Rosa Lee Hill (née Beeland) was born on December 16, 1905, in Harriman, Tennessee. Known for her exceptional beauty and keen intelligence, Rosa Lee distinguished herself early in life. By 1930, she was working as a secretary in advertising and had completed two years of business school. At the young age of 15, she identified the qualities she desired in a husband, though she would not find them embodied in one man until she met Napoleon Hill at the age of 28. The two fell madly in love and were married, living and working together in a powerhouse union. It was Rosa Lee who typed and later edited Think and Grow Rich. Rosa Lee was a remarkable woman who eventually joined the Women’s Auxiliary Corps during World War II as an aviation cadet, worked as the chief associate editor for Popular Mechanic’s Magazine in the 1950s, and later served with the Peace Corps in Micronesia.

Napoleon Hill was born in 1883 in a one-room cabin on the Pound River in Wise County, Virginia. He began his writing career at age 13 as a “mountain reporter” for small town newspapers and went on to become America’s most beloved motivational author. Hill passed away in November 1970 after a long and successful career writing, teaching, and lecturing about the principles of success. Dr. Hill’s work stands as a monument to individual achievement and is the cornerstone of modern motivation. His book, Think and Grow Rich, is the all-time bestseller in the field. Hill established the Foundation as a nonprofit educational institution whose mission is to perpetuate his philosophy of leadership, self-motivation, and individual achievement.