Annie Turnbo Malone [inventors/business]

Calvin

Welcome to Headstones and Microphones where we use AI to step into the past through a researched, first-person simulation of history's most interesting people. I am your host, Calvin. While we’ve added some creative storytelling, our goal is to inspire your own study of these fascinating lives. Now, let’s meet our guest.

Calvin

For those who may somehow not know who you are... who are you?

black female guest

I am Annie Turnbo Malone. I am an entrepreneur, an inventor, a chemist, and a proud philanthropist who dedicated her life to the haircare industry, education, and uplifting my community.

Calvin

Wonderful to meet you, Annie. Let's start at the very beginning. When and where were you born?

black female guest

I was born on August 9, 1869, in a town called Metropolis, Illinois.

Calvin

What was your given name at birth?

black female guest

At birth, I was named Annie Minerva Turnbo.

Calvin

Is there a story behind your birth name?

black female guest

There isn't a specific legendary tale about my name itself, but the family I was born into carried a deep history. My parents, Robert and Isabella Turnbo, had been enslaved. My father actually went on to fight for freedom by joining the Union Army during the Civil War. Being born a free child to parents who fought so hard for liberty—that was the real story and foundation of my life.

Calvin

What was your hometown like growing up?

black female guest

Metropolis sat right on the Ohio River, so it was a busy little river town. It was a modest place, quite rural in many areas, full of hard-working folks just trying to build up their lives after the war.

Calvin

What was your family life like?

black female guest

I was the tenth of eleven children, so you can imagine it was a very busy, full house! Sadly, tragedy struck us early on. Both of my parents passed away when I was quite young. Because of that, I was orphaned and went to live with my older sister, Ada Moody, who took over raising me in Peoria, Illinois. Even though we faced immense loss, we stayed incredibly close-knit and supported one another.

Calvin

What kind of kid were you?

black female guest

Oh, I was an incredibly curious girl, though a bit fragile in health. I loved public school, but I frequently grew ill, which kept me away from the classroom more than I would have liked. But even when my body was resting, my mind was working. I was fascinated by the world around me, especially how things were made and how things worked.

Calvin

What were your biggest fears growing up?

black female guest

Growing up as an orphan in a world that was still very harsh and deeply divided, my biggest fear was that the people around me—especially Black women—would never get the chance to realize their full potential, beauty, and independence. I feared stagnation and seeing my community held back by a lack of resources or self-confidence.

Calvin

What did you dream of becoming as a child?

black female guest

From a very early age, I loved fashioning hair. I would practice constantly on my sisters' hair. As I grew a bit older, I developed a deep love for chemistry. I dreamed of marrying those two passions together. I wanted to become what we called a "beauty doctor" and create things that genuinely helped people feel proud of who they were.

Calvin

What were some of your favorite activities in school?

black female guest

Hands down, it was science and chemistry! I loved learning how different ingredients interacted with one another. Even though my illnesses eventually forced me to withdraw from Peoria High School before I could graduate, that love for chemistry never left me. It became the laboratory for my life's work.

Calvin

What was your first job?

black female guest

My first real hands-on work was practicing hairdressing alongside my sister. We worked diligently together, handling the hair of women in our community, which gave me the perfect insight into what their scalps and hair truly needed.

Calvin

Was there a moment where you realized you were different from everyone else?

black female guest

It was when I noticed the terrible damage being done to women's hair. Back then, the common practice was to use things like goose fat, bacon grease, heavy oils, and harsh chemical straighteners that literally burned the scalp and caused hair loss. I looked at that and thought, "There must be a better, healthier way." While others accepted it as the norm, I saw it as a problem that science could solve.

Calvin

What’s a decision that changed everything for you, but felt small at the time?

black female guest

Around the turn of the century, while living in Brooklyn, Illinois, I finally formulated a special chemical product that helped hair grow and look beautiful without causing a single bit of damage. I decided to call it the "Wonderful Hair Grower." I started traveling around in a horse and buggy, giving free demonstrations and making speeches on street corners to show women how it worked. It started out as just me in a buggy, but that small decision to take my creation directly to the people changed the entire course of my life.

