"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb. And I also know that I'm not blonde." Dolly Parton didn't just understand the power of a personal brand; she built her success on a brilliantly contradictory mirage of bombshell underestimation. The wigs, her pneumatic curves, Dolly's general aura of ditziness all belied a brilliant businesswoman. 

It would be wise for us all to take note of how a woman at a time of abject sexism did not listen to the masses nor the naysayers but stayed resolutely committed to what she believed in: entrepreneurial success, unrivalled philanthropy and music, oh the music. 

One of my favourite Dolly stories involves another music legend, one who moved in a rather different world: Elvis Presley. When Elvis's team wanted to record "I Will Always Love You," the deal came to Dolly with a catch, with snakehips demanding half the publishing rights, which was standard practice for an Elvis cut at the time. But Dolly wasn't interested in what was standard, and again proving that underestimation is only a disadvantage if you let it be, she said no. Elvis never recorded the song. Whitney Houston did, decades later, for The Bodyguard, and by Dolly's decision to hold onto a song she wrote in one sitting (allegedly the same day she wrote Jolene, the mind boggles with brilliance), she made more money than an Elvis cover ever would have. 

Dolly was never confused about her own value, whatever anyone else assumed about her. This is what made Parton genuinely radical, and we should also be humble enough to recognise how she built an entire empire on being dismissed and never once let the dismissal cost her anything.

There was obviously so much more to Dolly than a sharp business mind. 

What she did was make us ache, fill us with joy and entertain with her soul-searching voice and lyrics. You could hear her whole life in every song, and she did not have an easy start. Again, proving that your beginnings do not define where you go, how high you rise, Dolly shared through her music the hunger of growing up with nothing, the specific loneliness of being adored by millions and the confusion of being truly known by very few. To take a love rival, Jolene, and paint her as a marvel not a villain, with that auburn hair and eyes of emerald green, takes a rare kind of security. 

For all the fun and frivolity, Dolly's life will have had as many challenges and mundane lows as any other, but she lived and sang like someone who had already forgiven the world. Not just for doubting her but for being a woman with ambition. Dolly Rebecca Parton stood alone, musically, artistically, and as a philanthropist. We will always love her.