Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve at least heard of Tory Burch. Style.com stated, “The speed and scale of Tory Burch’s success suggest that she has hot-wired her business into the hopes and dreams of millions of women.” This American brand is famous for its classic flats, adorable handbags and the use of bright colors, patterns and eclectic details.

Born on June 17, 1966, Burch was raised in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in a farmhouse with her three brothers. Her father was a wealthy investor who is now deceased. He was fourteen years older than Burch’s mother and dated Grace Kelly and Joan Bennett before settling down.

Burch attended the Agnes Irwin School in Rosemont, PA, where she rode horses and was captain of the tennis team. She attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and graduated in 1988 with a degree in art history. After graduation she moved to New York City to pursue her dream of working in the fashion industry. Her first job was for Zorar, a Yugoslavian designer, and then she moved to Harper’s Bazaar magazine. Over the next few years, she worked in the marketing and public relations departments for some of the most influential American designers such as Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang and Narciso Rodriguez while he was at Loewe.

In 2004, Burch launched TBR by Tory Burch, later known as Tory Burch, by opening a small boutique in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood. Since then, the brand has exploded in popularity and become a global business with more than 100 freestanding stores, toryburch.com and a presence in over a thousand department and specialty stores across the globe. Burch currently serves as the CEO and head designer of her company.

Burch's style has been described as preppy-bohemian luxe and her t-logo medallion has become iconic around the globe. Her pieces are known for being versitile and easily added to anyone’s wardrobe. In 2007, there were waitlists to buy her fashions, which paid homage to the styles of the 1950s and 1960s. She named a line of ballerina flats Reva, after her mother.

Her spring 2014 collection features floral prints, pastel green, light silver and peach with lots and lots of white. Peter Pan collars and shift dresses were also dominant. Burch cited Romy Schneider in the 1969 French movie La Piscine as an influence on her collection. Romy rivals Audrey Hepburn in the fashion-icon stakes, but she always had a chillier, more melancholic proposition. In the film, Romy’s character played tortuous mind games with a man who’d been her lover a few years earlier. These subliminal sexual sparks inspired the cuts and fabrics of the collection, as the wearer could imagine herself in the supermarket, but suddenly with the power of suggestion under her crisply tailored top, whisked away to a rendezvous in the sin-filled Riviera.

Tory Burch has been recognized with numerous awards, including Vanity Fair’s International Best Dressed List, the CDFA for Accessory Designer of the Year, Glamour’s Women of the Year, and Forbes’s Most Powerful Women in the World.

In 2009, Burch launched the Tory Burch Foundation to support the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs and their families in the U.S. Through loans, mentorship and entrepreneurial education, the foundation invests in the success and sustainability of small businesses owned by women.

Additionally, Burch serves on the boards of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Startup America Partnership, the Barnes Foundation and the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where she chaired the 2006 spring gala for the American Ballet Theater. In 2008, she was honored at a Colleague Helpers in Philanthropic Services luncheon that benefited the Children’s Institued, Inc.

Tory Burch currently lives in New York City with her three sons. According to Forbes, as of January 2013 she has a net worth of $1 billion.

Fun fact: In 2009, Burch appeared as herself in season three, episode four of Gossip Girl.