Skip Bolen/Getty Images Spanx is a word that most women are familiar with. It's a type of shapewear that helps to smooth away lumps and bumps and also leaves no trace of a panty line.

The creator of this product, Sara Blakely has been inducted to this year's Forbes billionaires list, which was released yesterday.

Spanx, an international undergarment company, is worth an estimated $1 billion. Here are a couple of interesting facts about her from a Forbes feature:

She learned how to write her own patent from reading a Barnes and Nobles book and she saved $3,000 in legal costs.

She worked at Disney World for three months and spent eight-hour days buckling customers into a ride.

She's the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world.

She has never spent money on advertising.

She owns 100 percent of the company.

She went from just having $5,000 in savings when she was 29 to owning a billion dollar company at the age of 41 today.

She has her eccentric moments, and her husband describes her as "50 percent Lucille Ball, 50 percent Einstein." Some of her goofiest moments include wearing a boot on one foot and a Christian Louboutin heel on the other in Bloomingdale's, and wearing stretchable candy necklaces and bracelets (bought from a nearby candy store) to the Screen Actors Guild Awards because she left her jewelry at the hotel.

She witnessed a car run over her best friend when she was only 16, and facing mortality at such a young age has driven her. “I think that when you witness death at age 16, there’s a sense of urgency about life,” Blakely says. “The thought of my mortality — I think about it a lot. I find it motivating. It can be any time that your number’s up.”

This post originally appeared at SavvySugar.