Economic impact
Co-founded Johnson Publishing Company alongside John H. Johnson and served as Fashion Editor of Ebony magazine from its founding in 1945. Created the Ebony Fashion Fair in 1958, a touring fashion showcase that visited up to 200 cities per year at its peak, presenting designs from European and American couture houses. Over its 51-year run (1958 to 2009), the Ebony Fashion Fair raised more than US$55 million for college scholarships distributed primarily through the United Negro College Fund, per UNCF published records. The show commercially introduced several European designer labels (including Givenchy and Christian Dior) to Black American retail consumers in host cities for the first time. She died on 4 January 2010.