Through her customer outreach, thorough employee training, and ingenious products Walker became one of Harlem’s (and America’s) wealthiest and influential women. In 1913 she purchased a luxurious town house in the heart of Harlem, in which she opened a professional salon to cater to the elite (talented tenth) players of the Harlem Renaissance. The parlor floor was designed by Vertner Tardy, the world renowned black architect, and one of the seven founders of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Cornell University. Walker attested herself, that the luxury and quality of her Harlem salon surpassed all expectations, she once stated, “There is nothing equal to it, not even on Fifth Avenue”. This parlor became the breeding ground for black thought and artist expression. The Harlem Renaissance was birthed in Walker’s living room.