Tupperware Unsealed: Brownie Wise, Earl Tupper, and the Home Party Pioneers by Bob Kealing

First Lady of Tupperwareby BelindaEllsworth

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July 07, 2009: I can't stop thinking about Tupperware Unsealed: Brownie Wise, Earl Tupper, and the Home Party Pioneers by Bob Kealing. It hit me emotionally, and I've been thinking about and talking about this incredible story ever since I put the book down. It reminded me of all the things I just love about this business and of my early days in direct sales.

Brownie Wise was a single mom from Detroit going door-to-door selling Stanley products when she came across Earl Tupper's innovative plastic products. She'd been so successful with Stanley that she'd hoped to advance into a corporate position with them. But, the Stanley folks shut her down, saying it would never happen because she was a woman. Yet, Brownie believed in herself, she was willing to work hard, and she set her sights on moving forward. If not this, she would find something else.

Earl Tupper was selling his wares - or trying to - at the largest department store in the country, J.L. Hudson in Detroit. The fantastic food savers were just sitting, gathering dust on the shelves, when Brownie saw an opportunity. She realized that Tupper's product line needed to be demonstrated, to be properly appreciated. So she began purchasing the products wholesale and created the presentation model in a party experience so she could show people what a great food preserver the Tupperware was.

The book details her meteoric rise to the top and how as the First Lady of Tupperware, Brownie helped create the model for the party plans we know today. She planned the first direct-sales convention and was the first woman on the cover of Business Week. The 1950s ended up being a time of phenomenal growth for Tupperware, due almost entirely to her efforts and the systems she put in place.

Her distributors were going out and doing 20 parties a month at a time when households only had one car. The Tupperware ladies would wait for their husbands to get home and then run out and do a party - or two or three in one evening! These ladies worked tirelessly and taught their teams to do the same. As they became more successful it was challenging for them to keep up the schedule, necessitating the building of teams big and fast. In fact, the first "car program" was implemented by Tupperware simply so that their best distributors would have a car to go out and do more parties!

I just loved reading about the discipline, philosophy, and replicable nature of Brownie Wise's plan. What I think is so important is to recognize that when one person goes out, creates momentum, and builds a vision for others - and gives others a definite directional message - great things follow. There was a "Tupperware Way" and the company was consistently on message, setting the standard, and rewarding excellence.

The book goes on to detail unfortunate developments that are also cautionary tales about the pressures on companies as they grow quickly and those stories struck me emotionally, as well. The book provides such interesting insight into a part of our history that we think we already know. I just can't recommend it highly enough.

You should know the story of Brownie Wise, the driving force behind making Tupperware a household name. She was written out of Tupperware history, but her influence shouldn't be discounted. She was a trailblazer, ahead of her time, and we can learn so much from her accomplishments and her way of doing business.