# @sarablakely on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DG8iocERuc1
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/32123165-sarablakely-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/faa53a64c5.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-03-08T17:00:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Sara Blakely (@sarablakely) — https://gondola.cc/sarablakely

## Caption

My best friend Laura died in an accident on International Women’s Day, 23 yrs ago. I post this every March 8 in honor of her, and all the women around the world who uplift, support and encourage the highest good in all of us. Laura was my roommate in Atlanta and when she died I started spanx in her empty bedroom. The spanx HQ was actually her bedroom in our apartment for the first three years until I could afford to move the HQ out of our apartment. Laura was a total free spirit. She took trapeze in college, was always playing the guitar and was an adored school teacher. She would always say, “Blakely, you’re going to change the world one day.” And I would say, “Laura, I sell fax machines.” And she would fall back on the bed, smile and say, “I know, but it’s your destiny.” Somehow she knew something greater was in store for me. So it felt like no accident that she died on International Women’s Day. It was like she was sending me a final wink about my destiny. Fast forward 10 years... March 7th, 2012. I’m on the cover of Forbes. I was living in NYC the day the article came out. 15 minutes after the article went live on the internet, my doorbell rang. It was a flower delivery. I was sure someone was congratulating me on my first Forbes cover. I opened the card .. and it said “Thinking of you, Love Laura.” My dear friend Devon Baranski sends me flowers from Laura every year on the anniversary of her death, March 8th, to honor her memory. But it was March 7th... I was confused. I called the florist and they said, “Omg, we are so sorry. It was scheduled for March 8th but the driver accidentally took it out a day early.” I dropped to my knees and cried. It was no accident. Laura was the first to congratulate me. She was simply saying, “I told you so.” Wishing women everywhere a happy International Women’s Day. May the world lift up women, may we lift each other up, and may we see and encourage the potential in each other, maybe even before we see it in ourselves. #RIP #Laura #UntilWeLaughAgain #MissYou #BFF #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2025 #WomenSupportingWomen

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 46,418
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- **Comments:** 1,157

## Tags

womensupportingwomen, untilwelaughagain, missyou, rip, iwd2025, internationalwomensday, bff, laura

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