Mary Kay Ash

In 1935, Mary Kay married J. Ben Rogers, a gas station attended, who also played with a local band. The marriage ended in a divorce in 1946. The couple had three children, who later joined the family business.

While her youngest son, Richard Raymond Rogers, joined the company at its very inception, eldest son J. Ben Rogers Jr. joined it eight months later. In 1981, her daughter, Marylyn Reed, also joined Mary Kay Cosmetics as one of the directors.

In 1963, two months before Mary Kay Cosmetics was launched, she married George Arthur Hallenbeck, a chemist. But he died from heart attack within one month of the wedding.

Mary Kay was born on May 12, 1918 in Hot Wells, Harris County, Texas as Mary Kathlyn Wagner. Within two years of her birth, the family moved to the Sixth Ward, Houston and it was there that she spent her growing up years

Her father, Edward Alexander Wagner, was afflicted with tuberculosis. When Mary Kay was around three years old, he was sent away to a tuberculosis sanatorium, where he lived for four years. However, in spite of the treatment, he remained invalid throughout his life.

It was her mother, Lula Vember Hastings, who mostly took care of them. A trained nurse, she later became a manager at a restaurant, working there from 5 am to 9 pm, seven days a week. In spite of that, she, as a female worker, was never adequately paid.

Mary Kay was born youngest of her parents’ four children. Her two sisters, Dealia Koch and Daisy Wagner, and brother, Cecil Dewitt Wagner, left home by the time their father returned from sanatorium. Therefore, it fell upon seven year old Mary Kay to take care of him.

She was also entrusted with running the household; cleaning, shopping and cooking for herself and her ailing father. When she found something unmanageable, she would call her mother and receive instruction over the phone.

In 1935, Mary Kay married J. Ben Roger, with whom she had three children. The marriage was not a happy one and Roger was not a responsible father. To support her family, Mary Kay began selling child psychology books, moving from door to door and earning commission from the sales.

In 1939, after a few job changes, she ultimately joined the Stanley Home Products. Here she was required to demonstrate the company’s products at parties organized in private homes. She was a small woman and it was not easy for her lug heavy household products; yet she did not flinch.

When the USA joined the Second World War, Roger joined the army and left. Mary Kay now continued to support her family with her sales job. By the end of the war, she had saved enough to enroll at the University of Houston.

In 1946, while Mary Kay was in her first semester, Roger returned home to ask for a divorce. Although the marriage was not at all happy, Mary Kay felt humiliated and depressed.

In spite of growing symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, Mary Kay immersed herself in her job, earning many prizes. However, when it came to promotion, Stanley refused to entertain her name, simply because she was a woman. Disgusted, she left her job in 1952, moving to Dallas to join World Gift.

Mary Kay now began to work on her new book. Sitting at her kitchen desk, she first set out to create two lists; one would contain the good things that she had seen in the companies she had worked for and the other would contain the features that needed to be improved.

While reviewing the list, she realized that she had just created the foundation of a successful venture that would provide women employees with equal opportunity to achieve personal as well as financial success. She now decided to open her own company.

Mary Kay had only $5,000 as her life savings and she realized that she would have to tread very carefully. She now contacted Ova Spoonemore, whom she had met at one of the Stanley Home Products parties.

Ova’s father, J. W. Heath, was an Arkansas tanner. He had developed a skin care formula that kept his hands soft and wrinkle-free. Mary Kay bought the formula from Ova with $500 and invested rest of her savings to create a direct-selling company.

It was also decided that while Mary Kay looked after sales, her fiancé, George Hallenbeck, would look after the financial aspect of the business. But he died of heart attack only a month after the wedding; the company was to be launched in next month.