Ash, Mary Kay

Mary Kay Ash

Born May 12, c. 1917
Hot Wells, Texas

Died November 22, 2001
Dallas, Texas

Entrepreneur

Mary Kay Ash created a business empire in the 1960s when many women were just beginning to seek possibilities beyond that of being a wife and mother. In 1963 Betty Friedan's groundbreaking book The Feminine Mystique was published announcing women's discontent with only being homemakers. That same year, Ash started her company. Her mission was to enrich women's lives. Ash never lived the life of a suburban homemaker, but instead she worked from a very young age. She was a hard worker and fiercely competitive. Throughout her career, Ash was disappointed that her male co-workers made more money than she did for the same work. She was also concerned that her gender kept her from advancing at some companies. Just months after retiring from her twenty-five-year sales career in 1963, Ash launched a company that offered unlimited job opportunities to women. Mary Kay Cosmetics addressed the concerns of women who wanted to work from home and outside it. The company offered women familiar with the workplace a chance to become as successful as they wanted to be. For wives and mothers, Mary Kay Cosmetics offered the chance to balance family duties with the satisfaction of earning money.

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