Mary Kay Ash

Mary Kay Ash (born Mary Kathlyn Wagner; May 12, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American businesswoman and founder of direct sales company Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. At the time of her death, she had a fortune of $98 million, and her company had more than $1.2 billion in sales with a sales force of more than 800,000 in at least three dozen countries.

Early life Mary Kay Ash, born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in Hot Wells, Harris County, Texas, was the daughter of Edward Alexander and Lula Vember Hastings Wagner. Her mother was trained as a nurse and later became a manager of a restaurant in Houston. Ash attended Dow Elementary School and Reagan High School in Houston and graduated in 1934.

Ash married Ben Rogers at age 17. They had three children, Ben Jr., Marilyn Reed, and Richard Rogers. While her husband served in World War II, she sold books door-to-door. After her husband's return in 1945, they got divorced. She later married Charles Weaver, the brother of Mary C. Crowley who was the founder of Home Interiors and Gifts.

Career Ash went to work for Stanley Home Products in 1939. Frustrated when passed over for a promotion in favor of a man that she had trained, Ash retired in 1963 and intended to write a book to assist women in business. The book turned into a business plan for her ideal company, and in the summer of 1963, Mary Kay Ash and her new husband, George Hallenbeck,

According to Gavenas: Mary Kay was a very visible, very active, and almost ridiculously feminine‐looking role model: a God‐fearing, hard‐working, immaculately groomed mother of three who was doing everything within her power to see other women get ahead, and who loved mentoring so much that she referred to her saleswomen as her “daughters.” Also unlike Avon, Mary Kay made her saleswomen more profit per unit: a Mary Kay lipstick cost roughly double the price of an Avon lipstick and hence made twice the profit, while the home‐party format meant that several customers could be approached at once...Mary Kay made her company purposely inclusive, enabling her rapid expansion into Australia, South America, Europe, and Asia. Ash was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996. A long-time fundraiser for charities, she founded the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation in 1996 At the time of Ash's death, Mary Kay Cosmetics had over 800,000 representatives in 37 countries, with total annual sales of over $200 million.

Books Ash was the author of several books, including Mary Kay, an autobiography in 1994 and Miracles Happen and You Can Have It All in 1995. Her first book, called Mary Kay on People Management, was published in 1984 and was on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Death Mary Kay Ash died on November 22, 2001. She is interred in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.