Mary Kay Ash
Mary Kay Ash (May 12, 1918–November 22, 2001) was an American businesswoman, entrepreneur, and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.
Life
Mary Kay was born Mary Kathlyn Wagner on May 12, 1918 in Hot Wells, Harris County, Texas, the daughter of Edward Alexander and Lula Vember Hastings Wagner (Leavitt 1985). She attended Reagan High School in Houston, graduating in 1934 (Houston Independent School District 2008).
Her father suffered tuberculosis and was an invalid, and so her mother worked to support the family. Mary Kay became responsible from the age of seven to cook dinner. She would telephone her mother at work and ask for directions on how to cook various dishes for her father. She also went shopping alone. Her mother encouraged her in these responsibilities, telling her "You can do it," words that stayed with her all her life (Ash 1981).
She married, and had three children, but when her husband returned from serving in World War II he asked for a divorce. To support herself and her children she went to work for Stanley Home Products, a direct sales firm out of Houston (Leavitt 1985). In 1952, she left Stanley and was hired as the national training director for the Dallas firm World Gift Co. (Leavitt 1985). Frustrated, however, at being passed over for a promotion in favor of a man that she had trained, she retired in 1963, intending to write a book to assist women in business.
This book turned into a business plan for her "dream company." She had remarried, and with the support of her husband handling all the administrative details, her plan became reality. However, tragedy struck, and one month before the scheduled opening her husband suffered a fatal heart attack. Her younger son, Richard Rogers, left his job and took over the responsibilities and in September, 1963 Mary Kay Cosmetics began. Eight months later her older son, Ben, moved his family to join the expanding business. Later, her daughter Marylyn joined to become the first Mary Kay director in Houston (Ash 1981).
She had a strong Christian faith and this served her throughout her life. Remarking on the success of her company, Mary Kay Cosmetics, she remarked:
I don't think God wanted a world in which a woman would have to work fourteen hours a day to support her family, as my mother had done. I believe He used this company as a vehicle to give women a chance. And I feel very humble and fortunate to have had a part in showing other women the way (Ash 1981).
Mary Kay Ash authored three books, all of which became best-sellers. Her autobiography, Miracles Happen (1981), has sold more than a million copies and appears in several languages; a new edition was issued in 1994 under the title Miracles Happen and an epilogue was added to the 2003 version issued after her death. Her business philosophy, Mary Kay on People Management (1984) has been included in business courses at the Harvard Business School. Mary Kay Ash's third book, You Can Have It All, was launched in August 1995 and achieved "best-seller" status within days of its introduction.
Ash refused to tell her age, carefully avoiding dates of personal events in her autobiography. She noted that "I never tell my age. Why should I? I believe that a woman who will tell her age will tell anything" (Ash 1981).
She remarried a third time to Mel Ash. They were happily married until his death from lung cancer on July 7, 1080.
Mary Kay Ash died on November 22, 2001. She is interred in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.
Mary Kay company
When Ash retired, she decided to write down all her experiences in business that were unique to a woman. Filled with memories of opportunities denied her simply because she was a woman she hoped to clear herself of bitterness by her writing. The effort turned into a business plan for her ideal company, the "dream company" in which relationships were based upon the Golden Rule and women could pursue unlimited opportunities (Ash 1981).
Soon, she realized that instead of theorizing about such a company, and wishing she could work for one, she could start it herself. In September 1963, Ash and her son, Richard Rogers, began Mary Kay Cosmetics with a $5,000 investment. The company originally operated from a storefront in Dallas which opened in 1968, but grew rapidly, particularly after Ash was interviewed for CBS's 60 Minutes in 1979 (Leavitt 1985).
In 1968, the company went public, being traded on the over the counter market. By 1976 it was large enough to be traded on the New York Stock exchange. In 1985, however, Ash decided that it would better serve the interests of the company and its customers to get out of the stock market, and it was returned to a private family corporation through buying back the public shares. As her son Richard explained:
Mary Kay's dream is too important. After all, no other entity in the world would understand that Mother's dream ministers to the welfare of humankind (Ash 2003).
As a private company, Mary Kay Inc. does not make all of its financial information available to the public.
Philosophy
Ash was widely respected, if not always understood, for her unconventional approach to business. She considered the Golden Rule the founding principle of Mary Kay Cosmetics, and the company's marketing plan was designed to allow women to advance by helping others to succeed. Known as the "Go-Give Spirit" it is a spirit of sharing and caring for the other person and is the first and most important of the three ideas that are the philosophical foundation for the company (Ash 2003).
An unusual aspect of the Golden Rule in action in the Mary Kay company is is the "adoptee" program, whereby sales directors "adopt" those new salespeople recruited by other Mary Kay directors. There are no territories in the Mary Kay company. Thus, one Mary Kay sales director may be visiting a friend in Pittsburgh and recruit a new person there. On returning home, say to Chicago, they continue to receive commission on all sales made by their new recruit, but it is the Pittsburgh sales director who educates them, invites them to local meetings, and works with them to nurture their success. The Pittsburgh director receive no financial reward for this, but the program works because they know that if they recruit someone in another region they will be taken care of by the local sales director (Ash 2008).
