Rosalia Mera has made a huge impact in the fashion industry and she now has over 6,000 stores in the U.S alone. She has an estimated net worth of 6.4 billion dollars, making her the richest self-made woman in the world. Despite her incredible success in the industry, she also found time to be politically active, support schools and hospitals, and advocate for Spain’s abortion laws. She and her husband Amancio Ortega worked together to create Zara, possibly the biggest fashion empire that has ever existed.

Rosalía Mera Goyenechea was born on Jan. 28, 1944, in the neighborhood of La Coruña, a port city in Galicia and the center of Spain’s textile industry. Her dad worked for a utility company and her mother worked at a butcher shop. Mera ranked first among women who had acquired their wealth through their own doing, rather than inheritance or marriage. Amancio Ortega, her husband, is also the wealthiest spanish billionaire by net worth.

Zara has taken over the fashion industry by speeding up it’s mass market response to new designs coming from leading fashion houses in Paris, Milan, New York, and several other cities. Today, the company has 1,763 stores in 86 countries. Zara is a company that is known for its modern and original clothes designs, and the company is sure not to violate copyright laws in following designing trends. Its beautiful name is also a factor that helped Zara wiggle it’s way into the fashion industry.

At first, Mera wanted to name the store “Zorba” after watching the 1964 film “Zorba the Greek,” but they later discovered that there was a bar named Zorba just a couple blocks down the road. The letter molds for Zorba were already made, so Mera and her husband rearranged and re-molded the letters to form a similar name. They finally settled on Zara.

Zara has been deemed one of the most iconic and unique stores of all time. With careful concepts and precision, Zara never fails to impress critics and everyday shoppers, and we can only imagine what it will become as the fashion industry continues to evolve throughout the coming years.