Jackie Cochran
Jackie Cochran was the first women to break the sound barrier in 18 May 1953 (Chuck Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier in 1947….. up until then it wasn’t known if it was even possible or what might happen when one did!).
Cochran started out her career as a hairdresser - using her good looks and personality to get a job at a prestigious salon in New York. She later retrained as a beautician before founding her own cosmetics company.. In the early 1930’s she began taking flying lessons and learned to fly an aircraft in just three weeks - the line of her cosmetics company was called Wings.
Entering air races she began setting speed records. Cochran, was known for keeping journalists waiting whilst she changed her shoes and powdered her nose in the cockpit.
Cochran began flying her own aircraft around the country to promote her products… eventually Marilyn Monroe would even endorse her line of lipstick!
Nicknamed the Speed Queen, at the time of her death, no other pilot held more speed, distance, or altitude records in aviation history than Cochran……She was the first women to land and take off from an aircraft carrier, first woman to pilot a bomber across the North Atlantic, the first pilot to fly above 20,000 ft with an oxygen mask.
It is likely that Cochran may never have gotten into flying if it wasn't for her interest in cosmetics.
One of the most unique products Cochran came up with was the "perk-up stick" - or stackable makeup kit. which contained 5 beauty products in a tiny cylinder for on-the-go usage.
In Cochran’s own words:
"I was proud of what we used to the Jacqueline Cochran 'Perk-Up' cylinder. I would take one on all my trips, on all my races. It was a three-and-a-half inch stick that came apart into five separate compartments for weekends or trips. It would fit anywhere and it had everything"
For more information on her cosmetics line this link below is super interesting!
https://www.makeupmuseum.org/home/2018/03/jacqueline-cochran-cosmetics.html
Jacki Chchran