At the age of 45, Mary Kay Ash founded the cosmetic company Mary Kay Inc. Her marketing skills and intelligence helped turn a $5,000 investment into a multi-billion dollar cosmetics empire. In 2000, Lifetime Television Online named Ash the Most Outstanding Woman in Business in the 20th Century. Read more about the Texas native, who opened the world of entrepreneurship to tens of thousands of women, as well as about the history of the famous cosmetic brand on i-houston.
Early years
Mary Kay Ash (Mary Kathleen Wagner) was born on May 12, 1918 in Hot Wells, Harris County, Texas. Her mother was a nurse by education but worked as a restaurant manager. Little Mary spent a lot of time taking care of her disabled father. Throughout her childhood, the girl watched her mom work 14 hours per day to earn a living.
Mary studied at Dow Elementary School and Reagan High School in Houston. At the age of 17, she married radio host and band member Ben Rogers. They had three children. After returning from the army, Ben asked for a divorce. Although Mary admitted that their life was unhappy, this situation put her at the lowest point of her life.
To feed her family, Mary quickly found a gift for sales strategies. For 25 years, the woman worked in direct sales, offering children’s psychology books in the beginning. Later, she conducted demonstrations of Stanley Home Products at private parties. Mary resigned in protest after seeing a man unfairly advancing the career ladder faster than her and receiving a much higher salary.
Establishment of the company
Frustrated by gender inequality, 45-year-old Mary set out to write a book that would help women in business. However, the book turned into a business plan for her ideal company. In the summer of 1963, Mary and her second husband, chemist George Hallenbeck, were preparing to found Mary Kay Cosmetics. However, George passed away due to a heart attack.
A month after his death, Ash did start a company. She invested $5,000, which was given to her by her eldest son, Ben Rogers Jr. The company’s first storefront appeared in Dallas. Ash copied the house party model that was used to promote the products of the companies she previously worked for. A representative of her brand invited customers to a free procedure and offered products. Thanks to this strategy, the company’s profits steadily increased every year. Within two years, the company’s sales reached nearly $1 million. In 5 years, the staff grew from 9 employees to 3,000.
The basic skincare products were developed by J.W. Heath, a tanner from Arkansas. Once he noticed a better condition of skin on his hands compared to his face. Then, he began to experiment with the products he worked with. Heath gave the composition to his daughter, from whom Ash later bought them for $500.
The newly created company was based on the principles proclaimed by the founder. The first is to treat others as you would like to be treated. The second is to put God first and then family and career. The third is that thanks to encouragement and praise, everyone will be able to succeed.
In 1966, Mary married for the third time. Her husband was Melville Ash, who was engaged in the wholesale trade. The couple remained together until Melville’s death in 1980. He died of cancer, which inspired Mary to set up a charity that supports cancer research in 1996.
Brand pink colour
In 1968, Mary decided to purchase a new car and took her brand’s palette to a Cadillac dealer. She asked to paint her future car in the brand pink color of her cosmetics. Despite the fact that the dealer thought such an idea was pure madness, the woman insisted. The pink Cadillac became a sensation in Dallas. A year later, Ash leased these cars to five of the company’s top sales directors. They served as a living advertising.
As the company’s salespeople competed to win these cars, Ash continued to expand the program. In 1973, 52 pink cars drove the roads of the United States. The products were transported by pink 18-wheel trucks.
The founder often visited the distribution centers to talk with her employees. During one such visit, she proposed a new uniform for drivers. She talked about pale pink overalls with the logo embroidered on the back. This news caused indignation among the men. Ash reassured the workers that it was only a joke. She liked to tease and just wanted to see their reaction.
Mary Kay implemented a comprehensive reward system for her employees that included trips, jewelry and other lavish gifts that truly recognized their achievements at work.
Sometimes, Ash hosted her sales executives at her lakefront house in Dallas. In 1969, while the guests were admiring Mary’s marble bathtub, two women jumped into it for a photo shoot. This started a new tradition. A legend spread among sales directors that if they didn’t fall into the pink bath, they wouldn’t succeed. Later, the company purchased a pink heart-shaped bathtub specifically for the photo shoot.
International expansion
In the 1980s, Mary Kay Inc. entered the international market, starting with Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Her Spanish language tutor helped Ash to launch cosmetics in Mexico 6 years later. In the late 1980s, the Iron Curtain fell and Mary Kay Inc. helped women in Poland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and russia take the first steps towards their own business.
The company’s mission is to enrich the lives of women, offering them the opportunity to achieve financial independence, personal growth and professional success. Mary Kay Ash was a pioneer in recognizing the potential of women in business long before gender equality became mainstream. She broke barriers and paved the way for future generations of female entrepreneurs.
After returning to the US, Ash built herself a chic pink mansion in Dallas. It contained 6 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a sweeping staircase, a library and 3 living rooms. The courtyard was decorated with a swimming pool surrounded by Corinthian columns and artificial Greek sculptures. Coral carpets, floor-to-ceiling silk curtains and fuchsia furniture accentuated the interior. The bathroom was equipped with a rose quartz lavatory pan and rose marble bathtub. However, the house was built in a hurry. A sudden downpour damaged the building, so Ash moved to her former house in 1990 and lived there until her death.
Ash continued to work for her company until she suffered a stroke in 1996. After the founder’s death in 2001 (she was 83 years old), Mary’s son Richard Rogers became the CEO. At the time of Ash’s death, this cosmetics brand had more than 800,000 representatives in 37 countries.