. >> reporter: the woman behind all those shapely behinds, sara blakely, the inventor and founder oft's a product i created, like, you know i created it. >> reporter: spanx is now to shapewear what kleenex is to tissue. a billion dollar household name. >> what we are hear the most from e-mails and phone calls is confidence. i feel confidence i don't have normally. i mean just -- it's a really great feeling. >> reporter: and now guys are feeling it too. call them manx, the male equivalent of the physique enhancing shapewear. no man boobs here and launching a new line adding a third option to the endless tug-of-war between boxers and briefs. >> the underwear is spanx. >> i'm wearing spanx right now i can tell thaw. >> they do something for you down there. >> reporter: who knows for sure if it's really just a joke. spanx did indeed help a hollywood costume department transform adam sandler from jack to jill in his 2011 comedy. >> a little soul. >> reporter: blakely breathed new life into the tierld old tees and tank, good-bye undershirts and hello game changer. the compression teechlt p

sara blakely admits she's not your typical ceo. she's never taken a business course, nor did she have any experience in her field. but she's a grade a student when it comes to not taking no for an answer. >> i got laughed at a lot the whole way, but i learned that you had to keep going. >> blakely is the world's youngest self-made female difficult onair, thanks to spanx, tight-fitting shapewear for women, an idea that came to her while she was getting dressed for a party. >> there was a void for undergaunder d undergarments for women. so they created a shaper like a second skin. >> it will suck you in without being too tight or uncomfortable. >> i'm getting married and i need something that can hold in all the goods so nobody can see something only your husband should be seeing. >> she sold over 10 million pairs around the world without spending a dime on advertising. >> if a girl tells you at a cocktail party or sitting is the a restaurant about a product, you tend to become much more loyal or interesting in it than if somebody sh

blake and then he called in and gave his blessing. >> did he think it was stalkerish? >> no. maybe a little bit. i'll tell you later. >> we're going to go to ms. sara haines. she's going to talk about our fan of the week. and our winner this week is kathryn petka from marietta, georgia. she watches the show on our nbc affiliate wxia and we have kathleen on the phone with us. are you there? >> i am here. >> congratulations. >> thank you so much. i'm so excited. >> okay. well, i'll tell everyone a little about you. oh, sorry. kathleen loves all aspects of the show. she's such a great fan. she even tests the recipes from the show like this zucchini soup. when kathleen got married she made her husband watch the show with her every night. that's tough. now he enjoys the show so much that she thinks he'd even watch it without her. she painted wine glasses with your faces on them. that's a dedicated fan. do you want to hear where you're going? >> yes, i do. >> get ready to escape to the relaxation. you and a guest are going to kessler canyon in colorado. this colorado outdoor retreat spans across 23,000 acres of pristine wilderness. the trip includes four