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Makeup Artist Profile - Mary KayOver the years, there have been many successful business leaders. But none have had as unique a story as the legendary Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Inc., who passed away November 22, 2001. Famously cheerful and personally warm, the chairman emeritus was not only a role model, she was an inspiration to her Mary Kay independent sales force. With warm hugs and words of wisdom, Mary Kay represented a role model and a source of encouragement to the women who sell Mary Kay® products. Still one of the few female Horatio Alger Award recipients who hails from the business world, Mary Kay Ash left an indelible mark on American business and on opportunities open to women. After retiring as chairman in 1987, Mary Kay became chairman emeritus at the Company she founded. From personally sending birthday cards to each employee to writing notes of encouragement on her trademark pink stationery, many of the traditions she started continue today among the Company’s executives. Saying that her idea of P&L was "people and love" rather than "profit and loss," Numbers, however, don't have a lot to do with why Lifetime Television Network named Mary Kay "Businesswoman of the Century." Rather, it's that "the vision of Mary Kay is really to change lives," says Martha Langford, Mary Kay Independent Senior National Sales Director. Adds Rubye Lee-Mills, Independent National Sales Director Emeritus, "I don't think there will ever be another woman who believes in women the way Mary Kay did." Even as a young girl, the future author of three bestsellers was already building a foundation for belief in herself. Growing up in Hot Wells, Texas, Mary Kathlyn Wagner, at age six, cared for a seriously ill father while her mother worked 14 hours a day in a Houston restaurant. Mary Kay cooked, cleaned, brought home straight-A report cards, took trophies in typing and debate, and outsold every other student at Girl Scout cookies and school-event tickets. "My mother's words became the theme of my childhood," she said. "They have stayed with me all my life: 'You can do it.'" As a mother with three children to support on her own, Mary Kay sold part-time while studying to be a doctor — until an aptitude test showed her selling ability outranked her science ability. After deciding to tackle sales full-force at Stanley Home Products, she began her success story starting with weekly sales goals written in soap on her bathroom mirror. By scheduling three home-demonstration appointments a day, Mary Kay won so many sales awards she had to cram them in a box in her closet. She broke even more sales records at World Gift, where she became national sales director. But eventually, as the male colleagues she'd trained were promoted ahead of her — and at twice her salary — Mary Kay had had enough. After 25 years in corporate sales, she retired. Retirement, in 1963, lasted all of a month. "To me, work and growth were the same thing," she said. Within a week, she started writing a how-to career book for women. The book then turned into a description of her own "dream company." "Before long," Mary Kay said, "I began asking myself, 'Why are you theorizing about a dream company? Why don't you just start one?'" After buying a formulation for a skin-care cream, Mary Kay enlisted her husband to handle operations and began recruiting friends to be Independent Beauty Consultants for the venture she called "Beauty by Mary Kay." The launch almost didn't happen. Mary Kay's husband died just a month before the scheduled opening. But, strengthened by the encouragement of her two sons and daughter, Mary Kay formally launched her Company on Friday, September 13, 1963. She wrote, "I knew I would never have a second chance to put my dream into action." Despite her tremendous success in a highly competitive industry, Mary Kay largely considered product sales not as an end in itself, but as a means to an end. The true aim of Mary Kay Inc. continues to be enriching women's lives — through recognition, motivation, support and, of course, earnings opportunities. For nearly four decades, Mary Kay Inc. has been considered one of the finest business opportunities for women, with more than 200 of its independent sales force members earning career commissions in excess of $1 million. Throughout her life, "the extraordinary thing," says Chairman and CEO Richard Rogers, son and co-founder, "was the way Mary Kay caused people to believe in themselves." All of which Mary Kay traced back to her mother, "the best possibilities thinker I ever knew." Years ago, Mary Kay's mother would call her daughter from work, often signing off with, "You can do it, Mary Kay." Today, her Company and philanthropy still live by that message. "If you think you can," goes the Mary Kay philosophy, "you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right." |
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