Mary Kay Ash's Successful Career

Mary Kay Ash was born on May 12, 1918 in Hot Wells, Texas. She took on big responsibilities at a very young age, because her dad got tuberculosis and she had to take care of him while her mom was at work. Her dream was to inspire women and help them achieve success. She created a big line of products and become one of the greatest female entrepreneurs of all time.
Mary was born to Edward and Lula Wagner. Her dad got tuberculosis when she was only 14, so she had to take care of him while her mom was at work on top of studying for her classes in high school. Mary's mother was very encouraging and always told her that she could do anything that she set her mind to. Mary took this advice and went to the University of Houston after graduating.
She excelled in all of her classes there.
Her first marriage was when she was only 17 years old. She had three kids and soon after, she started working at Stanley Home Products in Houston, Texas. She quickly moved up to the position of unit manager. After working there for 25 years, Mary still hadn’t gotten a raise or any kind of promotion. When another man who she had trained got promoted instead of her, she resigned.
Mary felt that she needed to do something about the unfair treatment for women, so she started writing a book about her experiences.
This book was published and became a bestseller, but Mary felt that she needed to do more. In 1963, Mary invested $5,000 that she had gotten from her oldest son to start her own business. She called it Mary Kay Cosmetics. The first product that she sold was a skin cream called "Beauty by Mary Kay."
Just one month before her company was going to be established, Mary's second husband died. Mary's younger son, Richard, helped her form the company. They opened a small store in Dallas and made $200,000 just in the first year. She only had about 5 products at that time. Three years later, she remarried to a man who worked in the wholesale gift business. Mary was known for putting people before percentages. She hired any women that were willing and able to work hard. She even tried to end violence against women by making shelters for them.
Within two years, Mary Kay Cosmetics was selling one million dollars worth of products. Business grew even more when Mary went on CBS's 60 Minutes show for an interview. Mary had a unique way of running her business. She rewarded her hardest workers with jewelry, vacations, and pink Cadillacs. She gave away around 7,000 Cadillacs by 1994. These were worth an estimated $100,000,000. This strategy of rewarding her workers really worked. She had a great company filled with hard
workers.
After Mary's third husband died of cancer, she started raising money for cancer research. In 1993, the Mary Kay Ash Center for cancer immunotherapy research at St. Paul medical Center in Dallas was dedicated. Three years later, the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation was started. It was dedicated to raise money to get rid of domestic violence and researching cancers that mainly affected women. Her company grew and new products were made.
Mary Kay's autobiography sold over 1 million copies and she started writing more books.
Her autobiography became a bestseller and was even translated into other languages. Mary Kay was given many awards and honors for her books. She even received the Hall of Fame Award from Direct Selling Association. Only two years later, she got the Cosmetic Woman of the Year Award and the Horatio Alger Distinguished American Citizen Award.
Mary Kay Cosmetics made the list of 500 largest companies every year since 1992. It was also listed in The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America book. It was also listed in the best 10 companies for women to work in. Her company now has over 475,000 employees in over 25 countries. Mary suffered a stroke in 1996. She died on November 22, 2001 at her home in Dallas when she was only 83 years old. Her net worth was 2.6 billion.
Mary didn't stop when everyone and everything told her that she couldn't change anything. She worked hard to accomplish what she wanted. As a result, Mary changed the lives of many people, because she was dedicated to helping with economic opportunity for women, environmental protection, and the fight against cancer. She also invented a great product that people still use today. Mary was a great example of never giving up and making a difference in the
world.