TAMPA — Spanx founder and chief executive officer Sara Blakely will be the keynote speaker for the two-day Synapse Summit 2020, the annual innovation convention hosted by the nonprofit entrepreneurship support group Synapse Florida.
Blakely, a 48-year-old native of Clearwater, launched Spanx as a one-woman venture with $5,000 from savings. In 1998, she came up with the idea of cutting the feet from a pair of pantyhose to look better in a pair of cream-colored pants while still being able to wear open shoes. In 2000, she made her first major sale. In 2012, Forbes named her the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire.
