Born and raised in Houston, Texas as the youngest child of Edward Alexander and Lulu Vember Wagner, Mary Kay at a very early age was responsible for maintaining the household for her family. Older siblings had already left home and her father had been permanently disabled by tuberculosis, so her mother, the sole support of the family, was left to work long and hard hours as a restaurant manager. Mary Kay did the housework, cooked, cleaned and helped take care of her invalid father from a very early age, not because anyone told her to, but because the work was there to be done.

After a very successful high school career, Ash married Ben Rogers, a local radio star, and began a family. Ash started a career in sales to help get through the tough times of the Depression. After doing very well, Mary Kay decided to try to find a company that offered a line of products that were more useful than the children's psychology books she began with.

She found a company called Stanley Home Products that was a direct sales company for housewares and cleaning solvents. She, of course, did very well with this company also. She was promoted to manager and was a regular top-earning sales representative. Still, she felt she could be doing much better, but felt that her talents were being wasted due to the fact that management was mostly male. Her husband returned from military service and insisted on a divorce, so Mary Kay was left on her own to care for her family again.

In 1952, Ash took a position as the national training director for the World Gift Company. In her time with this company, she earned herself a seat on the company's board of directors and extended the company's distribution to 43 states. When a man that she trained was promoted to her supervisor and was paid twice as much as her, Ash decided to retire early.

Tired of being underpaid and overworked, she retired from her job. Ash had remarried and felt she might start a writing career. During the month of retirement after her successful career in direct sales, she decided to write a book to help women survive in the male-dominated business world. Sitting at her kitchen table, she made two lists: one contained the good things she had seen in companies for which she had worked; the other featured the things she thought could be improved. Reviewing the lists, she realized that she had inadvertently created a marketing plan for a successful company of her own. Thus her career guide for women quickly turned into a business plan for a new direct sales company. Now, all she needed was a product to market. The product came from a skin softener that she had used for years that was made by a hide tanner. Ash took her life savings and bought the recipe and set up a shop. With her life savings of $5,000 and the help of her 20-year-old son, Richard Rogers, she launched Mary Kay Cosmetics on Friday, September 13, 1963. She started with a couple of dollars, but didn't expect to be making billions of dollars by 1991.

As her business became ready to open, her husband passed away. Even still, she continued on and sold almost $200,000 worth of products the first year. By her second year, she sold close to $800,000 and had a sales force of 3,000 women.

Mary Kay's goal was to provide women with an unlimited opportunity for personal and financial success. She used the Golden Rule as her guiding philosophy and encouraged employees and sales force members to prioritize their lives according to a simple but empowering motto: God first, family second, career third. Because of her steadfast commitment to her goals and principles, and her tremendous determination, dedication and hard work, Mary Kay Inc. has grown from a small direct sales company to the largest direct seller of skin care products in the U.S. and the best-selling brand of facial skin care and color cosmetics in the United States. The Company now has more than 500,000 Independent Beauty Consultants in 29 markets worldwide. Mary Kay Inc. was featured three times as one of The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America.

A dynamic speaker, motivator and entrepreneur, Mary Kay has been recognized for her achievements through numerous awards and honors including: Circle of Honor Award from the Direct Selling Education Foundation; First Annual National Sales Hall of Fame Award from the Sales and Marketing Executives of New York; Texas Business Hall of Fame Award; Texas Women's Hall of Fame Award; and the prestigious Horatio Alger Award.

In 1980, Mary Kay's husband Mel died of cancer. After watching him suffer, she became committed to the fight to find a cure for this disease. Having been involved in fundraising for more than 20 years, in 1996 she established the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, a non-profit public foundation that provides funding for research of leading cancers affecting women. Mary Kay has twice served as honorary chairman of the Texas Breast Screening Project and was instrumental in helping pass legislation in Texas for insurance coverage of mammograms. She is also active in raising funds for cancer research programs through the Komen Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the Mary Kay Ash Center for Cancer Immunotherapy Research at St Paul Medical Center in Dallas, which was dedicated in 1993. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Company and as a tribute to her efforts in breast cancer awareness and fund raising, the employees of Mary Kay Inc. presented to Mary Kay the Mary Kay/St Paul Medical Center Mobile Cancer Screening Unit in July 1993. A cancer research wing at St Paul Medical Center previously dedicated to Mary Kay Ash was expanded in 1995 and in 1998 the hospital dedicated the Mary Kay Ash Cancer Research Institute.

Mary Kay Ash's book, You Can Have It All, was launched in August 1995 and achieved "best-seller" status within days of its introduction. Mary Kay's two other books include her autobiography, which has sold more than 1 million copies, and Mary Kay on People Management, which is also a best-seller.

Mary Kay became chairman emeritus of Mary Kay Inc. in 1987. Today, she provides inspiration for her Independent Beauty Consultants worldwide. Her goal remains that of helping women everywhere achieve their full potential.

All she was looking for was a little extra household money. Instead, she changed the history of American business. Mary Kay Ash founded a direct selling cosmetics company that gave a tribute to women as no company ever had — her pink Cadillacs becoming icons of success. That company is growing every day ...

Today, Mary Kay Cosmetics is the largest direct seller of skin care products in the U.S. Mary Kay manufactures and markets more than 200 skin care and beauty products through its network of more than 400,000 independent beauty consultants in twenty-five countries.

Mary Kay had a philosophy that no one had ever seen: "I have found that everything seems to work out if you have your life in the proper perspective: God first, family second, and career third. It takes a great deal of time and energy for a woman to really care for a family and build a career at the same time. If she's going to survive, she must choose her hats wisely, learn when and how to balance them, and discard those which distract from her personal priorities."

Mary Kay Cosmetics has grown into an international empire which Mary Kay herself still actively participates in with the help of her son, Richard.

To add: Before this article came out, every one was stunned by the sad news of Mary Kay Ash's death at the age of 83 in her house in Dalas on November 22, 2001.