Diane Hendricks, one of only six self-made female billionaires in the U.S., can barely recall a time when she wasn't a working mother. "I've been a parent since I was a child," she says now. The 64-year-old Wisconsin native had her first child at just 17 and worked on factory lines and selling new construction to support her son. "I learned I wanted more than that," says Hendricks.
At age 21, she met her future husband and business partner, a roofer named Ken Hendricks. Over the next 40 years, they worked together to build ABC Supply, the nation's largest roofing, window and siding wholesale distributor, with 480 stores and $4.1 billion in sales. She worked beside Ken until his accidental death in 2007, when she was thrust into the role of chairman and sole owner of their sprawling company, the basis of her now $2.2 billion net worth.
Through the years, Diane managed a growing business and blended family. With Ken's four children from a previous marriage and two more they had together, Diane is now a mother of seven, ranging from ages 32 to 51, and a grandmother of 17. "I was busy," she says. "I worked a lot. I balanced a lot. I got used to living in chaos and learned how to get things done."
The world’s richest moms