Her slogan "God first, family second, career third" is the second cornerstone of the philosophy. This expresses Ash's insistence that women keep their lives in balance and maintain these priorities as they strive for success. It reflects her strong Christian faith and her belief that God was using her and working with her in this company. She valued family highly, noting that in another company a man who took time off work to be with his wife as she gave birth to their child could be fired for forgetting to call his work to explain his absence. In her company, however, she valued such an employee highly for keeping their priorities clear:
As I've said, when you put God first, family second, and our career third, everything seems to work. Out of that order, nothing much seems to work. (Ash 2003).
The third cornerstone is the belief "in the beautiful potential inside each and every human being" (Ash 2003). Ash advocated "praising people to success" believing that everyone can be successful and do great things:
Every one of us is important and necessary to God's plan. If someone else will just believe in you—you will be able to do great things. I know this because someone once believed in me (Ash 1981).
She also believed that women would work hardest for recognition, competing against themselves not against each other—regarding that as destructive competition. Thus, the rewards are not limited to a single "winner" or first, second and third places, but to everyone who achieves a specified goal. "Everyone can be a winner!" (Ash 1981). These rewards are not just pretty [[symbol]s of success, but have value as well: automobiles, jewelry, diamonds, vacations and the like.
The products
The original nine skin care products were based upon a recipe from a tanner. His daughter had noticed her father's skin was much smoother and clearer than his age would indicate. She modified the tanning solutions he had used and developed a line of skin care products. Ash met this woman and her products, and in 1963 she bought the formulas from the tanner's heirs. She realized that using these special products together "with the right packaging, an innovative marketing concept, and a lot of hard work" would make her dream company a reality (Ash 1981).
Today, in the United States, roughly 200 products are available. In other countries, fewer products are available, because they are reformulated to meet local laws or, more commonly, consumer preferences. For example, Asian makeup is sometimes much whiter than European makeup; African makeup has traditionally been more ochre than European makeup.
Some products, such as Mary Kay Whitener, are created for a specific country, or geographic region. Other products, such as the Mary Kay Limited Edition, are created to reflect seasonal changes.
In the early 1990s, recognizing that the a large proportion of both its customers and consultants were women of color, Mary Kay introduced colors that were more suitable for that market.
Sales force
Mary Kay salespeople are known as "Independent beauty consultants"—they are not employees of the Mary Kay Inc., but independent contractors. Thus, unlike employees, they work on their own time, using their own resources, as much or as little as they choose.
There are two ways to earn money in Mary Kay as an independent beauty consultant:
- Retail sales through direct selling;
- Recruiting new salespeople.
Mary Kay products are sold exclusively by direct selling, which is defined as "the direct personal presentation, demonstration, and sale of products and services to consumers, usually in their homes or at their jobs" (Belch and Belch 2006). Customers may also purchase products online through the internet. However these are also direct sales that go through an independent consultant in the same way as sales made by contacting customers in person.
"Recruiting commission earnings" reflects the commission and bonuses that one earns from the wholesale purchases of their downline. It does not include income from retail sales.
The car
In 1968, Mary Kay Ash purchased the first Pink Cadillac, where it was repainted on site, by the dealership owner, to match the Mountain Laurel Blush in the compact (Clanton 2006). It was such a good rolling advertisement that Mary Kay Ash decided to reward her top five producers, by providing them with a Pink Cadillac paid for by the company in 1969. Pink was an obvious color choice—matching the company's eye and lip color palettes.
Since 1980, the shade used by the Mary Kay fleet has been exclusive to Mary Kay. The exact shade of pink has changed over the years. For example, in 1998, the color was changed to "pearlized pink." Regular customers cannot buy a Cadillac in the Mary Kay pink color from General Motors (GM), nor will a GM dealer repaint one in that color. It is an exclusive shade owned by the Mary Kay company (Clanton 2006).
Every two years, a winner can requalify for a new Cadillac. Winners must return their car after the two-year lease expires, at which time they are repainted and sold at auction. Those who choose to buy the pink cars must agree not to resell them to anyone other than approved dealers.
Since the program's inception, more than 100,000 Independent sales force members have qualified for the use of a Career Car. It is not known how many Directors selected the cash option in lieu of the car, but GM has estimated that it has built 100,000 pink Cadillacs for Mary Kay (Clanton 2006).
Criticisms
A number of criticisms have been leveled at the company by current and former Mary Kay consultants. One of the criticisms concerns pressure on consultants to purchase more inventory than they can expect to sell at the MSRP within a reasonable period of time.
In particular, though, the Mary Kay company has been accused of operating as a "product-based pyramid scheme," relying on constant recruitment of new sellers who purchase inventory so those who recruited them can earn commissions:
There's another way to earn income from Mary Kay: by recruiting new consultants. Recruiters earn a percentage of each inventory purchase made by the consultants they have recruited. And when recruits start assembling teams of their own, the first recruiter makes a commission on the inventories purchased by the recruits' recruits, and so on (Todorova 2005).
