Elizabeth Arden Biography
I'm not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You're as old as you feel." - Elizabeth Arden Elizabeth Arden Biography - the dream coming true The lady, who would later become the world famous woman entrepreneur Elizabeth Arden, was born on 31st December 1878, in a small Canadian village of Woodbridge, Ontario. She was named Florence Nightingale Graham after the famous nurse of the 19th century, Florence Nightingale. Florence was the fourth child in a family. The family’s financial misfortunes and her mother’s serious illness and subsequently death when Florence was just six-years-old, affected the character and personality of a young girl. While her brother and sisters had the normal children dreams about their future, Florence knew early what she was going to be. “I want to be the richest little woman in the world,” she said. Having said that, she did not know how she was going to reach this goal. Elizabeth Arden Biography – family background The father of Florence, William Graham, was born in Scotland in a family of a tenant farmer. William grew up with determination not follow his father’s path, but to work for himself. He had a passion for horses and talent for training them. By the time he met his future wife, Suzan, he had already built a reputation of a good horse rider who had won several races. The mother, Suzan Tadd Graham came from a wealthy English family, who owned land and ships. Suzan grew up in Cornwall, on the southwest coast of England. William and Suzan met at a local fare in Cornwall, where William arrived to participate in races. It was a love at first sight for both of them. The parents of Suzan found William inappropriate for their daughter and forbade her to see him. However, nothing could stop their love from growing stronger. William sold his horse, added the proceeds with his savings, and the newlyweds went to Canada to make a better start. Since then, Suzan had no contact with her parents. In the early 1870’s Toronto was a difficult place to start. Unable to find any suitable job and pressed with financial problems, the family moved to the village of Woodbridge, on the north of Toronto. William rented a small farm, which gave his family the chance to survive. His love for horses came in conflict with his work. Instead of buying workhorses, William bought second-class thoroughbreds with a hope to get back to racing in the future. His horses were not suitable for the hard work. Suzan found it very difficult to adapt to the cold Canadian winters. Shortly after the birth of Florence she was diagnosed tuberculosis, the disease that had no treatment at that time. She had to delegate her responsibilities at the farm to her children. Florence was put in charge of the horse she adored. With the help of the aunt of Suzan from England, Graham family was able to pay for their children schooling. Florence was six, when her beloved mother died. This event affected the girl’s character, who was later always afraid of close relationships. Elizabeth Arden Biography – school years Florence was a very bright and capable girl. She dreamed of going to college, but her life turned otherwise. The financial help of her aunt stopped before the girl could finish high school. She had to think how to earn a living, and she had not a slightest idea what to do next. Elizabeth Arden biography - nursing school Thinking about her famous name, Florence decided that her future career would be in nursing. The nursing school was in Toronto, where she would move to attend the classes. After a while, Florence understood that the nursing profession depressed and frightened her. At that time her business idea came for the first time into her mind. In a hospital laboratory she got to know a young man, who was trying to develop a formula against skin blemishes. Florence got very excited about using it as a beauty cream. She decided that she would work on it to sell it to women by mail. There were few beauty products available for women at that time. She quit the nursing school and came back to Woodbridge. Elizabeth Arden Biography – beginning of her career Back home she began working on her beauty formula in the kitchen. It turned much more tough than she expected. When heated, the ingredients gave a terrible smell. Her father tolerated her experiments for a while, then gave her a choice either to get married or get a job. Florence began as a receptionist, then teller in a bank, real estate secretary, receptionist for a dentist… She kept working very hard, and felt she was going nowhere. After some time she made a decision to move to New York, where her brother had a job. She thought there were much more opportunities there. Her father forbade her, but this could not stop her. Elizabeth Arden Biography – the career in New York Florence was thirty, when she moved to New York. She had a nice complexion and a very fair skin. She knew that she did not look her age, which was probably the reason she claimed she was twenty when she applied for her first jobs. Although there were many immigrants looking for a job, Florence felt she possessed some important skills that distinguished her. She was good at bookkeeping, and she had a natural gift for selling and public relations. New York fascinated her, she wanted to see everything, and studied fashionable ladies and fashionable places. The next step in Elizabeth Arden biography was in the direction of her dreams. Florence found a job of a bookkeeper for E.R.Squibb and Sons, the pharmaceutical company. She made friends with several chemists of Squibb with a hope to solve her problems with her beauty formula. However, they did not share her opinion about the importance of creating such a product. Instead of giving up, she made an attempt to find the way around, by researching the competition.
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