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- The Rise of Miriam Leslie, Gilded Age Tycoon
Hey team,
LaToya here! Welcome back to The Strategy Files.
In this series, we’re discussing one of the most successful women in media, who you’ve probably never heard of: Gilded Age Tycoon Miriam Leslie.
image: public domain
Why Study Miriam Leslie?
When Frank Leslie died in 1880, The Frank Leslie Publishing House was on the verge of financial ruin. It used to bring in $500,000 a year. But Frank died in debt, so his estate was worth negative $300,000.
That’s like owing 9.2 million dollars today!
Lucky for his legacy, he left his publishing house to his wife. Miriam took over the business, paid off all its debts, and made the company profitable again. Five years after his death, it became so profitable that she paid herself a salary of 100,000.
That’s like giving yourself a annual salary of 3.2 million dollars in 2024.
In this series, we’re going to explore
What was her early life like?
What skills did she build early in her career that allowed her to save a failing company?
And why did she once say
“A woman with brains and energy knows what she means to attain and is unscrupulous as the great Napoleon in attaining it” [1]
What was her competitive advantage?
Miriam was born in New Orleans in 1836; her father was a cotton broker named Charles Follin. Historians have narrowed her mother’s identity down to one of the six women enslaved by her father’s family, who was also of child-bearing age. According to the rules of New Orleans society, Miriam Leslie did not come from a good family.
Girls from good families received a different education from girls like Miriam. They went to schools like Garnet's School for Girls to learn feminine skills needed to enter society: to rise and bow and draw and dance and sing, and stitch. How to “take a book”. Not to read it, analyze it, or use it to better understand the world around them.
What happened to girls in New Orleans who had no prospects, and no chance of marrying into a good family? They went to public schools where they learned to read and write. Miriam was an excellent student and father prioritized her education. So after school, Miriam practiced reading, writing, and was tutored in French by her Grandmother.
We see this over and over again in history: being an underdog has its advantages. If Miriam had been born into a good family, she would have never built the skills to compete in Gilded Age New York, and take over her husband’s failing business.
References + Further Reading
Purple Passage: The Life of Mrs. Frank Leslie. I got a FIRST EDITION and accidently wrote in it. Don’t be like me 🙃
Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in New York City’s Gilded Age.
Ephraim George Squier | Smithsonian Institution Archives
1 p.29, Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in New York City’s Gilded Age.
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