Made Up in Mary Kay

On the door of Dunster C-43 hangs a small pink business card for Mary Kay cosmetics--perhaps a unique sight at Harvard.

Inside is Aisha C. Haynie '00, who hung a yellow flyer on her door last week inviting friends and neighbors to drop by: "Please join me for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the debut of my new business."

The Store Next Door

Over the summer, Haynie decided to join Mary Kay's fleet of 500,000 consultants. The company, founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963 claims it is the best-selling cosmetic brand in the nation and nets more than $2 billion annually in retail sales.

So how does a Harvard student become a Mary Kay representative?

It all began one August day in North Carolina. Haynie was in her hometown, shooting the breeze at her hairdresser's. It turned out that two of the stylists there sold Mary Kay cosmetics, and her own stylist was a faithful customer.

Haynie was intrigued, especially when she discovered the company carried makeup shades for women of color--something she hadn't been aware of.

"I had never worn Mary Kay--I had never thought about Mary Kay," she says. "But I was always interested in cosmetics."

One draw of Mary Kay, Haynie says, is the price--"less expensive than department store brands, but more than CVS."

The makeup costs about $10 for a lipstick or an eyeshadow, $6 for a bottle of nail enamel or a compact of blush, and $16 for a 4-oz. bottle of moisturizer.

And Haynie, for one, seems sold on the products.

As she set up her portfolio of make-up samples on a recent afternoon, a bottle of beige nail enamel caught her eye.

"Actually, this is a really pretty color," she says, interest piqued. "I might have to rob my own stock!"

Haynie discovered an unexpected perk when she tested the products herself. A devoted Clinique user, Haynie says she was surprised to find that the Mary Kay lipsticks actually lasted longer than her old Clinique standbys.

"I really didn't expect, when I started using the products, to like them more than what I was using at the time," she says.

Skeptical at first, Haynie says another factor that swayed her was the hairdressers' assertion that the cosmetics were actually a source of income.

She waffled back and forth as to whether selling cosmetics was something she would have time for once back at school. On her final night at home before returning to Harvard, she bit the bullet and signed up.

"I was scared," she says. "I never considered myself a salesperson."

A Compact Shop

For the price of a $100 starter kit, Haynie received $400 worth of sample products for prospective clients. But she also ordered extra products so she would have them on hand if customers decided to buy.

The next step was four 90-minute training classes given by a Mary Kay consultant living in Central Square. Haynie learned the correct methods for giving facials and applying make-up; facts about the products themselves; and, perhaps most important, skills for person-to-person selling.

Once trained, Haynie began to publicize her debut party through word of mouth, and by distributing flyers to friends, classmates and acquaintances.

She also changed the outgoing message on her answering machine so it now bears her Mary Kay title--a move that has earned her some flak.

"I had mixed responses from people," she says. "People's reactions were kind of like, 'Are you serious?'"

But in the end, Saturday's turnout was heartening. Haynie estimates that 20 to 25 people showed up over the course of the evening to learn more about the cosmetics and skin care products.

Not for Women Alone

Fellow Dunster House resident John P. Basbagill '00 was one satisfied customer.

Basbagill left without buying anything but ended up calling Haynie a few hours later to inquire about purchasing a gift for a friend whose birthday party he was attending the same night.

Many of the debut's attendees were male, says Haynie--and some of them were shopping for themselves.

Mary Kay has a product line for men, including acne treatment products, cologne, after-shave and general skin care products.

In contrast to the pastel pink-and-white motif of the women's offerings, men's products come in traditionally more masculine colors and bear the words "Skin Management" instead of the Mary Kay moniker.

"We even have guys' bags!" Haynie laughs, holding up a dark gray plastic sack.

Indeed, posted on Haynie's wall are three sign-up sheets for free facials, and several men have already signed up.

"Guys are a bit easier to sell to than girls," Haynie says. "Girls think about it more."

The Personal Connection

When Karine A. Gibbs '00, a longtime friend of Haynie's came to the party, she already had a good impression of Mary Kay--but she says Haynie only made it better, due in large part to her professionalism.

"She had this great jazz music playing," Gibbs says. "The whole thing was very elegant, very top-of-the line."

Gibbs ended up buying a liplining pencil and an eyelining pencil in "wacky" colors--ones she never would have chosen if the salesperson weren't Haynie.

"The thing about Aisha is I've gone shopping with her before and she has very good taste," says Gibbs. "I trust what she says."

Haynie was glad to hear that--friends, she says, are usually the most difficult people to sell to.

"To them, you're just Aisha from last year who didn't know how to sell make-up," she says.

Haynie says she has sold more than $300 so far, culling 50 percent from each sale. Though she has heard stories of monthly commission checks in the tens of thousands of dollars, Haynie says she's more than satisfied with her success thus far and is looking to keep the business low-key.

Mary Kay is a pyramid sales organization, in that if consultants bring in new recruits, they receive two percent of those consultants' sales. But Haynie says she is not planning on recruiting any competitors in the Harvard market.

Though Haynie attributes her success to convenience and high-quality products, perhaps it's precisely her low-key attitude that has brought her success thus far.

"There was no pressure to buy," Gibbs says. "A lot of salespeople are really pushy and she's not at all like that."

"Helping Others Help Themselves"

And so Haynie now has a monopoly in a business she never imagined herself in--and she's having fun.

"It's easier than I thought it would be to sell these things," she says.

You can sometimes catch Haynie wearing her small gold Mary Kay pin to classes. She makes a habit of asking acquaintances whether they've tried Mary Kay. Sometimes she hands out brochures to friends in the dining hall.

Because Haynie is not a certified cosmetologist, she is not allowed to physically touch clients but says she actually prefers the instructive method because it teaches clients how to use the products themselves.

"It's not like when you leave the beauty parlor, and you don't know how to do your hair to make it look the same again," she says. "You're helping other people help themselves."

In the end, Haynie says, more than the profit, this is the bottom line keeping her in the business.

But there is one more factor, she says: "You get to play around with make-up."