Sydney Biddle Barrows (born January 14, 1952) is an American businesswoman and socialite who became known as an escort agency owner under the name Sheila Devin; she later became known as "The Mayflower Madam".
[1] In October 1984, her escort service was disbanded, and after pleading guilty and being fined $5,000 for promoting prostitution, she wrote a 1986 autobiography, Mayflower Madam: The Secret Life of Sydney Biddle Barrows.
[3] Barrows comes from the Biddle family of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is descended from Mayflower passengers William Brewster, John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, and Thomas Rogers.
[6] Barrows attended Stoneleigh-Burnham, a girls' boarding school in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and is an alumna of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City.
[2] In late 2008, Barrows finished Uncensored Sales Strategies: A Radical New Approach to Selling Your Customers What They Really Want—No Matter What Business You're In, co-authored with marketing expert Dan Kennedy.