESIDENCE: EL CERRITO,<br />
CALIFORNIA<br />
With husband David (d. 2012),<br />
she started Bio-Rad Laboratories<br />
in 1952. Son Norman now runs<br />
the $2 billion (revenues) firm,<br />
which sells 10,000 life-science research<br />
and clinical diagnostics<br />
products. In February, a federal<br />
jury found that Bio-Rad violated<br />
Sarbanes-Oxley whistle- blower<br />
protections when it fired its general<br />
counsel in 20<strong>13</strong> for reporting<br />
potential Foreign Corrupt Practices<br />
Act violations in China. Bio-<br />
Rad is considering an appeal.<br />
20. Christel DeHaan<br />
$900 MILLION X<br />
AGE: 74 RESIDENCE: INDIANAPOLIS<br />
German native donated more<br />
than $220 million, mostly to<br />
Christel House, an education<br />
nonprofit serving poor children<br />
in India, Mexico and elsewhere.<br />
She cofounded time-share pioneer<br />
Resort Condominiums International<br />
with her husband in<br />
1974. They divorced; she later<br />
bought him out. <strong>Forbes</strong> estimates<br />
she got $550 million when RCI<br />
sold in 1996. DeHaan says her<br />
net worth is overstated but did<br />
not provide more information.<br />
88 | FORBES JUNE <strong>13</strong>, <strong>2017</strong>
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