A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

By 1916, as Madam Walker herself was developing more assertive views on race, she was becoming eager to assume her place alongside Harlem's famous, influential and intriguing residents.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

If a CEO takes an interest in you and he happens to be an Asian man, then that's great, but as an African-American woman, you want to make sure that if the executive vice-president of the company is an African-American woman that you get to know her.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

Madame Walker was mythologized like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but I want to show that she was fabulous on her own.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

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

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

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.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

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.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

People will buy products for quality, and they will buy products for bargains.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

So Madam C.J. Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower, when applied after shampooing the hair more frequently, allowed women's scalp to be healthier and their hair to grow back. That was her most popular product.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

I was like other teenagers in the late 1960s; I too was very interested in having an Afro and getting rid of the perm that was in my hair.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

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.