Born on June 7th

"Madam Walker was a master marketer. But her brilliance was in taking it to another level by training women, by traveling, by making very motivational speeches and by providing independent income for women who otherwise would have to be maids and sharecroppers."

"It takes a long time, I think, to get to the place where you realize you may love the hairstyle that somebody else has."

"I hope that people will be inspired by Madam Walker's story. I hope that they will see her as a complex human being, and that they will want to dig more deeply, that they will want to know the details of her life."

"A'Lelia Walker did not subsidize specific writers, but she provided a place for all kinds of people to gather. She was one of the few blacks who had the money to allow her to entertain in the large scale."

"I'd seen how 'Green Book' had been a box-office hit, but left pianist Don Shirley's family feeling betrayed because his life and relationships had been distorted."

"As much as any woman of the twentieth century, Madam Walker paved the way for the profound social changes that altered women's place in American society."

"Why is she Mrs. C.J. Walker? It really was a matter of her trying to insist that people respect her, because during that time, white people would call any black woman 'Sally.' 'Aunt Sally.' So this was like... you can't call me that."

"A lot of people think Oprah is channeling for Madam Walker, and there are lots of parallels."

"Both my parents worked at the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, with my dad eventually being hired by another company called Summit Laboratories that made chemical hair straighteners."

"For more than three years, I'd been part of a complex and frustrating dance as my nonfiction, fact-based material was translated from book to movie by scriptwriters whose visions, goals and sensibilities often were quite different from mine."

"My mother was the fourth generation of women to have worked with the Walker company. As a little girl, I would go to her office while she worked. She was a very capable woman."

"We buy too much stuff we just don't need. We're trying to look cute for next weekend when we ought to be thinking about the next decade."

"Madam Walker's legacy lives in her philanthropy as well as in an amazing line of hair care products."

"I love people who have really long locs. I love how they can go in different directions or pile it up into a big crown on the head."

"I know of at least two black women who are billionaires: Sheila Johnson, who co-founded BET, and Oprah Winfrey. And I know of hundreds of black women whose net worth is over $1 million."

"There are literally hundreds of stories about women of color that haven't been told that are amazing, fantastic, better than anything else."

"From the beginning, Madam C. J. Walker's message was as much about hair and beauty as it was about empowering other women. She knew that confidence and self-assurance are key ingredients to success, and that true beauty comes from within."

"Natural hair is just my personal preference."

"For all my life, I've been trying to tell Madam's story and really it's a labor of love just to make sure people know about her and the empowerment she gave to other women."

"Madam Walker, as part of the first generation out of slavery, really was inventing the way that she operated in the world."

"Through the years, Madam Walker has certainly become a staple of anything that has to do with black history, women's history and entrepreneurship."

"I began to discover that, in addition to her stunning achievements, there were flaws as there would be in any person's life. I wanted to tell Madam's story in an honest, frank way."

"As one of the pioneers of modern hair care and cosmetics, Madam Walker is still an inspiration to a lot of people going into the business."

"We live in a culture where European beauty standards are dominant."

"She used her wealth and philanthropy to contribute to Black schools and colleges, she gave the largest gift the NAACP had ever received to it's anti-lynching fund... Madam Walker's life was one of transformation and re-invention."

"There is a core of people who know and love Madam C.J. Walker, but there's a much larger audience who don't really know about her. I think 'Self Made' will give people a window into her life."

"It's very hard to be a kid, especially in a predominantly white school or white town where other people want to police your body and hair."

"I have lived almost seven decades. So I've had my hair journey where I wasn't comfortable with my hair."

"I wrote my first report about Madam Walker when I was a senior in high school in 1970."

"Madame Walker was one of the four iconic women who really created what's now the modern hair-care and cosmetics industry, and we know about her in the black community because everybody gets their hair done."