Life of the Party

by Bob Kealing

I am guessing you have used or at least seen a piece of Tupperware. Chances are you don’t know much about the creation of the product or its creator, Earl Tupper. It is even less likely you know anything about Brownie Wise, the builder the Tupperware Party process; the process that made Tupperware a household name.

This book is the biography of Brownie Wise, a divorced mother who helped create the Tupperware empire, and then lost it all.

Maybe you don’t care about Tupperware and think you wouldn’t enjoy this book. I believe there are far more reasons to read this book.

It is a glimpse at the early history of an iconic brand, but it is also filled with lessons about marketing, public relations, the business climate in the 1950’s, office politics, and the rise of a woman to the highest rungs of the corporate ladder. This is also a relatively unknown rags to riches story that is fascinating and fun, exhilarating and sad.

If you are interested in any one of those topics, or just like a good story in the form of a biography, this book is worth reading. While this isn’t likely a book to which I will refer often, it is a great book to read and then share with someone else. I suspect the conversation that follow after both of you have read it will be enjoyable and instructive as well.