Calvin

What was your biggest break?

black female guest

My biggest break came in 1902 when I decided to move my operations to St. Louis, Missouri. The city had one of the largest African American populations in the country, and the 1904 World’s Fair was just around the corner. It was there that my business truly exploded. We went door-to-door, gave free treatments, and the word-of-mouth advertising spread like wildfire.

Calvin

What were your biggest struggles before success?

black female guest

In the beginning, it was a lack of capital and a lack of trust. As a young Black woman trying to sell a homemade product, people were naturally skeptical. I had to manufacture everything right out of my own home, adjusting formulas on my sisters and friends, and physically carry my products to the market myself.

Calvin

Did you ever consider quitting?

black female guest

Never. Not even for a moment. When you see the confidence return to a woman’s face when she realizes she doesn't have to suffer to look beautiful, it gives you a purpose that far outweighs any exhaustion or doubt.

Calvin

Were there any specific daily habits or routines that you feel are essential to your success?

black female guest

Cleanliness, strict punctuality, and a polished personal presentation. When I later opened Poro College, our training school, I didn't just teach hair care; I taught our agents how to walk, how to talk, how to dress for business, and how to hold their heads high. Keeping a meticulous routine of personal discipline was something I practiced every single day.

Calvin

What job would you have had if fame never happened?

black female guest

I believe I still would have been a teacher or a chemist working somewhere quietly behind the scenes. Helping people learn and unlocking the secrets of science were simply wired into my soul.

Calvin

What was your life like before fame?

black female guest

It was quiet, modest, and filled with a lot of hard, physical labor. It was a life of stirring pots on a stove, packaging bottles by hand, and traveling long, dusty miles by carriage hoping someone would buy a single bottle of hair grower.

Calvin

How did relationships change after success?

black female guest

Success certainly brings complexity. As my business grew, I hired many agents, including a bright young woman named Sarah Breedlove—who the world later came to know as Madam C.J. Walker. She was a talented agent of mine, but we eventually had a falling out over business directions, and she went on to create her own line. It taught me that business can test relationships, which is why I eventually copyrighted my brand under the name "Poro" to protect my original work.

Calvin

Did fame bring happiness?

black female guest

Fame itself didn't bring me joy, but the wealth allowed me to find true fulfillment through giving. Being able to share my fortune is what made me genuinely happy.

Calvin

What was the downside of becoming famous?

black female guest

The public scrutiny and the legal battles. When you achieve a high level of financial success, especially as a woman, people unfortunately try to take a piece of it. My divorce from my second husband in the late 1920s became a massive, highly publicized legal battle over the Poro empire, which was incredibly taxing.

Calvin

What misconceptions did people have about you?

black female guest

Some people thought I was just a salesperson or a lucky face behind a brand. They didn't realize that I was the actual chemist who formulated the products in the first place, and the master strategist who designed the direct-sales franchise model.

Calvin

What was your darkest moment?

black female guest

The legal disputes over my company, combined with the onset of the Great Depression, were incredibly heavy. Having to dismantle parts of the empire I built in St. Louis and relocate my headquarters to Chicago's South Side in 1930 was a profound challenge that tested all of my resolve.

Calvin

What past regrets did you carry, that you spoke about?

black female guest

If I carried a regret, it was that I couldn't completely protect the vast empire I built from the hands of government tax collectors and intense litigation in my later years. But I comforted myself knowing that the knowledge and skills I gave to my students could never be taken away.

Calvin

What’s something people misunderstood about your life?

black female guest

People often look at the end of my life and see that I lost my vast multi-million dollar fortune, assuming it was all just bad business. What they misunderstand is just how much of my wealth I gave away intentionally! I poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into charities, medical schools, and orphanages because I cared far more about building up people than stacking up paper.

Calvin

Tell me about a time when everything went wrong and how did you handle it?

black female guest

When competitors began copying my formulas and claiming them as their own, it threatened to ruin everything I had built. Instead of panicking, I handled it with strategy. I rebranded everything under the West African name "Poro"—a word signifying physical and spiritual discipline. I legally registered it and elevated our training standards so high that no competitor could match the dignity of a true Poro agent.

