Helen Marie Gurley was born on 18th February, 1922 in Green Forest, Arkansas. In her childhood, she lived in Little Rock until when her father died from an elevator accident (Alex). Therefore, she was raised by her mother who also had a tough time raising her sister who at that time had polio (Jennifer 15). Both Helen’s parents were professionally teachers. In the 1930s, the family moved to Los Angeles, at least where Helen got her education and passed with flying colours. She later managed to secure a place to learn a business degree course in Woodbury Business College (Scanlon 23).
/>
Brown’s first Job was that of a secretary in KHJ radio station and she used to be paid 6 dollars a week just for answering fan mail. Between 1942-1945, she became the executive secretary for Music Corp. of America located in Beverly Hills (Jennifer 45). In her working days as secretary, she used to recall how secretaries were not allowed to use the ornate lobby staircase as it was reserved for clients (Scanlon 44). In 1948, she moved and became the first woman holding a post as a copywriter in an advertising agency at Foote, Cone & Belding. She was talented and even won two advertising Copywriters awards during her work between1948-1958 (Jennifer 78). Later on, she moved to Kenyon & Eckhardt and became a copywriter in 1958-1962. From then, she featured and received many awards acknowledging her work. In 1988, she became inducted in the Publisher’s Hall of fame. Brown eventually died in 2010, January 31st.
Works Cited
Alex, Brown."Helen Marie Gurley Brown (1922–2012) ." n.d. 30 March 2013
Jennifer S. Uglow, Frances Hinton, Maggy Hendry. The Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography. New York: UPNE, 2003.
Scanlon, Jennifer. Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