According to the Federal Trade Commission, a pyramid scheme is a multi-level marketing (MLM) plan in which the main way of earning money is by recruiting new distributors of a product. In the extreme, no product is involved, which results in a non-sustainable business model involving the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes are illegal in several countries, including the United States (Valentine 1998).
Mary Kay certainly incorporates an MLM incentive in its commission structure, but MLMs per se are not illegal. Those who have studied MLM businesses such as Robert Fitzpatrick, author of False Profits (1997), explain that the difference between a legal, legitimate MLM company and an illegal pyramid scheme is in how the salespeople make their money—by selling the product to end customers or by bringing in fresh recruits (Fitzpatrick and Reynolds 1997). However, Fitzpatrick admitted that he did not have a clear answer with regard to Mary Kay: "What we find is that elements of Mary Kay are operating like a pyramid scheme and elements are operating like a direct sales company, a legitimate business" (Todorova 2005).
Legacy
Mary Kay's legacy is passed on by her sales force, grandchildren, in particular Ryan Rogers and Karen Rogers, as well as her many National Sales Directors worldwide.
Ash never pressured others to adopt her deeply held Christian beliefs, but they guided her life and work and she always gave credit to God for her success. She was recognized for her Christian testimony through awards, appearances, and publications (Ash 2003). She was featured on Robert Schuller's Hour of Power program and made several appearances on the 700 Club with Pat Robertson. She was included in 100 Christian Women Who Changed the 20th Century (Hosier 2000).
Both during her life and posthumously, Ash received numerous honors from business groups, including the Horatio Alger Award. Ash was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996. A long-time fundraiser for charities, she founded the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation to raise money to combat domestic violence and cancers affecting women. At the time of Ash's death, Mary Kay Cosmetics had over 800,000 representatives in 37 countries, with total annual sales over $2 billion at retail. As of 2008, Mary Kay Cosmetics has more than 1.7 million consultants worldwide and excess in wholesales of 2.2 billion. Mary Kay herself was honored as leading female entrepreneur in American history.
Established in 1996, the mission of the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation is two-fold: • Committed to eliminating cancers affecting women by supporting top medical scientists who are searching for a cure for breast, uterine, cervical and ovarian cancers. • Committed to ending the epidemic of violence against women by providing grants to women’s shelters and supporting community outreach programs.
In May, 2006 The Foundation awarded 13 cancer research grants of $100,000 each to esteemed doctors and medical scientists in the United States. In October 2006, the Foundation awarded $20,000 grants to 150 women’s shelters across the United States for a total of $3 million.
Publications
- Ash, Mary Kay. 1981. Mary Kay. Harper & Row. ISBN 0060148780
- Ash, Mary Kay. [1994] 2003. Miracles Happen: The Life and Timeless Principles of the Founder of Mary Kay Inc.. New York, NY: Quill. ISBN 0060574615
- Ash, Mary Kay. 1984. Mary Kay on People Management. Warner Books. ISBN 0446513148
- Ash, Mary Kay. 1995. Mary Kay: You Can Have It All: Lifetime Wisdom from America's Foremost Woman Entrepreneur. Prima Lifestyles. ISBN 0761501622
- Ash, Mary Kay. 2008. The Mary Kay Way: Timeless Principles from America's Greatest Woman Entrepreneur. Wiley. ISBN 978-0470379950
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Stefoff, Rebecca. 1991. Mary Kay Ash: Mary Kay, a Beautiful Business. Ada, OK: Garrett Educational Corp. ISBN 1560740124
- Rozakis, Laurie. 1993. Mary Kay: Cosmetics Queen. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Enterprises. ISBN 0865920400
- Underwood, Jim. 2004. More Than a Pink Cadillac: Mary Kay Inc.'s Nine Leadership Keys to Success. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0071439985
- Hennessy-Ortega, Gillian. 2005. It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish!: The Success Secrets of a Top Member of the Mary Kay Independent Sales Force. Wiley. ISBN 0471709743
- Clanton, Brett. 2006. Mary Kay Inc. Loves Cadillac, and the Feeling Is Mutual. The Detroit News, June 27, 2006. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
- Leavitt, Judith A. 1985. American Women Managers and Administrators. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 0313237484
- Houston Independent School District. 2008. Reagan High School Distinguished HISD Alumni. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
- Todorova, Aleksandra. 2005. Running Your Own Business as a Mary Kay Rep. SMSmallBiz, SmartMoney.com. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
- Valentine, Debra A. 1998. Pyramid Schemes. Prepared statement by General Counsel of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission International Monetary Fund's Seminar on Current Legal Issues Affecting Central Banks, Washington, DC. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
- Fitzpatrick, Robert L., and Joyce K. Reynolds. 1997. False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes. Charlotte, NC: Herald Press. ISBN 0964879514
- Belch, George, and Michael Belch. 2006. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ISBN 978-0073255965
- Hosier, Helen Kooiman. 2000. 100 Christian Women Who Changed the 20th Century. Revell. ISBN 0800757289
External links
- Mary Kay Inc. official website.
- Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation
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