Calvin

Did fame and fortune change your life?

black female guest

It changed my surroundings, certainly! I went from a humble buggy to owning massive, beautiful buildings with rooftop gardens, a chapel, and an auditorium. But it never changed my heart or my values. I stayed a simple woman dedicated to service.

Calvin

What personal battles were you fighting privately?

black female guest

Managing the stress of a global business with tens of thousands of agents while constantly navigating the systemic racial and gender barriers of the early twentieth century was a heavy, exhausting daily battle.

Calvin

Who had the biggest influence on your life?

black female guest

My older sister, Ada. When our parents died, she stepped up to give me a home, a sense of security, and she was the one who introduced me to the art of hairdressing. Without her guiding hand, the spark for Poro may never have caught fire.

Calvin

What was life like in your final years?

black female guest

My final years were much quieter and far more modest. I lived in Chicago, removed from the grand spotlight I once commanded, but I was still surrounded by the respect of the industry I helped pioneer.

Calvin

What were you working on in your career before you passed away?

black female guest

Even as my health slowed me down, I remained dedicated to supporting the National Beauty Culturists League and ensuring that the history of Black cosmetology was preserved and respected.

Calvin

When and where and how did you pass away and how old were you?

black female guest

I passed away on May 10, 1957, at Provident Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. I suffered a stroke and was 87 years old at the time of my passing.

Calvin

What’s a random fact about you most people have never heard?

black female guest

I used to give lavish, extraordinary gifts to my employees just for things like perfect attendance, punctuality, or as rewards to help them invest in buying their own real estate! I believed an employer should uplift her workers' lives completely.

Calvin

What’s the craziest rumor ever told about you?

black female guest

During the height of my success, because a Black woman accumulating millions of dollars was so unheard of, people rumored that I must have discovered some magical, secret occult formula from overseas, rather than just giving credit to my hard work, dedication, and knowledge of chemistry!

Calvin

What was your most unique habit?

black female guest

I loved traveling to study beauty culture methods. In 1924, I took a massive trip all the way to Europe just to observe and learn their techniques so I could bring that advanced knowledge back to my students at Poro College.

Calvin

Did you have any known rivalries?

black female guest

My relationship with Madam C.J. Walker was viewed by the public as a massive, fierce rivalry. While we were certainly direct competitors in the market, I always maintained that the market was vast, and the ultimate goal was the elevation of Black women.

Calvin

Tell us a story nobody talks about.

black female guest

People remember Poro College as a beauty school, but during the devastating St. Louis race riots of 1917, our campus became a sanctuary. We opened our doors to provide shelter, food, and medical clothing to hundreds of displaced people. It was a haven of safety when the world outside was burning.

Calvin

What’s your funniest behind-the-scenes moment?

black female guest

In the early days, when I was trying to mix formulas in my kitchen, a batch boomed a bit too loudly and scared my sisters half to death! They thought I was going to blow the roof right off the house with my experiments.

Calvin

Did you ever prank someone?

black female guest

I wasn't much of a traditional jokester, but I did love to surprise my nieces and nephews by hiding financial gifts and tuition money in completely mundane household items for them to find when they least expected it.

Calvin

What was the most outlandish purchase you made?

black female guest

Buying an entire city block in St. Louis to construct the massive Poro College complex! It featured a factory, a bakery, a gym, and a beautiful roof garden. People thought a woman buying that much real estate was completely outlandish, but it was exactly what our community deserved.

Calvin

What advice would you give people chasing success?

black female guest

Do not build an empire just to sit on a throne. Build an empire so you can construct a ladder for others to climb up with you. True success is measured by how many people you bring along.

Calvin

Annie, do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with the listeners before we sign off?

black female guest

I just want to remind everyone listening that your beginnings do not define your endings. Keep studying, keep serving your community, and never underestimate the power of a good idea mixed with a lot of faith and discipline. Thank you so much for having me on the show, Calvin, it has been an absolute joy!

Calvin

What an incredible journey from a horse and buggy to a global empire. Annie Turnbo Malone reminds us all of the power of innovation, resilience, and true generosity. And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—legends may die, but their stories never do. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod.