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Chicago Tribune
Mary Kay, A Feminist Beneath All That Pink
By Devin Rose
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 28, 2001
The color palette inside that first makeup case was tantalizing: vibrant
blues and greens tucked alongside luscious browns and startling white. I'd
dab the delicate, pink-handled brush in water, swirl it gently in one of the
tiny color pools, then, holding my breath in anticipation, whisk it across
my eyelids. Looking into the mirror, I wouldn't see my sad-eyed, 7th-grade
self; instead, I was gazing into the radiant face of a momentary glamour
girl. I'd snap shut that pink makeup case with the gold "Mary Kay" nameplate
emblazoned on the cover, tuck it in my purse and stride confidently out of
the bathroom--often straight into my mother, who would march me right back
into the bathroom to tone down "my face."
My love affair with Mary Kay Cosmetics soured as soon as pimples dotted my
nose and cheeks and my Mary Kay foundation wasn't up to the job of making me
look, well, flawless. Besides, my mother wore Mary Kay--I was actually
getting her leftovers to play around with--and by 8th grade all things tied
to the mother ship wouldn't sail in my book. By the time I was in college,
my hairy-legged, militant self wouldn't even admit I'd ever touched the
stuff. Makeup? A tool of male oppression! And pink? Goddess forbid, a symbol
of gender imprisonment!
Last week, I found myself thinking wistfully of that pink makeup case with
its magical array of colors when I learned that the woman behind Mary Kay
Inc. (its later name) was gone. Makeup tycoon Mary Kay Ash died on
Thanksgiving Day at her home in Dallas of natural causes. She was 83 and had
been in frail health in recent years.
>From what I've learned about Mary Kay (as the world called her) over the
years, as well as from the reports that emerged in the days following her
death, it's clear she was an amazing woman. For starters, having little more
to work with than guts, energy and some bright ideas, she became a
successful businesswoman at a time when that just wasn't done. But well
beyond that, Mary Kay didn't just revel in her success and dare other women
to try to follow--instead, she devoted her career to giving other women the
chance to succeed.
As she wrote on her company's Web site, marykay.com: "Our company was begun
with only one objective: that of giving women the chance to succeed, an
opportunity that simply did not exist in the early '60s. . . . I just
couldn't believe that a woman's brain was worth 50 cents on the dollar. With
all my heart I wanted to change that."
To paint a fuller picture of this colorful woman, we can add more to the
palette:
- Mary Kay was probably a born saleswoman. She would often say that it was
her mother who gave her great confidence. Mary Kay started selling part-time
in 1938, at parties in women's homes. In 1963, after years as a successful
full-time saleswoman, she decided to write a book to help women succeed in
the male-dominated business world. But after she had created her dream
company on paper, she decided to do it for real--and with her life savings
of $5,000, Mary Kay Cosmetics was born.
- Her positive attitude sprang from a rugged life. When she was 6, she
helped care for a seriously ill father while her mother worked in a
restaurant. She married at age 17, and was left with three children to raise
when the marriage ended in divorce. Her company was almost immediately a
success, but she was soon entangled in lawsuits over product formulas with
former employees who started their own company. Yet even after that, she
could write a book (one of three best-sellers she penned) titled "Mary Kay:
You Can Have It All." And she didn't just believe it--she lived it. Upon her
death, her son Richard Rogers, also co-founder and CEO at Mary Kay, said:
"The world has lost one of its great champions of women and one of the most
loving and inspirational business leaders."
- She was, simply put, a brilliant businesswoman. The company she founded in
'63 with her $5,000 and a sales force of 11 reaped wholesale revenues of
$1.2 billion in 2000. She was famous for the ambitious rewards program she
devised, which allowed successful saleswomen to win minks, diamonds and the
illustrious pink caddies. Which brings us to . . .
- Pink. The woman was at peace with the color. In fact, she downright
reveled in it, from those delicate compact cases to the 19,000-square-foot
pink mansion (complete with giant pink bathtub) she once owned. Now that pop
culture and its hip young girls are once again immersing themselves in pink
(they even follow a pop artist by the name), it's obvious Mary Kay wasn't
behind her time, she was ahead of it.
I searched the Mary Kay Inc. Web site for my magical eye shadow palette--but
found that, however dated my memories, Mary Kay's current products are
trendy and sophisticated. I especially liked a few of the Mary Kay products
for girls, such as Simply Glowing Shimmering Body Gel, or Lip Lollies, with
the company pitch: "It's new, it's hip, and it's every lip gloss scent under
the sun in one case . . . " I think I know a 7th-grade girl or two who would
just love those. And I'm sure their moms would approve.