Mary Kay Ash

Mary Kay Ash was an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Inc. Born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in Harris County, Texas, she graduated from Reagan High school in 1934, within a year she married Ben Rogers. Mary Kay’s career started in direct selling, purportedly she began selling books door to door, and in 1938 she joined the direct selling firm, Stanley Home Products, in Houston, Texas.Mary Kay had strong beliefs and encouraged her sales force to make “God first, family second and career third.” This sales force grew, and at the first ‘Annual Seminar’ held in 1964, more than 200 members had joined Mary Kay’s organization.

MARY KAY

The way to get success in cosmetic business started in her 40th. Shortly after her resignation from World Gift, and with the assistance of her eldest son, Richard, she used her $5000 savings to invest in a line of beauty cream to which she had purchased the distribution and manufacturing rights. Friday the 13th may seem an unlucky day, however it was on this February day in 1963, that Mary Kay opened the doors to her new business Beauty by Mary Kay. The small office space located in Exchange Park in Dallas was equipped with used furniture, homemade drapes and a single metal shelf from Sears.In 1966, it was announced that Mary Kay would reward their top associates with ‘Cinderella gifts’, sticking with her motto of praising people to success and rewarding the hard work of her Independent Beauty Consultants. By 1969 these rewards escalated to the now famous Pink Cadillac, which she awarded to her top 5 sales directors. A tradition that has awarded over 100,000 sales force members the opportunity to drive their very own Mary Kay career car. In 1978 Mary Kay was awarded the Horatio Alger Distinguished American Citizen Award which is given to distinguished Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity. In 1979, she was the feature of CBS’s 60 Minutes program, which catapulted the business dramatically. This success gave her time to write her autobiography, ‘Mary Kay’, released in 1981 and selling more than one million copies with weeks. As of 2008, the company founded by a woman with a dream to compete in a man’s world, broke all the records and now exceeds $2.2 Billion in wholesale sales, with more than 1.8 million Independent Beauty Consultants.

Mary Kay Ash she is one of the most powerful and successful ladies in the 20th century. Her achievement will stay in our hearts. She was an ambitious entrepreneur who worked for someone to build her own empire.