MARY KAY ASH

1918–2001

From an initial investment of just $5,000, groundbreaking businesswoman Mary Kay Ash built one of the largest cosmetics companies in the US: Mary Kay, Inc. Motivated by her own direct sales experience, her aim was to create a “dream company” that would help women enjoy greater financial independence.

For more than 20 years, Texan Mary Kay Ash hosted “home shows” for the company Stanley Home Products, encouraging people to buy its wares. She was such an inspirational seller that she was headhunted by a competitor in 1952; however, she later resigned from her new role after seeing several men she had trained receive promotions ahead of her.

Ash was determined not to let gender discrimination halt her career, and in 1963, she and her husband, George Hellenbeck, planned to start their own direct-selling business, Mary Kay Cosmetics. But a month before its launch, George died of a heart attack. Undeterred, and with the support of her 20-year-old son, Richard, Ash went ahead with the new company, investing her own savings into the business. Initially, her cosmetics were sold by a team of just nine salespeople, whom she referred to as beauty consultants.

Big business

Ash’s company ethos was to treat her mostly female workforce with respect. She offered them flexible working hours and sales incentives: every year, the company’s top five sellers received a pink Cadillac. Ash’s consultants bought cosmetics from her at wholesale prices and sold them for a profit at home shows. If a consultant recruited another seller, they earned commission. Mary Kay Cosmetics made a profit in its first year and had sales of $1 million in its second year. By 1996, sales were more than $1 billion, and the company continued to grow even after Ash’s death in 2001.