[5] As part of its effort to acknowledge prominent people who had been previously overlooked, in 2018 The New York Times published a belated obituary for her.[6]. She took the paint with her to the office which made her work easier than usual. This cookie is set by Twitter to identify and track the website visitor. It was a profession that used to be a reliable path to the middle class, by Heather Long in the Washington Post last year. var hp_try = 0; She turned her whiteout, Liquid Paper, into an. if(typeof hp_interval == 'undefined') { LPC exhibited extraordinary growth in the first ten years, and by 1965, LPC sold some 133,000 bottles of product, with annual recurring sales soaring. But she was loved because of her creative and tremendous work. When I found out that talent wouldnt support me, then I realized that I would have to give that up, she said in interview for the Business Archives Project at North Texas State University in 1980. When the other secretaries realized how well the invention worked, they flooded Graham with requests for their own supplies. var captchaApiScriptEl = document.createElement('script'); }; By 1964, the production of Liquid Paper grew 10x, to 5k bottles/week; in 1967, the company notched its first $1m in sales (~$8m today). It stores the last sync time to avoid continually repeating the syncing process. By 1957, Graham was selling 100 bottles per month to her colleagues. Bette Graham was now wealthy, with fabulous jewelry and a Rolls-Royce. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. var el = wrappingDiv.getElementsByClassName(className)[0]; Her birthplace is Dallas, Texas, where her parents, Jesse McMurray and Christine Duval, used to live. Over the next few years, her health declined rapidly. }); She was left alone to take care of her only son, Michael singlehandedly. setHiddenFieldValueFromUtm(wrappingDiv, sp, 'funnel-s4', 's4', ''); She solicited wholesalers and traveled from Dallas to San Antonio and Houston on weekends to market her product. $('input.hp_ts').val(hp_ts); She was a single mom from Texas who had a brilliant idea while working a 9-to-5 job as a secretary.

