Mary Kay
What is Mary Kay?
From a $5,000 investment in 1963, Mary Kay has grown to become one of the largest direct sellers of skin care and color cosmetic companies in the world.
Today, with more than 3 million Independent Beauty Consultants, Mary Kay offers more than 200 premium products in more than 35 countries around the world.
For 50 years, Mary Kay has helped women discover products that they love: innovative skin care, irresistible makeup and unforgettable fragrances.
At the same time, the Mary Kay business opportunity has helped women from Kansas to Kazakhstan, discover extra income, empowered choices and true beauty from the inside out.
Mary Kay also touches hearts through a powerful legacy of giving back to the global community – all thanks to one amazing woman who turned her passion for beautiful lives into a one-of-a-kind success story.
Who Was Mary Kay Ash?
When Mary Kay Ash “retired” from her successful career in direct sales in early 1963, she decided to write a book to help women survive in the male-dominated business world. She made two lists. One contained things the companies for which she had worked had done right, the other included the things she felt they could have done better. When she reviewed the lists, Mary Kay realized that she had inadvertently created a marketing plan for a dream company – one which would provide women with open ended potential to achieve personal and financial success.
With her life savings of $5,000 and the help of her 20-year-old son Richard Rogers, Mary Kay launched her dream company on Friday, Sept. 13, 1963.
Mary Kay Ash was an original. As an entrepreneur and a philanthropist, she started her business from a tiny store in Dallas, Texas, with five products and one big dream.
Beauty by Mary Kay opened for business on that goodly Friday in 1963 and that dream, that business, was to inspire women to transform their lives, and in doing so, help other women achieve success.
Mary Kay adopted the Golden Rule as her guiding philosophy, determining that the best course of action in virtually any situation could be easily discerned by doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. She also steadfastly believed that life’s priorities should be kept in their proper order, which to her meant putting faith first, family second and career third.
She stressed the importance of recognizing the accomplishments of others. And she constantly encouraged both the corporate staff and the independent sales force to act as if each person they met was wearing a sign around his or her neck that read “Make me feel important”.
Today, Mary Kay remains true to the principles of Mary Kay Ash.
Learn more about the Mary Kay Opportunity in the FAQs
Mary Kay Changing Lives
Mary Kay has a long-established history of helping others – a philosophy that Mary Kay Ash was passionate about.
In that heartfelt spirit, the global Mary Kay® charitable program, Beauty That Counts®, is making the world more beautiful – inside and out.
Millions of dollars have been donated to organizations helping women and children from the sale of Beauty That Counts® products
See where these programs have been making a difference.
The Mary Kay Foundation
Throughout her life, Mary Kay Ash showed others how to live and how to give. She gave hope to women who lacked opportunity and self-esteem and financial support to the causes she believed in. Have her death on Thanksgiving Day 2001, her legacy of love continues through the The Mary Kay Foundation, which she began in 1996.
The mission of the The Mary Kay Foundation is two-fold:
- It is committed to eliminating cancers affecting women by supporting top medical scientists who are searching for a cure for breast, uterine, cervical and ovarian cancers.
- It is committed to ending the epidemic of domestic violence by providing grants to women’s shelters and supporting community outreach programs.
Since the Foundation began in 1996, it has granted $54 million dollars to organizations fighting cancer and violence against women.
Learn more about The Mary Kay Foundation here.