Fundamental of Speech

Mary Kay Ash: A Biography of a Woman with 'Skin-Deep Beauty'

Introductions to Mary Kay Ash, founder and chairman emeritus of Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc.

"If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right." These lines are the guiding principles and philosophy of Mary Kay Ash as she managed her life as a mother, businesswoman, leader, and philantrophist.

Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. is a company founded by Mary Kay Ash, a business venture that became successful because of her hard work and perseverance. Although its products promotes beauty and skin care products, things that often symbolize vanity among men and women alike, it will become evident, as you will later find out in this speech, that Mary Kay Inc.'s goals, objectives, and products are more than just a display of vanity, but is 'skin-deep.' Through the various programs (environmental, social, and human-empowerment) organized by the company, Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. promotes the values that its founder has deeply embedded among the company's employees: to give importance to values like charity, care and love for the environment and people.

C. Through the different departments and programs in Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc., (the Products and Services Department, Career Opportunity Programs, and International Business Headquarters), the company was able to achieve and promote the values mentioned a while ago.

D. The company, through these departments and programs, continue to gear its goal of providing charitable programs and programs for environmental preservation while earning substantial profits from their quality services and products.

II. Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. was able to extend the values and goals of Mary Kay Ash through the company's continuing support for programs, services, and products that help promote environmental awareness and preservation, human and charitable causes, and quality service and consumer satisfaction through their products.

A. The company exemplifies Mary Kay Ash's values as it promotes consumer satisfaction and quality service through its Products and Services Department. The company offers beauty, skin-care, and health products to its customers (women, men and teenagers) that are made of the highest-quality components and service. Through these two important elements (quality products and services), the company achieves their goal of giving satisfaction and happiness to their customers by using Mary Kay products.

B. The Career Opportunity Program of the company also helps extend the company's help not only to its consumers, but also to the company's most important assets, the employees of Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. By providing them with employee benefits and motivation programs, the company was able to get loyalty and quality job services from their employees, leading to the production of even better services and products for the consumers.

C. Mary Kay Inc. has extended its business operation internationally, and this move is favorable because it further promotes the company's goals in an even wider group of people, who have also varying needs to satisfy and achieve.

III. Through Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc., Mary Kay Ash was able to perpetuate, even after her death, the values and goals that she had set for herself when she was just a start-up businesswoman and mother, which is to provide the people around you with love and happiness, as well as becoming an effective and powerful leader-businesswoman.

A. The company's programs are geared towards achieving the things its founder, Mary Kay Ash, deemed as important. These programs promotes the well-being of people (the company's consumers) and the environment.

B. By achieving its goals, the company is in turn helping Ash achieve her dreams, because the company is the embodiment of Ash's dreams and aspirations in life. In fact, these programs are actually Ash's main ideas when she was just forming her company, and the fulfillment of these goals is equivalent to the fulfillment of Ash as an individual being. Through the company's programs, the company becomes the symbol that is everything in Ash: a narration of the company's history and achievements is in turn a narration of Ash's biography as well.

C. Mary Kay Ash was able to achieve the impossible because of her life-guiding principle in life, which is: "If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right." Ash's primary motivations are deeply embedded in these lines, and these lines are what made her a successful individual today, an unforgettable personality in the world of beauty, vanity, and humanity.

"If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right." These are the words that Mary Kay Ash lived up to from the day she started building her company, Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc., up to her death on November 22, 2001. Ash was just an ordinary individual who dreams of being successful in life, a woman who will not only earn a lot of money from her business venture, but also give people satisfaction and happiness through her company's products and services. In fact, the company is a symbol of Ash herself; her dreams and aspirations are deeply reflected in the company's objectives and goals, as well as with its programs, products, and services. Three programs are clear examples of these aspirations Ash was very particular about: the Products and Services Department of the company, the Career Opportunity Program, and the International Business Headquarters of the company. Through the Products and Services Department of Mary Kay Inc., Ash was able to provide quality products and services to the people, most especially the company's consumers (men, women, and teenagers). Also, Ash was able to contribute to the welfare of the people and environment, since the company does not use chemicals and products that are hazardous to the environment, and the company also has charitable programs and services which generates its funds from the company's own profits. These programs by Ash and her company are essential since these programs and products embody the values, which Ash gives importance to: happiness, satisfaction, human compassion and environmental awareness. The Career Opportunity Program, meanwhile, is geared towards obtaining the loyalty and trust of the company's most important asset, its employees. By giving he employees the opportunity to better their lives through career advancement and employee benefits, Ash promotes a harmonious employer-employee relationship, which in turn helps the company produce more quality products and services because of the employees' satisfaction and happiness as they work for the company. Lastly, Ash was able to extend her companies services by making May Kay Inc. An international company. By extending her company's services to different parts of the world, Ash can help various people, regardless of their nationality and 'skin color.' These programs clearly illustrate the values of its founder, Ash, because the programs itself are reflections of her dreams and aspiration. The achievement of the company's goals (through the programs mentioned) are also a fulfillment in Ash's part, since the company is the embodiment of Ash's personality, and through the narrative that I gave you about her company, I was in turn, narrative Mary Kay Ash's biography to you indirectly. Hence, through Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc., and her life-guiding principle in life, which is: "If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right," Mary Kay Ash was able to achieve the impossible. Ash's primary motivations are deeply embedded in these lines, and these lines are what made her a successful individual today, an unforgettable personality in the world of beauty, vanity, and humanity.