{"id":254972,"date":"2026-05-02T04:30:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T04:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/254972\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T04:30:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T04:30:54","slug":"fsu-confers-honorary-degree-on-alumna-and-spanx-founder-sara-blakely-who-urges-graduates-to-invest-in-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/254972\/","title":{"rendered":"FSU confers honorary degree on alumna and Spanx founder Sara Blakely, who urges graduates to \u2018invest in you\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"SaraSara Blakely, inventor, philanthropist and founder of Spanx and Sneex, addresses graduates during Florida State University\u2019s Spring 2026 commencement ceremony Friday, May 1, 2026, at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center. (Bill Lax\/Florida State University) \t\t<\/p>\n

Florida State University awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to\u00a0alumna\u00a0and Spanx founder Sara Blakely during spring commencement Friday, recognizing a career built on instinct,\u00a0persistence\u00a0and a willingness to do things differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Blakely took the stage, she\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0dwell on success. She talked about failure, self-doubt\u00a0and\u00a0the decision that shaped everything that came next.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most critical thing that I did \u2014 the thing that everyone here can do \u2014\u00a0is I made\u00a0one big investment early on,\u201d she told the graduates. \u201cI invested in me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SaraSara Blakely graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor\u2019s degree in communications studies on May 1, 1993.<\/p>\n

Blakely returned to campus 33 years after graduating from Florida State, where she said her dreams began, even if her path after college\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0go as planned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She had hoped to become a lawyer.\u00a0She failed the LSAT twice. She went to a job fair and was rejected by 20 companies. She\u00a0hoped\u00a0to be Goofy at Disney World and\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0meet the height requirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eventually, she found herself selling fax machines door to door for seven years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was brutal,\u201d she said, recalling days of rejection while her peers moved into careers as lawyers,\u00a0doctors\u00a0and corporate executives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point, she pulled her car to the side of the road and said\u00a0out loud: \u201cI\u2019m in the wrong movie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two years later, she started a company called\u00a0Spanx<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What began as a simple fix \u2014 cutting the feet off a pair of pantyhose to improve the way clothing fit \u2014 grew into a global brand that reshaped the shapewear industry. Blakely built the company without outside investors, eventually selling a majority stake in 2021 after turning it into a billion-dollar business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She has continued working on another venture called Sneex<\/a>, a footwear company she launched to combine the comfort of a sneaker with the look and style of a heel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

FSU President Richard McCullough conferred Blakely\u2019s degree during Friday evening\u2019s ceremony at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, the first honorary degree awarded during his presidency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In introducing her, he described Blakely as someone defined by curiosity and perseverance and a cultural force whose success began with a simple\u00a0belief: There must be a better way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SaraSara Blakely accepts an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from President Richard McCullough and Provost Jim Clark during Florida State University\u2019s Spring 2026 commencement ceremony Friday, May 1, 2026. (Bill Lax\/Florida State University)<\/p>\n

After the hooding, McCullough turned back to the audience and said, \u201cIt is now my honor to introduce, for the first time, Dr. Sara Blakely.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blakely told graduates that the curiosity and persistence behind her success is available to anyone willing to do the work on themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be a spectator in your life or a participant,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can be a passenger of your thoughts or the driver of your thoughts. I chose to be the driver.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That idea, she said, traces back to her teenage years, when her father gave her cassette tapes by author Wayne Dyer that focused on mindset, visualization and not fearing failure. She listened to them so often she memorized them, even if it made her unpopular on car rides with friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Years later, after building Spanx and landing on the cover of Forbes\u00a0for being the\u00a0youngest female self-made billionaire<\/a>, those same friends sent her a message: \u201cShould have listened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SaraSara Blakely waves to the crowd during Florida State University\u2019s Spring 2026 commencement ceremony Friday, May 1, 2026. (Bill Lax\/Florida State University)<\/p>\n

Blakely\u2019s speech mixed humor with hard-earned lessons. She told stories about scrambling to fulfill her first major order without the right manufacturing pieces, navigating embarrassing moments on international\u00a0television\u00a0and writing her own patent because she\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0afford an attorney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no experience, but I had\u00a0belief,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also warned graduates about the challenge of distraction in a fast-moving world and urged them to protect time to think,\u00a0reflect\u00a0and grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can distract yourself or you can discover yourself,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point, Blakely held up a worn red backpack, the same one she carried as a student at Florida State and later to early business meetings. Today, it serves as a symbol for\u00a0her\u00a0Red Backpack Foundation<\/a>,\u00a0which supports women and girls around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a reminder that everything you need is already right there on your back,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blakely\u2019s recognition marks the 133rd honorary degree conferred by the university.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sara Blakely, inventor, philanthropist and founder of Spanx and Sneex, addresses graduates during Florida State University\u2019s Spring 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[40841,28,30,29,110910,80092],"class_list":["post-254972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-commencement","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-honorary-degree","tag-president-richard-mccullough"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}