She died on May 12, 1980, at the age of 56 years. As told by Bette in a 1977 speech she gave to the New Enterprise Club at Harvard Business School, LPC had an annualized ROI of 40% in 1975 and an annual advertising budget of $1.5 million (or $4.5 million in 2020.) The Today in missed opportunities, Snapchat announced a GPT-powered personalized avatar named My AI (and not SnapChatGPT). The quick-thinking Graham mimicked their technique by using a white, water-based tempera paint to cover her typing errors. Raised a Baptist, Graham converted to Christian Science in 1942, and this faith inspired the development of her corporate "Statement of Policy". if (false) { This cookie keeps track of a visitor's identity. To make ends meet, she found work as a secretary at Texas Bank and Trust, where she earned $300/month (~$36k/year in todays money). Ensures data from subsequent visits to the same site are attributed to the same user ID. if(hp_ts < 3 && hp_try < 1) { The bitterness remained, and Robert Graham maneuvered to have the company bar her from making any corporate decisions. I write about the power of negotiation and adaptive leadership. It's also employed as a functional fluid in arts and crafts from blacksmithing to jewelry tomodeling kits. Its like a plant that is rooted in the ground. Nesmith married Robert Graham in 1962, and he joined the business as well. Most easily identified by his trademark blue wool hat with pompom, Nesmith fashioned a diversified career within music and also in film. She moved forward anyway, poring over books in the public library to study formulas for tempera paint, and working with a chemistry teacher to improve the consistency of her product. At 19 years of age, she got married to Warren Nesmith. Kidadl is independent and to make our service free to you the reader we are supported by advertising. And thats why we built Trends to show you up-and-coming market opportunities about to explode. Identifies a new users first session. But for decades, being part of a secretarial pool was an important employment option for millions of women. }); The product she would eventually create Liquid Paper, a white correction fluid used to conceal handwritten or printed typos would become one of the worlds most popular and enduring office supplies. With a never give up soul, Graham went on with her experiment till when she came up with a picture-perfect combination. She continued to refine her recipe in her kitchen laboratory, which was based on a formula for tempura paint she found at the local library, with assistance from a paint company employee and a chemistry teacher at a local school. In 1962, Graham married a frozen-food salesman, Robert Graham, who took an increasingly active role in the company, including a seat on the board. var b = document.cookie.match('(^|[^;]+)\\s*' + a + '\\s*=\\s*([^;]+)'); When her husband returned home from World War II, the couple got divorced and Graham was left to single-handedly raise her child. Bette Nesmith Graham didnt tell anyone about the first few bottles of her whitish concoction. More interesting Facts Bette Nesmith Graham Worked as a bank secretary Later she rose to the executive secretary Some bosses admonished her from using it. These remarkable employee benefits were further memorialized in the 1980 movie 9to5, about three secretaries that took over their company. 58. The tenacious woman managed to hold on to 49% of the company. Graham poses for a photo later in life (University of North Texas archives). These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Used to monitor the technical information and use of devices that connect to our website to protect it from malicious traffic. This included positions in management and sales, not just operations. In 1979, she sold her company to the Gillette Corporation for $47.5 million. You have to face fears and doubts constantly. Bettes decent life and humble background made her not to step a foot in high school. American typist and inventor of Liquid Paper (19241980), "From The Folks Who Gave You Liquid Paper", "Graham, Bette Clair McMurray (19241980)", "Overlooked No More: Bette Nesmith Graham, Who Invented Liquid Paper", Bette Nesmith Graham, Liquid Paper Inventor, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bette_Nesmith_Graham&oldid=1129392668, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 December 2022, at 03:03. She could see women who were at the highest places as executive assistants, but they didnt have decision making power. Building a company of this magnitude alone would have been remarkable, but Nesmith shared with me a conversation he had with Bettes staff after she passed away in 1980. Mistake Out became Liquid Paper. Linkedin sets this cookie. She was barred from making corporate decisions, lost access to the premises, and the company changed her formula so she would lose royalties. captchaVersion.name = 'g-recaptcha-response-v2';
He continued to receive Liquid Paper royalties from the deal his mother had worked out and used them to launch the music video company PopClips a predecessor to MTV. [email-submission-form button-text="Join Free" include-trends-opt-in="true" success-url="https://thehustle.co/new-thank-you-v2/" default-source="thehustleco" default-medium="home-exit-popup" default-campaign="home-page" form-id="exit-popup-general" optinmonster-conversion="true"],
Graham formed the Liquid Paper Company in 1958, spawning a multimillion-dollar market. clearInterval(hp_interval); Graham died on May 12, 1980, six months after selling her company. In 1967, Jones wasclassified 1A by the draft board and up for service. var newVal = searchParams.get(utmName) || getCookieValue(cookieName); They would have one son in December 1942, Robert Michael Nesmith. These cookies are used for advertising, site analytics, and other operational purposes. Liquid Paper Corporations' Statement of Policy. This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
She could see women who were at the highest places as executive assistants, but they didnt have decision making power. She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell. In the five decades since, Head's dark, surprisingly political tone has made it a cult classic, and one of the mostemblematic films of the late 1960s. Unsubscribe whenever. Do Not Sell My Information - CA Residents. Bette would go on to perfect her product and build a fortune around it, eventually creating foundations that did help empower working women. Soon, business was booming. Among its offerings: During her successful run, Graham also established two philanthropic foundations one that supported women in the arts, and another that offered assistance to disadvantaged women. Bette Nesmith Graham used it to fix her typos covertly.Her creation of liquid paper in 1951 created history. grecaptcha.render('verify-your-humanity', { var error_message = getCookieValue('validate-email-message'); We dont spam. With growth came doubts but she persisted. As a. Nesmith was raised in Dallas by his mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, who invented the first correction fluid in 1956 while working as a typist. That secretary was Elizabeth Clair McMurray Nesmith Graham, the inventor of Liquid Paper and founder and CEO of the Liquid Paper Corporation. She built it out of nothing. I think she might have gotten a $600 loan from a family member at some point. Bette Nesmith Graham dropped out to marry Warren Audrey Nesmith, her childhood sweetheart and a soldier when it comes to family life. LPC established an employee-owned credit union and a retirement program that contributed 15% into the fund, where the employee could contribute up to an additional 15% of their pre-tax earnings. wrappingDiv, That technological shift (and the ensuing increase in typographical errors) became a source of inspiration for a new product in the 1950s. } Bette Nesmith Graham is no longer in the world, and hence her annual income can not be ascertained. function setHiddenFieldValue(wrappingDiv, searchParams, className, utmName, cookieName, defaultValue) { Delivered weekdays plus a bonus Sunday feature. Pinterest. In an employee newsletter published after her death, she is quoted as saying The true value in business is never the dollar, but in the benefit that it brings to humankind. and 94% of those jobs are held by women. And she did it all during a time when women were discouraged from pursuing business ventures. hp_ts = 0; She now had time to devote to selling Liquid Paper, and business boomed. Afterward, she came to accept that her invention would come to help the world and beyond. var prev_email = getCookieValue('funnel_email'); [2], Her only son, musician Michael Nesmith (best known as a member of The Monkees), inherited half of his mother's estate of over $50 million. if (error_message && error_message.trim() != '') { This cookie is set by Sailthru totracks the number of page views for each user. To measure and improve the performance of your advertising campaigns and to personalize the user's experience (including ads) on TikTok. } More than400 young actors and musicians auditioned for the four roles. So, in 1979, the inventor of Liquid Paper sold the company to Gillette for $47.5 million, plus a deal for royalties. The Kidadl Team is made up of people from different walks of life, from different families and backgrounds, each with unique experiences and nuggets of wisdom to share with you. Kidadl has a number of affiliate partners that we work with including Amazon. Does the Mentos and Soda Trick Work With Regular Coke? This cookie is set by Linkedin. var hp_interval = 0; Without a doubt, his technique worked beyond her belief. } Facing ailing health in 1979, she sold Liquid Paper to Gillette for $47.5m ($173m today), plus royalties on every bottle sold for the next 2 decades.

We're committed to your privacy. Your privacy is important to us. As much as she wanted to help her kindred secretaries, Nesmith also noted that she, as a single mother and creative person, was equally motivated to find ways to empower working women. It has grown by increasing productivity and by stretching capabilities to meet the demand, she said. While that contemporary role might involve managing calendars and virtual meetings instead of fetching coffee, one thing remains timeless: the profession is almost entirely occupied by women.

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