Why do we love Mary Kay?

To many modern women, dolling up in makeup and cruising around in a pink Cadillac is the antithesis of a stereotypical feminist. Cosmetics-business icon Mary Kay Ash was in the business of breaking stereotypes. She was an iron fist in a velvet glove. A determined, driven, strong woman in an era where women had few choices, her business acumen and passion for helping others succeed cemented her role as a woman who made a difference in American culture and history. Her victory in the business world liberated hundreds of thousands of women worldwide, giving them a choice and a voice in their own destinies.

Born Mary Kathlyn Wagner on May 12, 1915, in Hot Wells, Texas, to a working-poor family, Mary Kay was forced, due to her father's tuberculosis, to grow up quickly. Her mother worked 14-hour days, and it was the umbilical cord of the telephone that kept Mary Kay focused. Encouraged by her mother's words over the phone, "You can do it," Mary Kay learned that she was capable of many things. It was this intrinsic belief in herself, coupled with a dynamic work ethic, that drove Mary Kay to achieve outstanding success in the direct-sales market.

Beginning by selling psychology books door to door, Mary Kay found that her natural exuberance and enthusiasm equaled monetary success and security. She worked her way into a position with World Gifts as national sales director. According to a biography on her company's Web site, Ash quit in 1963 when a male colleague hired as her assistant was promoted over her at twice her salary. Her career shift prompted reflection on the good and bad about each career she had held. Mary Kay's "pros and cons" list became a de facto business plan for her new venture. With $5,000 of her own savings, Mary Kay Ash bought a tanner's recipe for leather working and began to sell her own line of cosmetics. Since 1963, Mary Kay Inc. has grown from nine original sales-force members to an independent sales force numbering more than one million. Mary Kay does business in more than 30 markets on five continents and generated 2002 sales of nearly $1.6 billion wholesale worldwide.

Spurred to action by the heartbreaking loss of her husband in 1980 to cancer, Mary Kay established the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation to help fund cancer research and to address the issue of violence against women. The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation sets as its priorities the elimination of cancers affecting women, and seeks to end the epidemic of violence against women through grants and community outreach programs. With awards literally too numerable to mention, Mary Kay has been recognized as a civic, business leader and humanitarian. Most of all, though, she has provided innumerable women with the inspiration and the power to take control of their own lives.

Biography:

Born - May 12, 1915
Hot Wells, Texas
Died - November 21, 2001
Dallas, Texas

Achievement Highlights:

• 1978 - Horatio Alger "Distinguished American Citizen" Award
• 1983 - Featured as one of the "100 Most Important Women in America" by Ladies Home Journal
• 1984 - Featured in the book The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America
• 1990 - Individual Komen Award for Philanthropy, Komen Foundation for the Advancement of Breast Cancer Research
• 1999 - One of 20 entrepreneurs profiled in Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time (and the only woman business leader profiled)
• 2001 - Featured in the book, The Very Best Opportunity for Women, by Angela L. Moore and Lisa Stringfellow
• 2001 - Included in the Feminine Fortunes: Women of the Next Millennium magazine, an annual publication that honors the achievements of professional women