Brownie Wise (née Humphrey; May 25, 1913 – September 24, 1992) was a pioneering American saleswoman largely responsible for the success of the home products company Tupperware, through her development of the "party plan" system of marketing.
[1] Her mother worked as an organizer for a hat makers' union, often traveling for months at a time, leaving Wise in the care of her aunt.
[5] Wise worked as an executive secretary at Bendix Aviation, an aircraft manufacturing company, and was a columnist for The Detroit News, writing under the pen name "Hibiscus".
[6][2] After the war ended, Wise started working as a salesperson for Stanley Home Products using the party plan marketing system.
[7] Eventually, Wise wanted to work as an executive in the company, but its founder, Frank Beveridge, told her not to "waste her time", informing her that management was "no place for a woman".
[13] Starting in 1954, Wise organized Jubilee, an annual sales conference where top-performing saleswomen would be awarded expensive gifts.
Tupper removed all mentions of Wise from company history and buried remaining copies of her autobiography in a pit near Tupperware's headquarters.
[23][24] Wise was to be portrayed by Sandra Bullock in a movie based on the book Tupperware Unsealed, written by Bob Kealing.
[25][26] In 2016, the Tupperware company donated $200,000 to Florida's Osceola County to establish a conservation area and a "Brownie Wise Park" on an island in Lake Tohopekaliga.