A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

She was born Sarah Breedlove on a plantation in Delta, Louisiana, where her parents had been slaves. At 14, she married to get a home of her own, to get away from a cruel brother-in-law with whom she was living. At 17, she had her only child, A'Lelia, who I'm named after.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

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.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

You know the AME Church has a history of empowering black people and having an international outlook. So it was the women of the church who began to give Sarah Breedlove an image of herself as something other than an illiterate washerwoman, and she wanted to make her life better, and her daughter's life better.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

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.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

I think Michelle Obama ought to wear her hair exactly the way she wants to wear her hair. I am not looking for Michelle Obama to cut her hair off like I have mine, very short. I'm not looking for her to do twists. I'm looking for her to wear what's comfortable for her.

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

To her credit, Madam Walker discerned that black women wanted to conform to white Victorian models of beauty. She was aware of the double- sidedness of her products - helping black women appear more European in look, with straight hair - but she always maintained that she was simply selling products that promoted hair growth.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

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

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.