Before turning her inventions into a billion-dollar empire, Joy Mangano spent years working as an airline assistant and as a waitress on nights and weekends.
But in her spare time, she would tinker with the prototype for her self-wringing “Miracle Mop.” (As a teenager in Long Island she invented neon-colored flea collars to make pets more visible to cars at night, Time reports.)
She didn’t sell her house to pay for research and development or quit her day job, she slowly chipped away at her dream — all while taking care of her family.
After years of perfecting and pitching her product, she got her break on QVC in 1992, when she unveiled the divine mop.
Her performance wasn’t perfect, but it was genuine. Sales took off, and what appeared to be an overnight success was actually a culmination of years of hard work and networking.
“I am of the philosophy that if you work really hard and focus on things, you will get there in some form or fashion,” Mangano once said in an interview with CNBC Make It.
Years later, when Mangano pitched the Huggable Hanger, everyone said it would fail. She forged ahead with the product. and it became HSN’s biggest seller of all time, according to Forbes.
Family, entrepreneurship and empowerment led the way.
Joy was born in 1956, in East Meadow, New York to Italian American parents. She now lives in St. James, New York, and has three children of her own: Christie, Robert, and Jacqueline.
The film Joy, which was loosely based on her life, was released in 2015, and included performances by Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.
She released her autobiography, Inventing Joy, in 2017, and stepped down as President of her company. Ingenious Designs, in late 2018.
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