Celebrating MARY KAY ASH 1918-2001
Mary Kay Ash was born in 1918 in rural Texas as Mary Kathlyn Wagner. She learned responsibility as a young child, taking care of her invalid father while her mother worked to support them. She believed in Mary Kay’s abilities, encouraging her by saying, “You can do it!” – a phrase sheoften repeated throughout her life.
After working many years in corporate America, training men who would later become her supervisors, she realized that women were not given the same opportunities as men were, so she set out to change that. Taking God as her business partner, investing her life savings of $5,000 and using what she learned from her experiences, she started Beauty by Mary Kay in 1963, which would later become known as Mary Kay Inc. Her business gave women the opportunity to realize their God-given potential, enrich the lives of others, and keep their priorities of God first, family second and career third. Little did she know that what started out in a little shop in Dallas, TX 47 years ago would grow to touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and their families around the world. Many people think she and her company were just about cosmetics, but it was so much more than that. She was quoted, saying “I’ve often said that we are doing something far more important than just selling cosmetics; we are changing lives.”
In 1996, sheestablished the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, which provides research of leading cancers affecting women and counseling for domestic violence. Each year, millions of dollars are donated to these causes.
During her lifetime and after her passing, she received many awards, of which she felt very humbled to receive. Some of her greatest achievements were receiving the title of Greatest Female Entrepreneur in America and receiving the Horatio Alger award by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, which was given to distinguished Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity. She also authored several best-selling books and was referenced to in many others.
Her life-long passion was to live and to teach others how to live the Golden Rule – to do unto others as you would have done to you; and to always treat people with kindness, treating them as if they were wearing a sign around their neck that said “Make me feel important.” Just as her mother always told her “You can do it!,” it became her passion to help women see that they could do anything they put their mind to. When she had her stroke in 1996, she made a brief appearance at what was to be her final yearly seminar in Dallas. Unable to speak, she merely mouthed the words “You can do it!” She passed away on Nov. 22, 2001 – Thanksgiving – her favorite holiday.
Today her Legacy lives on through her company andherCharitable Foundation.
By Hanna Vos, age 10